As expected, the St. Louis Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers will square off this Sunday in Super Bowl XXXVI. Ah, wait, scratch that. The St. Louis Rams will face the Cinderella New England Patriots.

The Underdog

The past five seasons, tracing back to 1997, one home team has lost in the Conference Championship round. This year the New England Patriots extended the streak to six, by stunning the heavily favored Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Greatest Show on Turf

Our St. Louis Rams are headed to their second Super Bowl in three years. The Rams capped off their NFL-best 14-2 season by defeating speedy Donovan McNabb and the Philadelphia Eagles 29-24 at the newly named Edward D. Jones Dome in St. Louis on Sunday.

Let’s Get Ready To Rumble

This Sunday, the two teams will meet at the Superdome in New Orleans for Super Bowl XXXVI. The Rams (16-2 overall) are heavy favorites against the surprising upstart Patriots (13-5).

A football fan would have hoped for the Steelers to make it to the Big Show. They seemed to have represented a truly formidable foe for the Rams.

But alas, the Patriots did the unthinkable, knocking off the Steelers and are headed to their third Super Bowl, and most likely, their third Super Bowl loss.

The Patriots are a great story. After losing their first two games, along with three-time Pro Bowl quarterback Drew Bledsoe in week two, everyone had counted them out.

Second-year quarterback Tom Brady has stepped in to have an unbelievable season, culminating with the Patriots reaching the Super Bowl, almost entirely due Brady’s play, some great defense and excellent coaching.

The only problem is that they will be going up against a Rams team that demands perfection. The Rams bring the league’s best offense and No. 3 defense.

The story over the past two years has been that the Rams are soft. They have no defense. They are a finesse team.

They turn the ball over too much. Believe that if you will, but the Rams have won their playoff games this post season with defense and a power running game. No trick plays. No receivers taking dives. They have a 10:1 turnover ratio and have outscored their opponents 74-41 in their two playoff games.

The two teams met earlier this year, in week 10 in Foxboro, Mass. The Rams won a close game 24-17 with a 401-yards passing, three-touchdown performance by Kurt Warner. But that game was in New England, on grass.

This time, the two will be meeting in New Orleans, on artificial turf. It will be a tough match-up for New England, as the Rams are accustomed to playing in a dome and on turf.

The Rams style is based on the speed of both the offense and defense, and artificial turf helps them. It will be a challenge for the Patriots to shut down the multifaceted offense of the Rams.

You can believe coach Mike Martz and Rams will not overlook the Patriots, as the Steelers did. Martz has immense respect for Patriots coach Bill Belichick and his coaching abilities.

The Rams feel they were robbed last year and have been on a mission this year to reclaim what is theirs. New England will most likely prove to be nothing more than the last stop in the Rams’ journey.