WILL MCDONOUGH

Parcells likes Patriots' chances

1/31/2002

EW ORLEANS - He was hundreds of miles away, watching the Patriots wrap up the AFC championship, and felt the tears welling.

''I was so happy for Drew and some of my old players that I started to cry,'' said Bill Parcells, coach of the last New England team to play in the Super Bowl. ''That was a great performance by Drew and the rest of that team. To go into Pittsburgh, and beat a good team in a hostile environment is something special. It doesn't get any better than that.''

Parcells said he was not shocked by the win, and gives the Patriots a good chance to beat St. Louis in Sunday's Super Bowl.

''St. Louis is a better team than Pittsburgh, but they are going to be much tougher to shut down on offense,'' he said. ''But I think the Patriots can do it enough to win. You can't shut down this team completely. They're too good for that.

''Last week, I thought they could beat Pittsburgh because they knew how to stop Jerome Bettis and make them a one-sided team. Then it looked to me like they doubled [Plaxico] Burress from time to time, and made Pittsburgh try to win with [Kordell] Stewart throwing to just one side of the field.

''Pittsburgh has a good defense, but not a great one. I think the fact that they played a lot of teams that couldn't score in their own division helped some of the great defensive stats they had at the end of the year. I think the Pittsburgh defense, and the Philadelphia defense were both better than St. Louis.

''I think the most critical part of the whole game for New England this week will be with their offense. They have to play better than they've been playing. They've scored just two offensive touchdowns against Oakland and Pittsburgh and that won't be enough to beat St. Louis. You have to find a way to score 25 to 30 points, because the Rams figure to score in that range. I think [the Patriots] can find a way to do it. This Rams defense is good, but not great. They benefit a lot by their team going out to big leads early in the game, forcing the other team to start throwing. It's nice to play defense when you know the other team isn't going to throw. That makes it a lot easier. The Patriots have to stay close to keep the pressure on the Rams defense.''

But how do you keep the St. Louis offense from lighting up the scoreboard? The Rams are the first - and only - team in NFL history to score 500 points three years in a row.

''The Rams have more weapons than Pittsburgh,'' said Parcells. ''What I think the Patriots will try to do is keep Marshall Faulk from killing them as a pass receiver.

''This guy is one of the best catching the ball out of the backfield and getting upfield. They have to take this away, and put all of the burden of the offense on Kurt Warner. This kid is a lot better passer than Kordell Stewart, so it isn't going to be easy. But I think they will focus on stopping Faulk and making Warner take the shorter passes, rather than the big play deep. On the offensive side of the ball, they have to move it, score some points, and run time off the clock. If they make it a shorter game, then St. Louis will have fewer times with the football.''

Parcells thinks this year's Patriots and his Super Bowl team of five years ago are a lot alike.

''Offensively, I think that team had more firepower. Drew was at the top of his game. [Ben] Coates was having a big year at tight end, plus we had two outstanding wide receivers, [Terry] Glenn and Shawn Jefferson. And I think our group of backs, Curtis Martin, Sam Gash - even though he didn't play in the Super Bowl - David Meggett, and Keith Byars was better than this group. This offensive line would have the edge, and I think defensively, this line was better than ours. Most of the defensive backs are the same, Ty [Law], Lawyer [Milloy], and Otis [Smith]. I think with the combination of Tebucky Jones and Matt Stevens, they are better at the other safety spot than we were. Also, they have better depth in the defensive backfield than we did.

''So overall, offensively I think we were better, but defensively, this group is better. The special teams this year are also very good. I think they get the edge on special teams over St. Louis. I'll be pulling for them. I was very happy when a couple of my old players, Gash and Coates, picked up rings last year, and I would like to see that happen to some of the kids on this team.''

Word has it the Patriots' unexpected Super Bowl push has put ticket sales for next year way ahead of projections. Reportedly, the Patriots have sold all of their luxury suites (80) and general admission seats (61,000), and most of their club or preferred seats.

The competing teams get around 13,000 tickets for Sunday's game, which accounts for 17.5 percent of tickets available.

As the host team, the Saints get 4,000, and each of the remaining 28 teams get approximately 800 each. This year's ticket is considered the ''softest'' in recent Super Bowl memory. Scalpers are getting $1,100 for a $400 seat, compared with last year in Tampa, when the price never dropped below $2,000. The consenus is if the Steelers, who bring more fans to away games during the regular season than any other team, were playing, the ticket would be much higher.

Even though they were beaten handily in their two previous Super Bowl appearances, the Patriots are ranked among the top 10 most-watched television programs of all time, according to the A.C. Nielsen Figures. Their appearance against the Packers in 1997 ranks seventh, with 128,900,000 viewers; against the Bears in 1986, 127,000,000 people tuned in.

''The numbers are driven by the game itself,'' said Dennis Lewin, NFL senior vice president for broadcasting and network television. ''If the game is good, more people will watch. A couple of years ago, we had two small-market teams, St. Louis and Tennessee, and over 130,000,000 watched. The reason? It was a good game with a great finish. If [this game] goes to the wire, it will have a great rating.''