<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> <Ul> <Li> ← XXXV </Li> <Li> Super Bowl </Li> <Li> XXXVII → </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> ← XXXV </Li> <Li> Super Bowl </Li> <Li> XXXVII → </Li> </Ul> <P> Super Bowl XXXVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion St. Louis Rams and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2001 season . The Patriots defeated the Rams by the score of 20--17 . It was New England's first Super Bowl championship, and the franchise's first league championship of any kind, having suffered two previous losses . The game was also notable for snapping the AFC East's long streak of not being able to win a Super Bowl championship, as the division's teams had lost eight Super Bowls in total (prior to the Patriots victory in XXXVI). </P> <P> The game was played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, on February 3, 2002 . Following the September 11 attacks earlier in the season, the NFL postponed a week of regular season games and moved the league's playoff schedule back . As a result, Super Bowl XXXVI was rescheduled from the original date of January 27 to February 3, becoming the first Super Bowl played in February . The pregame ceremonies and the halftime show headlined by the Irish rock band U2 honored the victims of the September 11 attacks . Due to heightened security measures following the terrorist attacks, this was the first Super Bowl designated as a National Special Security Event (NSSE) by the Office of Homeland Security (OHS). The OHS later established the practice of naming each subsequent Super Bowl an NSSE . </P>

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