Adam Vinatieri's 48-yard field goal as time expired gave the New England Patriots their first Super Bowl title.
The Rams outgained the Patriots 427-267 in total yards, but the Patriots forced three turnovers, which resulted in 17 points, while committing no turnovers.
Jeff Wilkins' 50-yard field goal capped a 10-play, 48-yard drive midway through the first quarter to give the Rams a 3-0 lead. The first turnover came with 8:49 left in the second quarter, when Ty Law stepped in front of an out-pattern pass intednded for Isaac Bruce and raced 47 yards untouchdwd down the left sideline into the end zone.
Late in the first half, Kurt Warner completed a 15-yard pass to Ricky Proehl to the Patriots' 40, but Antwan Harris forced Proehl to fumble and Terrell Buckly recovered. Five plays later, Tom Brady's 8-yard touchdown pass to David Patten with 21 seconds left in the quarter gave New England a 14-3 halftime lead.
Late in the third quarter, Torry Holt slipped coming off the line of scrimmage, and Otis Smith intercepted Warner's pass and returned it 30 yards to the Rams' 33 to set up Vinatieri's 37-yard field goal and a 17-3 lead.
The Rams responded by driving to the Patriots' 3. On fourth-and-goal, Warner scrambled, was tackled by Roman Phifer, and fumbled. Tebucky Jones picked up the ball and raced the length of the field for an apparent touchdown, but the play was negated by Willie McGinest's holding penalty.
Warner scored two plays later to trim the deficit to 17-10 with 9:31 left. The Patriots went three and out on their next two possessions, giving the Rams the ball on their 45-yard-line with 1:51 left.
Warner completed an 18-yard pass to Az-Zahir Hakim and an 11-yard pass to Yo Murphy before connecting on a 26-yard touchdown pass to Proehl with 1:30 left to tie the game.
Operating without any time outs, Brady completed three short passes to J.R. Redmond to reach the Patriots' 41 with 33 seconds left. After an imcompletion, Brady completed 23- and 16-yard passes to Troy Brown and Jermaine Wiggins, respectively, to reach the Rams' 30, and then spiked the ball with seven seconds remaining.
Vinatieri drilled the 48-yard field-goal attempt, marking the first time in Super Bowl history the game had been won on the final play.
Brady, who earned most valuable player honors, was 16 of 27 for 145 yards and one touchdown. Warner was 28 of 44 for 365 yards and one touchdown, with two interceptions.
SCORING
St. Louis 3 0 0 14 -- 17
New England 0 14 3 3 -- 20
STL- FG Wilkins 50, 11:50 1st
NE- Law 47 interception return (Vinatieri kick),
6:11 2nd
NE- Patten 8 pass from Brady (Vinatieri kick),
14:29 2nd
NE- FG Vinatieri 37, 13:42 3rd
STL- Warner 2 run (Wilkins kick), 5:29 4th
STL- Proehl 26 pass from Warner (Wilkins kick),
13:30 4th
NE- FG Vinatieri 48, 15:00 4th
TEAM STATISTICS STL NE
Total First Downs 26 15
Rushing 7 6
Passing 16 8
Penalty 3 1
Total Net Yardage 427 267
Total Offensive Plays 69 54
Avg. Gain per Offensive Play 6.2 4.9
Rushes 22 25
Yards Gained Rushing (Net) 90 133
Average Yards per Rush 4.1 5.3
Passes Attempted 44 27
Passes Completed 28 16
Had Intercepted 2 0
Tackled Attempting to Pass 3 2
Yards Lost Attempting to Pass 28 11
Yards Gained Passing (Net) 337 134
Punts 4 8
Average Distance 39.8 43.1
Punt Returns 3 1
Punt Return Yardage 6 4
Kickoff Returns 4 4
Kickoff Return Yardage 82 100
Interception Return Yardage 0 77
Total Returns Yardage 88 181
Fumbles 2 0
Fumbles Lost 1 0
Own Fumbles Recovered 1 0
Opponent Fumbles Recovered 0 1
Penalties 6 5
Yards Penalized 39 31
Field Goals 1 2
Field Goals Attempted 2 2
Third-Down Efficiency 5/13 2/11
Fourth-Down Efficiency 0/0 0/0
Time of Possession 33:30 26:30
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
St. Louis No. Yds. LG TD
M.Faulk 17 76 15 0
Warner 3 6 5 1
Hakim 1 5 5 0
Hodgins 1 3 3 0
New England No. Yds. LG TD
A.Smith 18 92 17 0
Patten 1 22 22 0
K.Faulk 2 15 8 0
Edwards 2 5 3 0
Brady 1 3 3 0
Redmond 1 -4 -4 0
Passing
St. Louis Att. Comp. Yds. TD Int.
