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In the wee small hours of Monday morning, as he reveled in his game-saving tackle on the final play of Super Bowl XXXIV just a few hours earlier, St. Louis Rams linebacker Mike Jones took some time out from the team's private party at a posh Buckhead hotel to note that the NFL champions' roster is dotted with blue-collar guys who reached the summit the hard way.

His point was well-made and certainly a salient one. General managers and personnel directors from around the league like to use the Rams and Indianapolis Colts as examples of teams who had a lot of high-round draft choices the past several seasons and constructed their rosters around them. Overlooked in that somewhat superficial analysis is that St. Louis also has 19 players on its roster, the most of any team in the league, who started their NFL careers as undrafted free agents.

The only unit of the Rams that doesn't include at least one undrafted free agent is the tight end corps. At the same time, four of the nine offensive linemen came out of college unwanted, as did half of St. Louis' eight linebackers. It's testimony to the personnel acumen of vice president Charley Armey and director of college scouting John Becker, who discovered so many of the remnant players, and to coach Dick Vermeil for giving them a chance to make his team.

Mostly, however, it is a tribute to the perseverance of guys like quarterback Kurt Warner, center Mike Gruttadauria, guard Tom Nutten, defensive tackle D'Marco Farr, linebackers Jones and London Fletcher and safety Billy Jenkins, among others. In an era when the high-profile player earns most of the credit and the money, the Rams are proof positive that football remains the ultimate team sport and that heroes come in all shapes and sizes and backgrounds,

"We're kind of the mutts, just like everything free agent, you know?" Fletcher said. "But once in a while, a mutt will grab onto your leg, sinks its teeth in and not let go. We've got a lot of guys on this team like that. You look around the room, and there are a lot of people here who had plenty of excuses to just give up, but none of them did."

Warner clearly is the poster boy for dreams come true, the guy who picked up the easy $75,000 check by announcing he's going to Disneyworld, but Jones presents a compelling example as well.

He began his professional career with the Raiders in 1991 and didn't become a full-time starter until '95. Only twice in his career has he had 100 tackles. Entering this season, Jones had just four career interceptions. He equaled that total in 1999, added 13 passes defensed, a sack, two fumbles forced and two recovered and tied a league record by returning three takeaways for touchdowns during the regular season.

Not bad for a guy who played running back at Missouri.

Coming out of college, several league scouts suggested he switch to linebacker. One of the first was Armey, then working as director of players operations for the New England Patriots.

Said Armey after the Super Bowl XXXIV victory: "I just didn't think he was a very good runner. But I knew he was tough and strong and smart. That's a pretty good combination."

Three seasons ago, the Rams signed Jones as an unrestricted free agent, feeling he would be a nice role player for them. With the game on the line Sunday night, he played a much bigger role than anyone could ever have imagined.

Credit is due Tennessee offensive coordinator Les Steckel for making a brilliant play call on the final snap of a Super Bowl that uncharacteristically had people on the edge of their seats for the final 10 minutes. Everyone in the Georgia Dome assumed that, with just six seconds remaining, Titans quarterback Steve McNair would either run a quarterback draw play or attempt to find tight end Frank Wycheck in the end zone. Instead the strategy of Steckel was to hit wide receiver Kevin Dyson in stride on an underneath "drag" route, then hope his momentum would either carry him into the end zone or allow him to run through a tackler.

London Fletcher is one of the Rams' four linebackers who started his career as an undrafted free agent.(AP)

But as good as the call was, Mike Jones was even better, the man with the common surname making an uncommon read and then a sure tackle. It was pure textbook stuff, Jones floating a few steps toward the flat to bump Wycheck, then reacting when he saw Dyson flash inside of him on the slant. In an era in which the open-field tackle has sadly become a lost art, he swung his arm around and struck square into the knee of Dyson, knocking out his underpinning.

Brought to St. Louis for dedication and leadership and work ethic, Jones brought the city its first Super Bowl title.

"Laying there on top of Dyson, because I wanted to make sure the scoreboard clock had nothing but zeros on it, I just couldn't believe I had done it," Jones said. "I made the perfect read but I had some luck on my side, too."

Speaking of dumb luck, take a look at the 73-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Bruce that provided the winning score for the Rams. On the play, Warner is impacted by Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse on one of the few occasions he was able to shove offensive tackle Fred Miller back into the quarterback's face. Kearse hits Warner's arm just as he releases, and the concussive force causes the ball to be a few feet underthrown. Ask yourself this: If the trajectory isn't influenced by Kearse, does Bruce catch the ball?

I think not. At that point, Titans cornerback Denard Walker was stride-for-stride with Bruce. It wasn't until the ball comes in short that Bruce makes a brilliant adjustment back inside and then slips past Walker to begin his romp into history.

You've got to be good to win a Super Bowl, and you've got to be lucky, too.

And it doesn't hurt, either, to have a few grunts on your side like Mike Jones, guys who know the way to the top of the mountain sometimes means taking the longest path.