Chuckleheads, the Super Bowl is here and once again Tom Brady and the Patriots will go for another Championship. Much like last year against the Eagles, this year’s Super Bowl will be another rematch. 17 years later the Los Angeles Rams –formerly in St. Louis – with its strong defense and young offense – lead by Goff and Gurley – and the New EnglandPatriots – led by Tom Brady and Bill Belichick – will face off, as the Patriots are not quite ready to give up their dominance of the league just yet. The Patriots are favored to win and thehistory between the two teams leans opinions in that way. I’m not here to tell you what your opinion should be. I am simply going to give you some information and you can decide for yourself who will come away with the win this year.
Nine times in 17 years, Super Bowl week has been headlined by Brady and Belichick, and it all started with a showdown with, at the time, the greatest show on turf. The St. Louis Rams were led by QB Kurt Warner, RB Marshall Faulk and WR Isaac Bruce – just to name a few Rams players at the time. That game ended in what was labeled an upset win for the Patriots. Now, however, we look back on it and ask ourselves if it was really an upset. Tom Brady got the ball back with 1:21 left on the clock at his own 17-yard-line and proceeded to drive his team close enough for Adam Vinatieri to kick a 48-yard game winning field goal. At the time, it may have very well been an upset. However, 17 years later, we ask: is it just what Tom Brady does? When the team needs him to, he always manages to drive them down the field and either allow the kicker to solidify the victory, or he makes it happen with his arm. These two teams have almost flipped places from what they were 17 years ago. The patriots are coming into the game as the reigning power in the AFC, and the Rams with the collective young talent who seem to be a team on the rise in the NFC.
For the Rams, there is quite a large bit of controversy surrounding their road to the Super Bowl after a no-call on pass interference/helmet to helmet that helped propel the game to overtime where the Rams’ kicker, Greg Zuerlein, booted a 57-yard field goal to send them to the Super Bowl. The fact that the Super Bowl – like the NFC Championship – is in a dome, it has to make you wonder that if the game is close, will Zuerlein play a factor in how the game could end? Tom Brady will have to be on high alert this Sunday against the defensive line for the Rams, led by Aaron Donald and his league-leading 20.5 sacks this season. It has been said in the past that the best way to rattle a QB like Brady is to get pressure on him and get him off of his spots in the pocket. The Rams do this better than most teams. On the offensive side of the ball, the Rams will rely on third-year-QB Jared Goff and his weapons. His primary receiving target will be former Patriots’ WR Brandin Cooks, who caught seven passes in the NFC championship for 107 yards. The running game for the Rams will need to be clicking on all cylinders with fourth year stud Todd Gurley, who had his worst game of his career against the Saints: ten yards on four carries. They will also need RB CJ Anderson, who has emerged as a solid second in the backfield.
Bill Belichick will have his team ready to do what they do, with a fundamental offense running between the tackles and throwing short-timing routes. What Belichick and his Patriots do so well is they lull you into complacency and then hit a big play to the likes of Chris Hogan or Rob Gronkowski. When that does work the Patriots do not change or alter, they stay to the game plan and, nine times out of ten, they win with it. Gronk is a matchup nightmare: when you choose to double him, Brady seems to have the knack to find the open man. The AFC Championship was a clear sign of this: any time there was a double near the mammoth tight end, Gronkowski, Julian Edelman was Tom Brady’s go-to, as he is Tom’s safety blanket.Hate them or love them, the Patriots win games because of attention to detail and waiting for the other team to make a mistake to capitalize upon. In order to win against New England, you have to play a perfect game or force them to make uncharacteristic mistakes.
Throughout the playoffs, Brady has been playing in to the narrative going around the sports media outlets that has beensaying that he is “too old” or that “the dynasty is dead.” If that was even remotely the case, then the Patriots would not be going back to the Super Bowl for the third straight year. Has father time started to creep up and catch Tom? Can Tom Brady still get the job done? Until someone proves otherwise, I would say that he can still get the job done. The last thought I will leave you with chuckleheads is: wouldn’t it be an interesting “end” to the dynasty if the Patriots lose to the team that the dynasty started with?
Prediction: Patriots 27 Rams 24, Patriots win on a last second field goal……… history repeats itself.
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