Super Bowl 53 could mark the end of one era and that start of a new one. Super Bowl 36 between the Rams and The Patriots in 2001 signaled the start of the Patriots dynasty. The Patriots came into the game as a 14 point underdog. They left with a 20 – 17 win and the start of what turned into one of the greatest dynasties in sports. Just to put into perspective how long the Patriots have been good. Pat Summerall and John Madden were still working in the booth. George W. Bush was still in his first term as president. The first iPhone was still over five years away from it debute. Windows XP was less than a year old. All the things that have happened and passed since the Patriots won their frist Super Bowl. It really has been an amazing run. It is fitting that in a time when you know this with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick together cannot go on much longer. That they are playing the Rams is fitting.
The Rams were playing in their second Super Bowl in three years. Being the heavy favorite and with the Greatest Show in Turf. The future of the Rams was looking bight. You can not say for sure that the loss to the Patriots is what caused the Rams run to end. The next year they would have a losing record. Then the next two years they would make the playoffs but they would not sniff the Super Bowl in either of those playoff runs. After the 2004 season they would not make the playoffs again till 2017. Now this season they have made it to the Super Bowl looking to unseat the favorite Patriots.
The Patriots are the Patriots. Until someone takes them out they are the king. Ok they lost the Super Bowl last year to the Eagles. But they were there. All of the loses the Patriots have had in the super bowl were very close games. Games the easily could have went the other way. Even with those loses the Patriots have 5 Super Bowl wins. Even if you think the Rams are the better team you have to at least give the Patriots a shot at winning this game.
A Look At the Patriots Season
The Patriots almost always start slow. The 2018 season was no different. The Patriots won their first game against the Texans. A Texans teams that would go on to make the playoffs. The Patriots then lost two games in a row. To the Jaguars in week 2 and to the Lions in week 3. Neither of these two teams turned out to be very good this year. The two losses had the talking heads spouting off about the demise of the Patriots and the dynasty is over for them. Yes of course three games into the season you can tell a team is done. Maybe if it was the Browns but not the Patriots. After those two losses the Patriot would go on a six game win streak. Which would take them from the bottom to the top of the AFC East. After that the rest of the AFC East really was not much of a challenge for them. The only question was would the Patriots get home field and a bye in the first round of the playoffs. The answer was they would get the bye and one game at home. In the end as we know. It really did not matter.
A Look at the Rams Season
The Rams season started out with a bang. The Rams did not lose until week 9 of the season. That first loss on November 9th was in an exciting game with the Saints. The Rams had some close calls. They only beat the Packers by two points and the Packers had a lead late in that game. If not for the odd choice by Montgomery to run a kick off out of the end zone the Packers could have had a chance to beat them. After the loss to the Saints the Rams Won three. Lost two then won their final two games to finish with the second best record in the NFC. Of the three games the Rams lost. All three of them were to teams that would make the post season. With the way the Rams started the season many people had them as the team to beat in the playoffs. Then when they lost those three games to playoff teams people pulled back on that a bit. Of course we will never know what would have happened if that blown call at the end of the NFC Championship game had been called correctly. At this point it really does not matter. Whether you think the Rams should be in Super Bowl 53 does not matter. They are there and will have a chance to get the Rams their second Super Bowl win.
How the Game will Shake out
Offensively the teams were pretty close. The Rams finished second in over all offense in the NFL with 6738 total yards. The Patriots finished 5th over all with 6295 yards. In points scored the Rams were second averaging 32.9 points per game the Patriots were 4th averaging 27.3 points per game. On defense the Rams were 19th in total yards giving up 5737 total yards. The Patriots were 21st giving up 5746. The big difference on defense was in the average each team gave up in points per game. The Patriots were 7th in the league giving up an average of 20.3 points per game. The Rams were 24th giving up an average of 24 points a game.
Neither defense is an outstanding defense. That is not how these two teams won most of their games this year. Their plan was to bend don’t break try to keep a team under 25 points. Then have our offense go out and score 30. With the way that the NFL is going this is not a bad strategy. It has worked pretty well for both these teams so far. What does this all mean for Super Bowl 53? As far as I can tell. Nothing.
Both teams had close games in their conference championship games. You really can’t get much closer than being tied at the end of regulation. Both teams beat other teams that were slight favorites. Each team also benefited from a blown call. The other teams still had a chance to win so those calls may not have directly lead to the outcome of the game but they definitely contributed. This is not saying that these two teams do not deserve to be here. Just part of the story. We always maintain in sports at this level you need two things in order to win. Skill and Luck.
It would be fitting if the Rams won this game. 17 years ago the Patriots beat them. Now this could be the passing of the torch. The Rams will win a close game with a controversial call close to the end of the game.
Rams 35 Patriots 33
Loading ...
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Recent Comments