Directly after Super Bowl XXXVIII, six parked buses sat out in front of the locker room area outside Reliant Stadium. Three for New England, three for Carolina. The Patriots had just won their second Super Bowl in three years. Adam Vinaterri’s 41-yard game-winning field goal capped off an exhausting fourth quarter that saw 37 points scored, 18 in the last three minutes. Carolina strength and conditioning coach Jerry Simmons, dejected, wandered outside. Slowly, the teams started to filter out and into the waiting buses. “I watched (the Patriots’) players start to get on their bus,” remembered Simmons. “There was not a lot of talking and laughing and having a good time. They were exhausted. I think both teams left it out there on the field. Both teams played their hearts out.” The Panthers exhausted a lot of teams this year. They won four games in overtime and eight by three
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