By Ron Griffitts
Contributing Columnist
On Jan. 30, 2000, the St. Louis Rams (13-3) coached by Dick Vermeil and the Tennessee Titans (13-3) coached by Jeff Fisher met in the Georgia Dome for Super Bowl XXXIV.
The Titans were led on offense by quarterbacks Steve McNair (2179 passing yards, 12 TD’s), Neil O’Donnell (1382 yards, 10 TD’s), former Ohio State star Eddie George (1304 yards rushing, 12 TD’s and 458 receiving yards, 4 TD’s for total of 1762 yards, 13 TD’s).
The Titans had receivers Kevin Dyson (658 yards), Frank Wycheck (641 yards) and Yancy Thigpen with 648 yards while Al Del Greco converted on 21 of 25 field goal attempts.
On defense Samari Rolle had four interceptions and Danion Sidney three. Jason Kearse led with 14.5 sacks, Eddie Robinson had six sacks and recovered three fumbles, Damion Waltham and Joe Bowden each had three fumble recoveries.
The Rams offense was led by future Hall of Famers Kurt Warner who passed for (4353 yards for 46 TD’s) and Marshall Faulk (1381 rushing yards, 7 TD’s. 1048 receiving yards, 5 TD’s for 2429 yards from scrimmage for 12 TD’s). The wide receivers were Isaac Bruce (1165 receiving yards, 12 TD’s), Torry Holt (788 yards, 6 TD’s), and Az-Zahir Hakim (677, 8 TD’s) with Jeff Wilkins as the field goal kicker who made 20 of 28 attempts.
The Rams got inside the Titans’ 20-yard line three times in the first two quarters but had to settle for field goals of 27, 29 and 28 yards while holding the Titans scoreless in the first two quarters and the Rams led 9-0 at halftime.
The third and fourth quarters had more scoring as Kurt Warner completed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Torry Holt and St. Louis led 16-0 in the third quarter.
But the Titans came alive with two rushing touchdowns by Eddie George of one and two yards although the two-point conversion on the first TD was incomplete and the score was 16-13 Rams.
With 2:12 left in the fourth quarter Al Del Greco kicked a 43 yard field goal to tie the score at 16-16 and on the next Rams’ possession Kurt Warner found Isaac Bruce for a 73-yard score with 1:54 left on the clock to make the score 23-16 which proved to be the final score.
The Titans almost tied the game on the final possession, moving the ball to the Ram 10-yard line. Titan receiver Kevin Dyson caught a pass and stretched the ball towards the goal line, but fell inches short, being tackled by Ram linebacker Mike Jones as time expired.
Kurt Warner won the game MVP and the Rams returned to the Super Bowl in 2002 while the Tennessee Titans have not been back to the Super Bowl.
Statistics for this article came from pro-football-reference.com.
Ron Griffitts a contributing columnist for The Daily Advocate.
