Re-visiting Super Bowl XXXVIII, 20 years later

When the Patriots won their first Super Bowl after the 2001 season, some saw it as a one-time fluke. After all, New England rode a sixth-round draft pick named Tom Brady to an unlikely championship and then followed it up with with a 9-7 mark and missing the playoffs. The 2003 season got off to an inauspicious start when New England cut safety Lawyer Milloy in a salary-cap move just days before the season opener. The unpopular move looked even worse when Milloy signed with rival Buffalo, who destroyed the Patriots in Week 1, 31-0.

After a Week 4 loss to Washington sat the Patriots at 2-2, New England wouldn't lose a game the rest of the way.

They'd win the final 12 games of the season behind a punishing defense; the Pats held opponents to 10 points or less six times, with three being shutouts. In the AFC playoffs, the Patriots shut down NFC co-MVP Steve McNair and the Tennessee Titans in one of the coldest games in NFL history. The defense was outstanding the following week, picking off Peyton Manning four times to beat the high-scoring Colts in the AFC Championship, 24-14.

Twenty years later, we know that the Patriots would go on to have one of the greatest dynasty in sports, with six Super Bowls titles and nine Super Bowl appearances from 2001 to 2018.

The Panthers were an expansion team in 1995 that had just one winning season (1996) and one playoff appearance up to this season. Not only that, but the Panthers were two years removed from a disastrous 1-15 season that saw George Seifert get fired and John Fox become the third head coach in the franchise's history.

The magical season got off to a rocky start when the Panthers were down 14-0 in their season opener to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Fox replaced starting quarterback Rodney Peete with free-agent signing Jake Delhomme. Delhomme proceeded to led Carolina to a comeback victory over the Jags and was the starter the rest of the season. The Panthers would jump out to a 5-0 start and weathered a mid-season slump to end up with an 11-5 record, the NFC South championship, and the No. 3 seed in the playoffs.

After beating Bill Parcells' Cowboys in the wild-card round, the Panthers went on the road to stun the St. Louis Rams and their "Greatest Show On Turf" offense in double overtime — one of the longest games in NFL history. The game ended on the first play of double overtime when Delhomme found Steve Smith for a 69-yard walk-off touchdown.

In the NFC Championship game, the Panthers went into Philadelphia and shut down Donovan McNabb and the Eagles. Cornerback Ricky Manning Jr. (who had a key interception late in the win over the Rams) intercepted McNabb three times in the 14-3 thumping.

One weird fact of Super Bowl XXXVIII is how the scoring was dispersed during the game. For a game that ended up with 61 total points, there was no scoring during the first quarter. In fact, there was no scoring for the first 26 minutes and 55 seconds of the game until Deion Branch caught a Tom Brady touchdown pass with just over three minutes left in the half to break the seal on the scoring. Carolina would take the following possession and scored on a 39-yard Steve Smith TD grab. David Givens would score on the Pats next possession... then the Panthers' John Kasay kicked a 50-yard field goal to end a whirlwind half at 14-10.

You'd think that the offenses would carry the momentum into the second half, but it didn't happen. After scoring 24 points in the final 3:05 of the first half, neither team scored in the third quarter. But we didn't have to wait long for the scoring to pick back up as New England found the end zone just 11 seconds in the fourth quarter with an Antowain Smith two-yard run. From that point forward, both teams threw haymakers. There were 37 points scored in the fourth quarter — a Super Bowl record at the time. 

Super Bowl XXXVIII was one of the greatest Super Bowls ever. Despite some of the weird flaws of the game (which we will dive into), it had some of the best back-and-forth action in championship history. The punches thrown late in both halves were riveting and nearly gave us the first overtime Super Bowl in history.

What puts it among the best? Well, a lot of what we will talk about here. For one, it is just one of five Super Bowls that came down to a field goal attempt in the closing seconds for the win. Second, the 37 points scored in the fourth quarter is still the NFL record for most combined points in any quarter in Super Bowl history.

After a scoreless third quarter, the Patriots carried a 14-10 lead entering the final frame. From there was an offensive explosion we have never witnessed before or since. The Panthers scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter (19 total points) while the Patriots countered with two touchdowns, a two-point conversion and a field goal (18 points).

