The best football games of the decade

Inspired by the Sports Guy’s debates this year about what has been the best whatever of the decade, I thought it would be nice to talk, as the last football season of the decade kicks off, about which have been the best games of the double-ohs. (Hopefully I’ll look dumb for leaving out some awesome game that happens this season.)

Honorable mention: Sadly, I had to exclude the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, when Ohio State upset the favored Miami Hurricanes for the national championship—the game even went to a typically-awesome college overtime, but I really hated the pass interference call that extended the Buckeyes’ first overtime possession…the fourth and 26 game…the Rams-Titans Super Bowl XXXIV showdown, which was sorta boring until the last few minutes, when my BYU companion conveniently scheduled a home-teaching appointment…the Titans’ third win of the season over the Jaguars in the AFC Championship right before that game…the Music City Miracle, which never would have happened if Wade Phillips had stuck with Doug Flutie instead of Rob Johnson…the Patriots-Panthers Super Bowl which I also found kind of boring, probably because I watched it with family members who didn’t like football…Vick over Favre at Lambeau…the Miami over Nebraksa national championship, because there’s no way Nebraska should have been in that game…BYU's 2001 comeback over Utah...any games that involved the USC Trojans or Indianapolis Colts winning.

10. New England 16, Oakland 13 OT (AFC Divisional Round, January 19, 2002)

This game is perhaps infamous for the Tuck Rule, which is lame, because it was the right call. This was a terrific game, in the snow, and it was memorable as the first playoff win for Tom Brady, the sport’s best player of the decade. Adam Vinatieri shook off the conditions and kicked a 45-yard field goal to tie the game in the final minute, then hit a shorter kick to win in overtime.

The tying kick:

9. Tampa Bay 48, Oakland 21 (Super Bowl XXXVIII, January 26, 2003)

The Snow Game wasn’t the Raiders’ only memorable loss this decade. One of my roommates got a projector and threw sort of a small party for this game. One guest was a normally-insufferable Raiders fan who wouldn’t even give me the satisfaction of being upset at the score, since he claimed to have expected it after years of suffering.

I loved this game because the Raiders lost in spectacular fashion. They lost because they ran their usually-unstoppable offense against Jon Gruden, the Buccaneers’ new coach who had spent several preceding years with…wait for it…the Oakland Raiders, and who had taught them that offense in the first place. I’ve heard that the NFL Films highlights of this game show Tampa Bay defenders calling out Oakland’s plays before the Raiders could even run them.

Jerry Rice, the only Raider I could stand, had a 48-yard touchdown catch, but Rich “Don’t Scratch My Corvette” Gannon threw a satisfying five interceptions in his career’s biggest game.

The Raiders’ blowout loss almost made up for missing out on my preferred Steve McNair-Donovan McNabb Super Bowl matchup.

8. Pittsburgh 21, Indianapolis 18 (AFC Divisional Round, January 15, 2006)

Of all of Peyton Manning’s choke jobs, this may have been the sweetest to watch. The No. 6-seeded Steelers were heading into the RCA Dome to face the Colts, who’d started the year 13-0 and stoked talk of an undefeated season before finishing 14-2. The Steelers weren’t your typical 6th seed; quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had missed four games and the team had missed him, but they still appeared overmatched.

The Steelers had a double-digit lead at halftime, but almost blew the game when Jerome Bettis fumbled late near the goal line. Colts safety Nick Harper tried to put a move on Big Ben while returning the fumble and somehow failed. Roethlisberger’s shoestring tackle may have saved a touchdown; certainly it set the stage for Mike Vanderjagt to blow a potential tying field goal in the final minute.

7. New York Giants 17, New England 14 (Super Bowl XLII, February 3, 2008)

I didn’t much care for this game when it happened, because not only did another Manning win a Super Bowl trophy, but the Patriots were unable to join the 1972 Dolphins as an undefeated team. That sucks because the 1972 Dolphins are a classless bunch of jerks.

Anyway, the Patriots went 16-0 in the regular season, Tom Brady threw 50 touchdown passes, including 23 to Randy Moss, and the team scored a record 589 points. Thus the Giants deserve respect for their historic upset. Pretty weird that a team that scored 36.8 per game in the regular season only put up 14 in the biggest game of the year; I wonder who their offensive coordinator was that day?

6. New England Patriots 24, Philadelphia Eagles 21 (Super Bowl XXXIX, February 6, 2005)

This game was, in some ways, more exciting for its star power than for the way it played out. Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the Patriots were going for their third ring. Terrell Owens, who was still a superstar, had joined the Eagles and helped them cruise through the regular season before breaking his ankle. The team finally made its first Super Bowl of the McNabb era, and Owens was determined to play in the Super Bowl, which he did.

This gave us one of my favorite Super Bowl pregame stories ever: Peter King’s interview with Jack Youngblood. I don’t want to spoil it but let’s just say Youngblood, who played several playoff games in a row with a taped-up broken leg, wasn’t too impressed with Owens.

The game itself was surreal. The Eagles got the ball down ten in the fourth and were slowly but surely moving down the field. Then I looked up at the clock and saw that there were like three and half minutes left, but no sense of urgency on the field. The Eagles completely botched their clock management and didn’t give themselves a good chance at the upset. No offense to Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb but it’s kind of amazing they still have their jobs, even now, after that. Still, this was one of the most memorable games of the decade for me; I can still remember watching the game, the phone call with my brother afterwards, and playing some Halo 2 after that.

(Speaking of great games, let’s not forget that the Patriots beat the Colts for the sixth time in a row a few weeks before this game, though the Colts have won four of five since.)

