NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- The coaches who will face each other in Super Bowl XXXVI made their final public appearance prior to the game Friday and they emphasized what their message has been this week.
St. Louis Coach Mike Martz has stressed to his players that they just need to be themselves. New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick has told members of his team time and again that they need to be better.
What has been a very subdued Super Bowl week began to wind down Friday with the players going through their final major workout, after which they faced the long hours of nervousness leading up to Sunday evening's kickoff.
With a persistent demonstration of mutual respect shown by the two teams and with no major controversies during the week, the days leading up to the Super Bowl have been unusually stress free.
Even the overwhelming security blanketing the city has not been an issue for the Patriots and Rams.
"That has not been a problem for us at all," Martz said. "Our situation at the hotel is actually better than it was two years ago (when the Rams won the Super Bowl against Tennessee in Atlanta). It has been very easy for us to get on the bus and get to meetings. The security has been very much appreciated."
Belichick said he noticed the security more prior to Super Bowl XXV, when he was an assistant coach for the New York Giants. That game was played out in the shadow of the Gulf War.
"I would say there might have been more obvious security for the Super Bowl in Tampa Bay than there is here," he said. "There is plenty of security, don't get me wrong. But as far as being incumbered or tripping over people, there is none of that.
"In Tampa, you walked out of the hotel and saw snipers on top of the roof. I think maybe that made you a little more uneasy than it has been here."
There was, however, a mild security scare during New England's final workout at Tulane University Friday.
Tulane's field is bordered to the west by five houses with windows facing the field. Midway through practice, linebackers coach Pepper Johnson summoned club official Berj Najerian and pointed to an open window on the third floor.
Clearly visible in the window was a telescope. Fifteen minutes later, a person at the window appeared and suddenly vanished. League and team officials scanned the window area with binoculars and the person did not return.
St. Louis also had its final full practice at the New Orleans Saints' facility. The club practiced for 90 minutes and mostly went through short-yardage, goal line and red zone situations.
Left tackle Orlando Pace (knee) and defensive tackle Jeff Zgonina (elbow), who missed practice the last two days, worked for the first time this week. Both will start Sunday.
The Rams are a 14-point favorite to win their second Super Bowl in three years despite the fact they defeated the Patriots by just seven when the teams met in Foxboro, Mass., on Nov. 25. Since that setback, New England has run off eight straight victories.
St. Louis quarterback Kurt Warner threw for 401 yards in that game, but when New England's Tom Brady hit David Patten with a 10-yard touchdown throw with 7:46 to play, the Patriots were in position to pull off an upset.
The Rams, however, kept the ball for the rest of the game, killing off the clock with a methodical drive that carried from their own 28 to the New England 12 as time expired.
That game, Belichick said Friday, carried all the elements that make St. Louis such a difficult team to beat.
"You see on film that the Rams always seem to be getting an early turnover and getting a quick score," Belichick said. "They did it against us that day."
On New England's first possession in their prior meeting this season, Brady threw an interception that set the Rams up at the Patriots' 18-yard line. That led to a 16-yard touchdown pass from Warner to Torry Holt.
"And they are so explosive," Belichick said. "In our game, they took the ball 97 yards in the final two minutes of the first half and scored (to take a 14-10 halftime lead). We've seen them do it in other games. We have to put a little bit of extra emphasis on the two-minute period in practice today.
"The first thing I told the team this week, and I have emphasized it all week, is that if the Rams throw for 400 yards and we score only 10 points, we will be in trouble.
"We have to play better than we played the last time against them. They played better than we did. Even though it was a competitive game, we will have to play better, play smarter and coach better. If we don't play any better than we played on Nov. 25, we will probably get beat. And get beat maybe worse than we did then."
Belichick said that general message to his team was more important than a fiery, pre-game speech.
"Sometimes I talk to them before a game and sometimes not," he said. "Sometimes they have heard enough from me already. But the most important thing in this game is we have to understand how we played them before and that we can't play them the same way again.
"We will have to do some things differently and we have to do them better. Again, that's been my message all week and that will continue to be my message right up until gametime."
Martz, meanwhile, said he had not yet thought about what he would say to his players in the minutes just before Sunday's game.
"Usually, that just happens," he said. "But the message is usually just about our performance. We strive for excellenece every week and that continues into the Super Bowl.
"It has never been our focus about whether we are the favorite or the underdog. We don't talk about that and I have not talked about it with the team. Our focus will always be on ourselves and getting the highest level of effort. Our charge is for us to go out and lay it on the line out there. You can't worry about anything else."
