NFL 1999-00 Playoffs (Band Based)

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The NFL 1999 Postseason began on January 8, 2000, and it concluded on January 30, 2000 when Dream Theater defeated Sevendust 37-27 in Super Bowl XXXIV in Atlanta, Georgia.

Background and Participants
The 1999 NFL Season saw some unexpected events in terms of which teams made the playoffs. Testament, who had a rather poor mid 90's tenure, unexpectedly stormed to the top of the NFL with a then record breaking 565 offensive points (this record was later broken by Job For A Cowboy with 578 points in 2014). Testament had a franchise best 15-1 record. An up-and-coming team named Slipknot surprised everyone by achieving a then franchise best 14-2 record. Overall, the AFC was exceptionally strong. The leader of the NFC was Creed with a 12-4 record, who also tied with Sevendust and their 12-4 record. This was also the first postseason in which there were four divisions in both conference's. These are the teams who made the playoffs:

Wild Card Round
January 8, 2000

AFC: Coheed and Cambria 22, Opeth 31 Game Time: 12:30 pm EST

Weather: 37 F, Mostly Clear

Stats:

OPT - Mikael Akerfeldt: 27/40  310 Yards  3 TD 1 INT

C&C - Garrett Knolling: 16/31  195 Yards  1 TD 2 INT

Opeth's defense forced 3 turnovers and limited Coheed and Cambria to only 231 yards of offense. Garrett Knolling was filling in for the injured Claudio Sanchez, who suffered a season ending ACL injury back in Week 13. He was sacked 5 times.

NFC: Meshuggah 24, Volbeat 19 Game Time: 4pm EST/ 3pm CST

Weather: 48 F, Clear

Stats:

VOL - Vincent O'Falon: 20/34  227 Yards  0 TD 2 INT

MSH - Jens Kidman: 25/35  281 Yards  2 TD 1 INT

With 3 seconds left, Kidman was able to throw a 31 yard touchdown pass to Trent Michaels to send them to the Divisional Round once again. This game stayed close due to the defense's of both teams making plays throughout the game.

January 9, 2000

NFC: Megadeth 40, Korn 48 Game Time: 12:30pm EST/ 9:30am PST

Weather: 54 F, Haze

Stats:

KRN - Jonathan Davis: 35/48  395 Yards  4 TD 1 INT

MGD - Dave Mustaine: 39/56  441 Yards  3 TD 3 INT

This high scoring shootout ended when Korn Safety Justin Everhart intercepted Mustaine's pass in Korn's own endzone to stop Megadeth from potenially tying the game. Megadeth had a horrendous first half when Mustaine threw two picks and eventually caused Korn to having scoring drives to build a 28-10 lead before Megadeth made a field goal at the end of the first half. Megadeth came to life in the second half when Mustaine threw 289 yards in the second half. Korn still managed to keep their lead, and eventually intercepted Mustaine's pass inside their own endzone to move on to the divisional round.

AFC: Dream Theater 27, Rammstein 3 Game Time: 4pm EST/ 1pm PST

Weather: 66 F, Clear

Stats:

RMS - Till Lindeman: 13/29  121 Yards  0 TD 4 INT

DT - James LaBrie: 28/34  319 Yards  2 TD 0 INT

Dream Theater shutdown Rammstein by only allowing them to have 150 offensive yards. Rammstein also had 6 turnovers while Dream Theater never turned over the ball

Divisional Round
Janaury 15, 2000

AFC: Testament 62, Opeth 17 Game Time: 12:30pm EST/ 9:30am CST

Weather: 54 F, Overcast with Light Rain

Stats:

OPT - Mikael Akerfeldt: 11/20  101 Yards  1 TD 3 INT

OPT - Turk Vershel: 7/13  94 Yards  0 TD 1 INT

TST - Chuck Billy: 25/31  386 Yards  4 TD 0 INT

Testament won their first playoff game in nine years by shredding Opeth with 507 yards of offense. They also forced Opeth to have 7 turnovers in one of the most lopsided playoff games in NFL history.

NFC: Sevendust 10, Meshuggah 9 Game Time: 12:30pm EST

Weather: Domed Stadium

Stats:

MSH - Jens Kidman: 18/35  190 Yards  0 TD 2 INT

SVD - Lajon Witherspoon: 22/37  240 Yards  1 TD 1 INT

Witherspoon's 22 yard TD pass to Keith Urlander with 1:34 left in the first half proved to be the difference maker in this heavily devensive struggle and poor offensive play.

Meshuggah was severely depleted by injuries. Their main half back, two wide receivers, middle line backer, safety and more were all injured. However, they kept the game close by making key defensive plays. Sevendust was able to pull away with a late fourth quarter field goal.