Warner 44 28 365 1 2
New England Att. Comp. Yds. TD Int.
Brady 27 16 145 1 0
K.Faulk 0 0 0 0 0
Receiving
St. Louis No. Yds. LG TD
Hakim 5 90 29 0
Bruce 5 56 22 0
Holt 5 49 18 0
M.Faulk 4 54 22 0
Proehl 3 71 30 1
Robinson 2 18 12 0
Conwell 2 8 9 0
Murphy 1 11 11 0
Hodgins 1 8 8 0
New England No. Yds. LG TD
Brown 6 89 23 0
Redmond 3 24 11 0
Wiggins 2 14 8 0
Edwards 2 7 5 0
Patten 1 8 8t 1
A.Smith 1 4 4 0
K.Faulk 1 -1 -1 0
Interceptions
St. Louis No. Yds. LG TD
None -- -- -- --
New England No. Yds. LG TD
Law 1 47 47t 1
O.Smith 1 30 30 0
Punting
St. Louis No. Avg. LG Blk.
Baker 4 39.8 49 0
New England No. Avg. LG Blk.
Walter 8 43.1 53 0
Punt Returns
St. Louis No. FC Yds. LG TD
Bly 3 2 6 7 0
New England No. FC Yds. LG TD
Brown 1 1 4 4 0
Kickoff Returns
St. Louis No. Yds. LG TD
Murphy 3 81 38 0
M.Faulk 1 1 1 0
New England No. Yds. LG TD
Pass 3 85 35 0
Brown 1 15 15 0
St. Louis Rams New England Patriots
== Offense ==
Holt, Torry WR Brown, Troy WR
Pace, Orlando LT Light, Matt LT
Nutten, Tom LG Compton, Mike LG
McCollum, Andy C Woody, Damien C
Timmerman, Adam RG Andruzzi, Joe RG
Jones, Ron RT Randall, Greg RT
Conwell, Ernie TE Wiggins, Jermaine TE
Bruce, Isaac WR Patten, David WR
Warner, Kurt QB Brady, Tom QB
Hodgins, James FB Edwards, Marc FB
Faulk, Marshall RB Smith, Antowain RB
== Defense ==
Ahanotu, Chidi LE Hamilton, Bobby LE
Young, Brian LT Mitchell, Brandon DT
Zgonina, Jeff RT Seymour, Richard DT
Wistrom, Grant RE Pleasant, Anthony RE
Davis, Don LLB Vrabel, Mike LLB
Fletcher, London MLB Bruschi, Tedy MLB
Polley, Tommy RLB Phifer, Roman RLB
Williams, Aeneas LCB Law, Ty LCB
McCleon, Dexter RCB Smith, Otis RCB
Archuleta, Adam SS Milloy, Lawyer SS
Herring, Kim FS Jones, Tebucky FS
== Substitutes ==
Baker, John Buckley, Terrell
Bly, Dre Chatham, Matt
Brigance, O.J. Cherry, Je'Rod
Butler, Jerametrius Coleman, Fred
Canidate, Trung Cox, Bryan
Fields, Mark Faulk, Kevin
Garcia, Frank Harris, Antwan
Gary, Willie Izzo, Larry
Hakim, Az-Zahir Johnson, Charles
Holcombe, Robert Johnson, Ted
Jackson, Tyoka McGinest, Willie
Little, Leonard Pass, Patrick
Manumaleuna, Brandon Paxton, Lonie
Moran, Sean Redmond, J.R.
Murphy, Yo Ruegamer, Grey
Pickett, Ryan Rutledge, Rod
Proehl, Ricky Shaw, Terrance
Robinson, Jeff Stevens, Matt
Sorensen, Nick Vinatieri, Adam
Spikes, Cameron Walter, Ken
Tucker, Ryan Williams, Grant
Wilkins, Jeff
== Did Not Play ==
Martin, Jamie Bledsoe, Drew
Parker, Riddick