The New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams 13-3 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA to win their sixth Super Bowl, all since 2001, and their third in five years.
When I wrote the Gameplan for Super Bowl LIII, I expected … more points. I also expected a Rams win. I’m not mad at all that the Patriots won, mainly because that meant not being subjected to arrogant Los Angeles fair-weather fans who barely noticed they had a team in the city three years ago and the sycophantic credentialed fans who went to Georgia thinking they were writing triumphant columns only to be left with muted sadcaps wishing the next Boston-Los Angeles sports final that I hope doesn’t come for decades and involves the LA Clippers, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim or Boston Bruins ends differently than the previous two.
New England OLB Dont’a Hightower had three QB hits, 2.0 sacks, and a pass defensed in Super Bowl LIII.
But I digress. Let’s look at this game!
New England’s offense actually was acceptable in some phases. The Patriots ran the ball 32 times for 154 yards, a 4.8 clip that was in line with Los Angeles’ porous run defense from the regular season. The only touchdown of the entire game was scored by New England rookie RB Sony Michel, and that didn’t come until 7:00 left in the game! Who knew that one touchdown would be all that was needed to beat the Rams?! Michel wasn’t just a vulture either, as he totaled 94 rushing yards on 18 attempts, a healthy 5.2 average.
New England’s offensive line also did a solid job in pass protection, allowing only one sack and four QB hits. The Patriots only turned the ball over once all game.
That said, New England QB Tom Brady was not good. His very first pass attempt was intercepted by Los Angeles ILB Cory Littleton, who caught the deflected attempt intended for WR Chris Hogan after CB Nickell Robey-Coleman defended it.
Brady’s connection with Hogan was broken all game, as none of the six passes intended for Hogan were received. Brady tried WR Cordarrelle Patterson twice, but Patterson’s two receptions went for only 14 yards. Brady did not target WR Phillip Dorsett at all, and his eight targets to RBs Michel, James White and Rex Burkhead netted only 20 yards. Super Bowl LIII marked the most pass attempts of Brady’s postseason career (35) in which he had no TD passes or run TDs. Amazingly, Brady is 5-0 in the postseason when he fails to throw a TD pass.
While Brady didn’t have success throwing to outside receivers or backs, he did have WR Julian Edelman and TE Rob Gronkowski. Gronk secured 6-of-7 targets for 87 yards, and he set up Michel’s TD with the longest play of the game, a 29-yard reception in near triple coverage. Edelman caught 10-of-12 targets for 141 yards and was named Super Bowl MVP. Overall, Brady had a 116.7 passer rating when targeting Edelman or Gronkowski, while compiling a 14.6 passer rating when targeting anyone else.
The shock of this game came in the 26:50 that Los Angeles had the ball. It is simply jarring that the best offense in the NFL outside of Missouri failed to gain positive yardage on 27 out of 60 plays.
New England’s pass rush was supposed to be at a major disadvantage in this game. It was the Los Angeles Rams offensive line with the forgettable performance, allowing four sacks and 12 QB hits. New England OLBs Dont’a Hightower and Kyle Van Noy had three QB hits each, with Hightower collecting two sacks and Van Noy collecting one. DE Trey Flowers didn’t have a sack, but he had two QB hits.
The Rams were really beaten by their baffling usage of RB Todd Gurley. Gurley played nearly twice as many snaps as RB C.J. Anderson, but Gurley only had ten rushing attempts for 35 yards. Anderson rushed seven times for only 22 yards. Michel outproduced both backs by himself; the Rams averaged only 3.4 yards per rush.
The Patriots wanted the game to be in Los Angeles QB Jared Goff’s hands. Goff was absolutely not up to the task. Goff only threw one pass to a tight end all game, and Gerald Everett wasn’t able to corral it. WR Josh Reynolds only caught 3-of-7 targets for 28 yards. Gurley and Anderson only netted 11 yards on five targets. WR Robert Woods only caught 5-of-10 targets, though he turned them into 70 yards. Goff’s best option was WR Brandin Cooks, who secured 8-of-13 targets for a team-high 120 yards. But Goff’s lone INT was thrown in Cooks’ direction, a lollipop that New England CB Stephon Gilmore brought down easily. Goff finished with a 57.9 passer rating, completing only 19-of-38 passes for 229 scoreless yards and the interception that ended Los Angeles’ last chance with 4:17 left to play.
If you liked punting, this game was for you! New England P Ryan Allen dropped 3-of-5 punts inside the 20 while averaging a net of 40.6 yards. As expected, Los Angeles Rams P Johnny Hekker was even better, as he dropped 5-of-9 punts inside the 20 while averaging a net of 46.1 yards. One of Hekker’s punts even set a Super Bowl record at 65 yards!
New England K Stephen Gostkowski missed a 46-yard field goal wide left, but he came through with makes from 42 and 41 yards. While Los Angeles K Greg Zuerlein made a 53-yard field goal for the only Rams score, he ended the last possession of the game with a shank from 48 yards.
Looking back at this game – it’s just wild how New England head coach Bill Belichick made this Rams offense look like the 2015 Washington offense that was coordinated by Los Angeles head coach Sean McVay when they visited Gillette Stadium that season. It’s also wild how New England’s offense was only marginally better against Los Angeles defensive coordinator Wade Phillips than it was in 2016. The Miami Dolphins have to be thrilled about getting New England LB coach Brian Flores as their head coach. The Cincinnati Bengals can’t be thrilled about how this Super Bowl turned out as they hire Los Angeles QB coach Zac Taylor as head coach.
Either way you look at it – The Patriots dominated this game, and the only thing that was missing were Brady touchdown, or else this was a blowout. We will not see these teams face each other until the 2020 season – unless they meet in Super Bowl LIV.
Please, please do not allow that to happen.
— Law Murray ?? (@LawMurrayTheNU) February 3, 2019