Sports Illustrated's Peter King called it the greatest Super Bowl of all time. While that is certainly up for an impossible debate, Super Bowl XXXVIII belongs in the conversation due to that dynamic final quarter. 

Very soon Adam Vinatieri will become just the third exclusive placekicker in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, joining Morten Andersen and Jan Stenerud in Canton. It isn't just that Vinatieri is the NFL's all-time leading scorer, the NFL's all-time scorer in the postseason or that he's made more field goals and overtime field goals in NFL history as much as when those kicks occurred.

He's responsible for some of the most memorable field goals in NFL history, including the one he kicked at the end of Super Bowl XXXVIII. Just two years after kicking a game-winning field goal in a blizzard to beat the Raiders in the AFC playoffs and then following it up with a walk-off field goal to beat the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXLVI, Vinatieri found himself setting up for a game winning kick with :09 remaining to win yet another Super Bowl. The 41-yard kick from the right hash mark went right down the middle, giving the Patriots a 32-29 lead with four seconds remaining in the game.

That is one of just four Super Bowls that were decided by successful field goals in the final seconds. The Colts' Jim O'Brien kicked a 32-yard field goal with :05 remaining to beat the Cowboys in Super Bowl V and the Chiefs' Harrison Butker kicked a 27-yard field goal with :08 remaining to beat the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII. The other two were kicked by Vinatieri.

Ironically, Vinatieri actually had a rough game this day. He missed a 31-yard FG in the first quarter and then had a 36-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter blocked by Carolina. His game-winner was his lone successful field goal attempt in the game out of three tries.

Vinatieri would go on to win two more Super Bowls — with the Patriots over the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX the following year and Super Bowl XLI as a member of the Indianapolis Colts.

While most kickers are known for their clutch kicks on field-goal attempts (like the Patriots' Adam Vinatieri), John Kasay may be best known for a crucial mistake in Super Bowl XXXVIII on another kind of kick.

After the Carolina Panthers tied the game on a Ricky Proehl TD catch and Kasay extra point with 1:08 remaining, Kasay did the unthinkable and sent his ensuing kickoff out of bounds. The penalty gave New England the ball at their own 40-yard line, giving the Pats outstanding field position and a great opportunity to move the ball into field-goal range. As we know, Tom Brady and the Patriots did exactly that, leading to Vinatieri's game-winner.

Some context to what happened. While Kasay had a nice game up to that point — a 50-yard field goal and two successful extra points — all of his kickoffs were returned, with none being a touchback. Kasay decided on the final kickoff to kick towards the sideline to pin the returner and give him less field in which to operate. His kick went way left, going out of bounds at the 18-yard line and triggering an illegal procedure penalty on the Panthers. This gave Tom Brady and the Patriots the ball on their own 40-yard line with just over a minute left on the clock and all three timeouts.

Of course if Kasay was used more during the game, the Panthers may not have been in this spot. 

Muhsin Muhammad's 85-yard touchdown grab remains not only the longest touchdown reception in Super Bowl history, but the longest pass completion in Super Bowl history. It is also the longest offensive score in Super Bowl history.

Only four touchdowns have been longer. Three were on kickoff returns: Chicago's Devin Hester, Green Bay's Desmond Howard, and Baltimore's Jacoby Jones all ran kickoffs back for touchdowns. Jones' 108 yard kickoff return remains the longest play in Super Bowl history.

The other was Pittsburgh's James Harrison's 100-yard interception return in Super Bowl XLIII. 

While we are now more conditioned to seeing two-point conversions in the NFL, that wasn't the case in the 2003 season. The PAT was a chip shot back then and teams didn't rely on analytics as they do today, so coaches weren't as ready to chase points as they do 20 years later.

But John Fox didn't feel that way in Super Bowl XXXVIII. Down 21-10 in the 4th quarter, Carolina's DeShaun Foster scored a touchdown on a 33-yard run. Instead of kicking an extra point, Fox elected to go for two and cut the Patriots lead to just three points. Delhomme's pass landed incomplete, making the score 21-16. After picking off a Brady pass deep in their own territory, Carolina scored on an 85-yard touchdown pass to Muhsin Muhammad to give the Panthers a 22-21 lead. Fox again went for two to give the Panthers a three-point lead but the pass to Kevin Dyson sailed out of the endzone. Before the play, CBS's Phil Simms brought up that Fox shouldn't have been chasing the points and had he not went for two earlier in the game, Carolina would be up 24-21 at that point.