5. Denver 27, New England 13 (AFC Divisional Round, January 14, 2006)

My favorite team won exactly one playoff game this decade, so of course it makes the list. But the game was pretty relevant, seeing as it knocked the two-time defending champions out of the playoffs and ended New England’s playoff winning streak at ten games (!).

Early in the game, Broncos safety John Lynch was celebrating in the Patriots’ backfield. Brady followed him, pumping his fist and getting fired up. I’ll admit, I was terrified when Lynch did that, but it didn’t end up mattering. The Broncos capitalized on several turnovers, especially with Champ Bailey’s controversial 101-yard interception return, and won the game healthily. Later, someone unfamiliar with timestamps added the final score of the game to my HPS preview post as a “prediction”, which is fun, too.

Champ’s return:

4. Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42 OT (Fiesta Bowl, January 1, 2007)

This was the famous upset that proved a school from a non-BCS conference could beat a BCS school in a game for not the championship. Which is good, because unfortunately that's about the best those teams will be allowed to do (Boise State hadn't lost a single game all year; it's hard to imagine a team in their shoes doing better).

The Broncos connected on an incredible hook-and-ladder to force overtime, then scored a touchdown and went for two on two more trick plays to win the game in overtime. Here are some highlights:

And here's the condensed run of the complete game (the long version is on Hulu, too):

3. Colorado 62, Nebraska 36 (November 23, 2001)

I didn’t throw myself into the Buffs’ 2001 season out of a misguided sense of honor: while I liked CU and remembered rooting for them in the 1990 and 1991 Orange Bowls as a kid, I thought it would be fair-weather of me to fancy myself a huge Buffaloes fan once they were suddenly good again. This was particularly stupid considering I was attending CU at the time. But I definitely loved this game.

The Buffs had lost nine in a row to the Cornhuskers, including a few heartbreakers the few years previous. It was awful, how close we’d been to winning. I was living in Boulder but didn’t have tickets to the game, so I drove home to watch it at a friend’s house. I can still remember seeing the cars driving into Boulder that day, including several obnoxious vehicles with Nebraska flags adorning them. They’d come to Colorado to throw a party in our town.

The Cornhuskers were 11-0 and ranked No. 2 in the nation. But their vaunted defense was an absolute sieve against Colorado’s running game that day. Chris Brown ran for 198 yards and six touchdowns, while Bobby Purify added 154 and another score. They were unstoppable. At one point the announcers singled out (doubled out?) the blocking of Buffs right guard Andre Gurode and right tackle Victor Rogers, who opened up enormous holes the entire game, breaking Nebraska’s will and presumably ending their shot at a national championship.

The BCS being what it is, Nebraska actually got a second chance and played in the title game, where the Hurricanes thankfully finished the job.

I’m a jerk for posting this next one, but everyone remembers it:

2. New England 20, St. Louis 17 (Super Bowl XXXVI, February 3, 2002)

Do you remember what football was like at the turn of the century? You couldn’t crack open a sports magazine without reading about the Rams, a.k.a. The Greatest Show on Turf, and their explosive offense. Kurt Warner, the Rams’ QB, went from an inspiring story to an overexposed annoyance in record time, though he became a cool story again last year.

Though Warner’s a religious guy with a very humble start to his pro career, his team exuded arrogance. Marshall Faulk was an exceptional talent, no question, but I couldn’t stand guys like Dré Bly or the endless talk of the team’s speed. I’m pretty sure the guys on other NFL teams are fast. Also, I got sick of hearing how their speed was even more advantageous on turf, which made sense, considering that opposing defenses were still stuck playing on grass. (Oh, wait.)

The Patriots, on the other hand, had had a weird season. Franchise cornerstone Drew Bledsoe was hurt in the team’s second game, paving the way for backup quarterback Tom Brady to start. I didn’t see much of Brady outside of an October loss to the Broncos that year, but heard plenty of talk about him being a “game manager”. A game manager is usually a nice term for a quarterback who rises just close enough to mediocrity that he doesn’t lose games by himself. Why would anyone be impressed with that? Brady was hurt in the AFC Championship game, but Bledsoe came in and carried the team to its Super Bowl berth. I can remember arguing before the Super Bowl that the Patriots should start Bledsoe.

The game was a lot of fun. The Patriots took a 14-3 lead into halftime after a Ty Law interception return for a touchdown and a still-beautiful scoring pass from Brady to David Patten. It turned out the Rams’ speed was ineffective against the physical and aggressive New England defense. But, like they had the year before in their playoff loss to New Orleans, the Rams’ offense made a late charge. They scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns, including a 26-yard pass from Warner to Ricky Proehl to tie the game with ninety seconds left.

John Madden famously suggested that the Patriots kneel and try to win the game in overtime, but Brady drove the team far enough down the field to allow a 48-yard field goal attempt by Vinatieri, which he made on the last play for the championship. I decided after that game never to doubt Brady again. (By the way, you can tell which sportswriter I’ve read the most this decade by the fact that five Patriots games made my top ten.)

1. Texas 41, USC 38 (Rose Bowl National Championship Game, January 4, 2006)

It took me a while to decide on the best game of the decade, but after watching the highlight clip below (sorry about the language; mute it if you’re sensitive), the pick was obvious. Both the Patriots’ upset of the Rams and the Longhorns’ win in the Rose Bowl were sparked by physical defenses defeating a flashy opponent, but the college game had so much more drama, especially considering USC took a twelve-point lead with 6:42 remaining. There were so many moments, whether it was the helmet-removing hit on that Trojan heading up the sideline, or that amazing interception, or Reggie Bush’s idiotic pitch, or the way LenDale White got stuffed on fourth down. But the real star, of course, was Vince Young, who not only threw for 267 yards and ran for 200, but ran for a game-winning touchdown on fourth-and-five with the national championship on the line. I still get chills thinking about it.