Super Bowl memories, Pats-Rams Week 11 news and notes

FOXBORO — In the heart of every New England Patriots fan, there is a special place for the Rams organization. The Patriots dynasty started with a Super Bowl victory over the St. Louis Rams, and effectively ended with a Super Bowl victory over the Los Angeles Rams.
The L.A. Rams won their own Super Bowl a few years after their Super Bowl LIII defeat to Tom Brady and the Patriots, while New England hasn’t won a playoff game since that evening in Atlanta. The two teams will meet for the first time since the 2020 season at Gillette Stadium this weekend.
Here’s what you need to know about Sunday’s tilt — plus a little trip down memory lane to relive some of the best moments in New England Patriots history.
OK, now it’s time to have some fun. At least if you’re a Patriots fans.
Super Bowl XXXVI is one of the greatest Super Bowls ever played and was one of the greatest upsets until … well it’s still one of the greatest upsets in Super Bowl history and we’ll leave it at that. The Patriots were 14-point underdogs against Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and The Greatest Show on Turf, but Tom Brady and Bill Belichick stunned St. Louis and the NFL with a 20-17 victory at the Superdome in New Orleans. 
The Patriots held the Rams to just a field goal in the first half, and New England took a 14-3 lead into halftime off a Ty Law pick-six and an 8-yard touchdown pass from Brady to David Patten with 30 seconds left in the half. 
The New England defense punished Warner and his receivers all game. It looked like the Patriots had taken a 24-3 lead early in the fourth quarter when Roman Phifer crushed Warner and caused a fumble, which Tebucky Jones scooped up and returned it 97 yards for a touchdown. But Willie McGinest was flagged for a defensive hold, and two plays later Warner scored a two-yard touchdown to make it a 17-10 game.
It stayed that way until Warner hit Ricky Proehl for a 26-yard touchdown with 1:37 left, and all of a sudden the Patriots and the Rams were tied at 17. With no timeouts and the New England offense going three-and-out on both of its previous fourth-quarter drives, John Madden famously said that the Patriots should just take a knee and go to overtime. But Tom Brady had other plans. 
He picked the Rams apart with three short passes to J.R. Redmond for 24 yards, and then a 23-yard connection with Troy Brown to move New England into St. Louis territory. Jermaine Wiggins added a six-yard reception after that, and two plays later, Adam Vinatieri kicked a game-winning, 48-yard field goal to give the Patriots a 20-10 victory and the franchise’s first Super Bowl title.
That kickstarted the New England dynasty, as the Patriots would add two more Super Bowls over the next three seasons. 
Fast forward to 2019, when the Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams met in Super Bowl LIII. It was the third straight Super Bowl appearance for the Patriots, but they were matching up against a Rams team that went 13-3 in the regular season and averaged 32.9 points per game.
But the Patriots were no slouch on offense after turning into a dominant running team late in the season, and also had a stout defense that had held opponents to 20.3 points per game. New England was also flying high after an emotional overtime win over the Chiefs in Kansas City in the AFC Championship Game.
Super Bowl LIII was a low-scoring affair between the two teams, as New England led 3-0 at halftime. Sony Michel scored the only touchdown of the game midway through the fourth quarter to put the Patriots on top 10-0, and Stephon Gilmore picked off Jared Goff with a little over four minutes to play to essentially seal the win for New England. Jason McCourty also had a massive PBU in the third quarter to prevent a Los Angeles touchdown.
The Patriots won 13-3 for the franchise’s sixth Super Bowl title, tying them for the most Super Bowl victories with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
We’ll get you ready for Sunday’s Patriots-Rams clash Sunday morning with Patriots GameDay at 11:30 a.m. on WBZ-TV! After the game switch over to TV38 for full reaction and analysis on Patriots 5th Quarter!