The Patriots would drive down the field and retake the lead on a Mike Vrabel TD grab. New England elected to go for two (which they converted) to give the Patriots a 29-22 lead. Had the Panthers actually had the 24-21 lead by kicking those PATs, it is likely New England would've kicked their PAT to give them a 28-24 advantage.

Carolina would quickly drive down the field and scored on a Ricky Proehl 12-yard TD grab. Fox would have Kasay kick the PAT, tying the game 29-29. Again, if Fox didn't go for those two-point conversions then the Panthers would've owned a 31-28 lead.

As you know, Adam Vinatieri kicked a field goal to win the game for the Patriots. However, if the scoring went as planned then Vinatieri's kick would have just tied the game, 31-31, and Super Bowl XXXVIII would have become the first Super Bowl to go into overtime.

By chasing the points, Fox cost his team points and, ultimately, a better shot at winning the game.

With 1:08 remaining in Super Bowl XXXVIII, Ricky Proehl caught a 12-yard pass from Jake Delhomme to tie the Panthers with the Patriots, 29-29. Of course, Vinatieri would go on to kick the game-winning field goal on the following drive to beat Proehl's Panthers. This was a bit of deja vu for the veteran receiver, however.

Just two years before this, Ricky Proehl — as a St. Louis Ram — caught a 26-yard TD with 1:30 left to tie Super Bowl XXXVI, 17-17. And Vinatieri would go down and kick the game-winning field goal to give the Patriots the championship.

Two huge plays to tie Super Bowls late, and both were foiled by Tom Brady's Patriots and Adam Vinatieri's foot. 

Ironically, the most memorable part of this Super Bowl didn't even happen in the game. It was the "wardrobe malfunction." MTV produced the halftime show which featured Janet Jackson singing a variety of her hits. At the end, Justin Timberlake came onstage and performed his song, "Rock Your Body" where he would pull off a piece of Jackson's costume which exposed her right breast that had a covering on her nipple.

The incident was instantly controversial and caused thousands of people to complain to the NFL, CBS (who televised the Super Bowl) and the FCC. NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue was angry about the incident while CBS and MTV issued apologies. Theories raged on about what happened. Was it a publicity stunt? Was it a "wardrobe malfunction?" The moment instantly entered pop culture lore and was one of the first so-to-speak viral moments. It was TiVo's most-rewound event ever and it was even the spark that led to the creation of YouTube.

The fallout was far-reaching. The FCC fined CBS over $500,000, scaring networks away from controversial acts on live television. Many live shows began running longer delays to avoid any offensive content unintentionally making it on air. The NFL reevaluated its halftime shows going forward and began using older, "safer" acts. Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Prince, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and The Who were the next six Super Bowl halftime performers. It also affected Janet Jackson's career at that time, largely negatively.

Janet Jackson's breast wasn't the only halftime wardrobe malfunction during Super Bowl XXXVIII. Just before the second half began, professional streaker Mark Roberts made his way onto the field dressed as an official before disrobing down to just his shoes, socks, his referee hat and a football-themed thong and ran around the field. Roberts, who has done something like this over 500 times in his life, was sponsored by GoldenPalace.com, which was painted on both his chest and his back. He was eventually apprehended by police.

He's not the only streaker in Super Bowl history, but this was done during scary times. American was a little over two years removed from 9/11 and security at events of this magnitude was strict due to the fear of possible terrorist attacks. So anyone getting by security clearances and actually making it on the field was troubling to say the least, even if Roberts was doing it purely for fun.

The Liverpool native has streaked on many soccer matches, Wimbledon, the Running of the Bulls, various Olympics and even NFL games in England. Roberts referred to his Super Bowl XXXVIII streak as the "holy grail of streaking".