January 16, 2000

NFC: Creed 37, Korn 24 Game Time: 4pm EST

Weather: 68 F, Partly Cloudy

Stats:

KRN - Jonathan Davis: 24/39  267 Yards  2 TD 1 INT

CRD - Scott Stapp: 29/38  313 Yards  2 TD 0 INT

After trailing 24-20 at the end of the third quarter, Creed forced two key turnovers to pull them away with a victory and to the NFC Championship game for the second time in three years.

Both teams fought back and forth with their high powered offenses. Jonathan Davis was 14/21 for 187 yards and had already thrown two TD's at the half. Scott Stapp was able to maintain a good completion percentage throughout the game.

Davis threw an interception 2:49 into the final quarter that set up Creed's scroing drive to take a 27-24 lead. After a Korn fumble, Creed quickly put up another touchdown, taking a 34-24 lead with 5:49 left in the game. Korn quickly went 3 and out again, and after it was punted to Creed, Creed tacked on the final score of the game, a 36 yard field goal to eventually win 37-24.

AFC: Slipknot 17, Dream Theater 23 (2OT) Game Time: 4pm EST/ 3pm CST

Weather: 26 F, Overcast

Stats:

DT - James LaBrie: 30/48  307 Yards  1 TD 2 INT

SLP - Corey Taylor: 32/51  330 Yards  2 TD 2 INT

In frigid temperatures, Dream Theater stunned and upsetted the heavily favored Slipknot team to win in double overtime in a heavily defensive game and featured big swings in momentum. This game is the sixth longest in NFL history with a running time of 75:09.

Dream Theater took a stunning 17-7 lead early in the third quarter before Slipknot got a field goal to cut the deficit to only 17-10. Corey Taylor was able to throw a TD pass late in the fourth quarter to Jim Root to send the game into Overtime. The majority of the first overtime featured missed scoring opportunities. Taylor nearly costed Slipknot the game after he threw an interception which gave Dream Theater great field position at the Slipknot 44 yard line. However, Slipknot's number two defense stepped up their game and intercepted LaBrie's pass on a 2nd and 13. The first overtime period ended with Dream Theater having the ball at their own 45 yard line.

It only took nine seconds into the second overtime for Dream Theater to make a game winning play. LaBrie threw a short mid-field pass to William Herschott, and broke two tackles to run it into the endzone to end the game and give Dream Theater the 23-17 win. This loss actually affected Slipknot in a very big way, but they would regroup and have a franchise record breaking season in 2001. With this win, Dream Theater advanced to their first AFC Championship game in seven years.

Conference Championship
January 23, 2000

AFC: Testament 37, Dream Theater 40 Game Time: 12:30pm EST/ 9:30am PST

Weather: 55 F, Moderate Rain and Windy

Stats:

DT - James LaBrie: 29/45  281 Yards  3 TD 1 INT

TST - Chuck Billy: 26/40  293 Yards  2 TD 1 INT

In the final game at Legions Stadium that was contested in heavy rainfall, Dream Theater shocked everyone when they defeated the best team in the NFL since Pantera in 1994. Testament was not able to constrain Dream Theater in the second half. Testament had the best defense since Pantera in 1994, but they were not able to stop Dream Theater's offense.

Even though both teams offenses were able to put up some good numbers, the rain on the field was making it tough for players to run on it without slipping. After Testament led 24-13 at the half, Dream Theater unexpectedly blew up in the second half.

This was a demoralizing loss for Testament as they started to slowly fall into a decline of performance. Testament would make the playoffs again in the next season (2000-01), but would be eliminated by Slipknot in the Wild Card Round. Testament would then not make the playoffs again until the 2008-09 season. This was also Chuck Billy's final playoff game and he eventually played his last NFL season in 2000-01 before retiring and also unfortunately being diagnosed with germ cell seminoma, a rare cancer. He eventually recovered.

With this win, Dream Theater would return to the Super Bowl for the first time in seven years.

NFC: Creed 13, Sevendust 17 Game Time: 4pm EST

Weather: 67 F, Light to Heavy Rain

Stats:

SVD - Lajon Witherspoon: 13/25  131 Yards  0 TD 0 INT

CRD - Scott Stapp: 21/36  206 Yards  1 TD 2 INT

Creed held a 13-0 lead with 12:09 left in the third quarter, but Sevendust suddenly scored 17 unanswered points and they stopped Creed twice inside Sevendust's own 7 yard line to advance to their first Super Bowl in franchise history.

The heavy rainfall was making it difficult for both teams to function normally on the field. Lajon Witherspoon was knocked out of the game with a dislocated wrist late in the third quarter, and backup Quarterback Aaron Nordin pushed Sevendust to complete the comeback. Creed fell apart in the fourth quarter when Stapp threw an interception and lost a fumble while trying to score a touchdown with only a few seconds remaining in the game.

Super Bowl XXXIV
Date: January 30, 2000

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Stats:

DT - James LaBrie: 26/38  294 Yards  2 TD 0 INT

SVD - Aaron Nordin: 23/40  245 Yards  1 TD 2 INT