Super Bowl LIII was very boring if you don’t love punting and defense. Even if you do, if was boring. Since 99% of NFL fans enjoy offense, this was viewed as a dud after the last 2 Super Bowls were classic shootouts. It was tied 3-3 in the 3rd quarter, and it finished as the lowest scoring game in Super Bowl history. The halftime show was bad as usual, and the commercials weren’t great. It was the most hated team vs a team with almost no fan base. The only winners are Pats fans and bitter people from St. Louis.
However, Bill Belichick’s game plan was fantastic. Their defensive game plan was similar to the first time these teams met in the Super Bowl 17 years ago. The Pats were 14 point underdogs that day against the high scoring Rams, and they won due to a Ty Law pick-six and by completely taking Marshall Faulk out of the game. Tom Brady was a 1st-year starter at that point, and he played just well enough to win. He led the first of many game-winning drives.
Belichick and Brian Flores, the new coach of the Miami Dolphins, blitzed constantly and were extremely physical last night. Todd Gurley was invisible, as he had only 10 carries for 35 yards. The offense put the ball in Sony Michel and Rex Burkhead’s hands constantly, as Brady couldn’t get anything going until the 4th quarter. This Pats defense made up for their embarrassing performance against Philadelphia last year.
Julian Edelman deserved this MVP award, as the Rams had no answer for him and he had 10 catches for 141 yards. Edelman is so clutch, and he defines the Patriot Way as much as any player throughout the dynasty. Drafted in the 7th round as a quarterback 10 years ago, Edelman has put together a Hall of Fame resumé in his time in New England. While he will never top his game-saving catch against Atlanta, Edelman played one of the best games of his career. Brady waited until the most important drive to play his best, as he threw a beautiful 30-yard seam route to Gronk to set up a 2 yard run by Sony Michel. It was the only play in the Red Zone all game.
Jared Goff was clearly not ready for the moment. He couldn’t handle all of the different looks being thrown at him play after play, and he looked ready for the game to end. I feel bad for all 7 of the Rams fans out there. After holding Tom Brady to 13 points, you would think it would’ve been a blowout win. Goff badly under threw Brandin Cooks on the game-sealing interception by Stephon Gilmore in the 4th quarter. However, without Goff, LA would not have even made the Super Bowl. Brandin Cooks had 2 potential touchdowns knocked away from him after an outstanding recovery by Jason McCourty. Sean McVay deserves some blame too. He threw away a great game by Wade Phillips, only to draw up a game plan that scored 3 points. He was no match for Belichick. Their performance was summed up when Greg Zuerline missed the last field goal 20 yards to the left to finally end the game.
Thankfully, Goff wasn’t taking the loss as bad as left tackle Andrew Whitworth, who said this during his press conference.
“At the end of the day, you’re all gonna die.”
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