Super Bowl XXXVIII has the distinction of being the longest name in the game's history. The seven Roman numerals still holds the record for longest name and won't be duplicated until Super Bowl LXXVIII (78) in 2044 and again in 2053 for Super Bowl LXXXVII (87). It will be surpassed in 2054 with eight Roman numerals for Super Bowl LXXXVIII (88). 

The pregame festivities included honoring the seven astronauts who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster exactly one year earlier. The Columbia broke apart as it reentered the Earth's atmosphere on February 1, 2003, killing all seven aboard. Debris from the Columbia fell over Texas and Louisiana. Houston, site of the Super Bowl, is also the site of the Johnson Space Center and an important hub for the United States' space program.

Before the game, Josh Groban sang "You Raise Me Up" while the crew that would become the next astronauts to return to space — the "Return to Flight" crew — were honored on the field. 

Just look at the Patriots coaching staff in Super Bowl XXXLVIII.

Head coach Bill Belichick was surrounded with some big names. Charlie Weis, who would go on to become head coach at Notre Dame, was his offensive coordinator. His wide receivers coach was Brian Daboll, who is currently the head coach of the New York Giants. The defensive coordinator was Romeo Crennel, who would go on to become the head coach of the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs. Rob Ryan, son of Buddy Ryan and brother of Rex Ryan, served as a linebackers coach. Former Jets and Browns head coach Eric Mangini was the defensive-backs coach, where he had Josh McDaniels as an assistant. 

The Carolina Panthers shot themselves in the foot in other ways. Carolina tied a Super Bowl record (which still stands) with 12 penalties in the game. The 12 infractions tied the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XII for most penalties in Super Bowl history. Interestingly, the Panthers would tie this record again with 12 flags in Super Bowl 50.

It wasn't just the amount of penalties but when they happened. They had two penalties that gave New England first downs (including one on the Patriots' final touchdown drive) and two penalties that backed their offense inside their own 10-yard line. Add in Kasay's penalty for his kickoff out of bounds and Carolina's mistakes were pivotal to their loss.

The Patriots weren't much better, getting tagged with eight penalties, tying Super Bowl XII for most combined penalties in the game. 

Reliant Stadium in Houston (now named NRG Stadium) became the first stadium with a retractable roof to host the Super Bowl. The stadium would also go on to host Super Bowl LI in 2017. Since Super Bowl XXXVIII, there have been eight more Super Bowls played at retractable-roof stadiums.

The first Super Bowl to be played in a domed stadium was Super Bowl XII in New Orleans' Superdome. Since then there have been 21 Super Bowls played at domed stadiums: the Superdome (seven times), Arizona's State Farm Stadium (three times), Atlanta's Georgia Dome (twice), Atlanta's Mercedes Benz Stadium (once), Pontiac's Silverdome (once), Detroit's Ford Field (once), Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium (once), Arlington's AT&T Stadium (once), Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium (once), Minneapolis' Metrodome (once) and US Bank Stadium (once) and Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium (once). Super Bowls LIX and LXI will be held in domes.

Nine Super Bowls have been played at six different retractable-roof stadiums since 2004: NRG Stadium, Mercedes Benz Stadium, AT&T Stadium, Lucas Oil Stadium, State Farm Stadium and Allegiant Stadium.

The Panthers went 14-5 entering the Super Bowl with many of their games going down to the wire. Five of their games went into overtime (they were 4-1 in those contests), including their double-OT win over the St. Louis Rams in the divisional playoffs. Including the Super Bowl, eight of their games were decided by three points or less and 13 games by seven points or less.

So of course Super Bowl XXXVIII would come down to the final moments. Only this time the Panthers didn't find a way to win. 

Despite the game being held 20 years ago, some of the records still stand to this day. Some are part of the amazing dynastic Patriots run in the 2000s and 2010s.

*Super Bowl XXXVIII is part of the New England Patriots' records for most Super Bowl appearances and wins. It is also the first win of a back-to-back championship run — the last time it has happened.  

*One of Tom Brady's record seven Super Bowl championships, five Super Bowl MVPs, 10 Super Bowls played in. The game also added to his record tally for most pass attempts, completions, touchdown passes, fumbles and passing yards in a Super Bowl career.

*Same goes for Bill Belichick, who holds career Super Bowl coaching records for most wins, most appearances as a head coach and most appearances as a coach of any kind.

*John Fox would eventually lead the Denver Broncos to Super Bowl XLVIII 10 years later, joining Don Shula, Dıck Vermeil, Dan Reeves, Bill Parcells and Mike Holmgren as the only head coaches to lead two different franchises to the Super Bowl. Andy Reid has since joined them.

*Adam Vinatieri added to his career records for PATs, field goals attempts and makes.

*Panthers Ricky Proehl and Muhsin Muhammad caught touchdown passes in this game, making them two of the four players in Super Bowl history to score a TD for two different teams. Proehl caught a touchdown pass for the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI while Muhammad would catch a TD as a member of the Bears in Super Bowl XLI. Only Jerry Rice and Rob Gronkowski have done it.

*Jake Delhomme's 85-yard touchdown pass to Muhammad is the longest pass completion and longest play from scrimmage in Super Bowl history.

*New England's Kevin Faulk scored one of only 11 successful two-point conversions in Super Bowl history. No player has had more than one.

*Carolina's Dan Morgan's 18 solo-plus-assist tackles are a single-game record. Rodney Harrison added to his career Super Bowl record for that stat.

*The 37 combined points in the fourth quarter is the most by two teams in any quarter in Super Bowl history.

*Carolina's four touchdowns tied for the most TDs in a loss.

*The 12 penalties called on the Panthers tied a Super Bowl record (Cowboys, Super Bowl XII).The 20 combined penalties between both teams also tied Super Bowl XII.

*This was the longest scoreless game in Super Bowl history. The first score didn't come until the 3:05 mark in the second quarter. 

Let's look back at what the NFL looked like in 2003-2004 season.

*The Colts' Peyton Manning and Titans' Steve McNair were named co-MVPs.

*Marvin Lewis (Bengals), Bill Parcells (Cowboys) and Steve Mariucci (Lions) were among new coaching hires for the season.

*Due to wildfires, a Dolphins-Chargers game was moved to Tempe, Arizona.

*The Chiefs' Priest Holmes set an NFL record for most touchdowns scored (27; since broken)

*The Ravens' Jamal Lewis set an NFL record for most rushing yards in a single game (295; since broken)

*It was the first season in NFL history where every team won at least four games.

*These franchise names existed: San Diego Chargers, Oakland Raiders, St. Louis Rams and the old Washington name.

*The Bengals made Carson Palmer the top overall pick in the NFL Draft. To this point, Troy Polamalu is the only player from this draft to enter the Hall of Fame.

*Paul Tagliabue was the NFL's commissioner. Roger Goodell was the league's executive vice president and COO. 

Of course, when you are discussing the Super Bowl, you have to bring up the commercials. While there may not have been those all-time great ads that Sunday, it is interesting to look back and see what commercials and companies were relevant at that time.

For instance, there was a commercial for Sierra Mist soft drink, which has since been discontinued. We had a couple Wachovia bank ads (Wachovia is now Wells Fargo). There were multiple ads for AOL (ah, yes) and Monster.com. Pepsi had an ad where 11-year old Jimi Hendrix picked their product (siting outside a guitar store) over Coca-Cola (outside an accordion shop). There were ads for Saturn, Cingular Wireless and Nextel.

There was also a 7 Up commercial during their "Make 7 Up Yours" campaign. Pepsi had bears, Bud Light had monkeys, the Simpsons shilled MasterCard, and it-girl Jessica Simpson tossed Pizza Hut in commercials with the Muppets.  

We even had a few Radio Shack commercials!

There were also the battle of the erectile dysfunction pills, as both Levitra (led by Mike Ditka) and Cialis (remember those outdoor bathtubs?) bought ad time. Movies like "Scooby Doo 2", "50 First Dates," "Hidalgo," "Starsky and Hutch" and "Miracle" debuted their trailers during TV's biggest event.

Long-time Super Bowl pal Budweiser featured an ad with a horse farting on a woman holding a candle and another where a dog was trained to bite people in the ... well ... hurtful place. The most well-known commercial from Super Bowl XXXVIII very well could be Budweiser's ad about a donkey that wanted to become a Clydesdale.