New England @ Los Angeles Rams
It’s
time for Super Bowl LIII and we’re all gonna barf. Some of us from
nervous anticipation, some from disgust at another Patriots appearance,
and the rest from going too hard at the Royal Rumble last weekend.
Regardless of the reason, I think we can all agree that this is going to
be an excruciating viewing experience.
Of course there’s the prevailing
story line of the old coach and quarterback against their young gun counterparts.
As you may have heard, the Rams duo of Sean McVay and Jared Goff will be
setting a record for the youngest head coach/QB combo in Super Bowl
history, with a combined age of 57. They’ll be breaking the existing
mark set in Super Bowl XII by Broncos head coach Red Miller (age 50) and
contest winner Mickey Sazeran (age 12). In retrospect, allowing their
starting quarterback for the first drive of the game to be chosen by a
sweepstakes was a critical error for Denver that led to a 7-0 deficit on
the first play of the game. But Mickey (1966-'78) will live on in our hearts forever!
As we all know, if Brady wins again he’ll extend his record
for Super Bowl wins by a starting QB to 6. Though, you may not have realized, if New England is defeated Brady will match Jim Kelly for most SB losses by a starting quarterback with
4. If so, Tom Terrific will certainly be lumped in with the Buffalo Bills as the
most notorious losers in NFL history. I feel sorry for him already.
At
a certain point we have to put aside historical factors and
consequences and look at the actual game at hand. In their Super
Bowl losses the Patriots have been beaten by the type of interior pass
rush that LA can generate. So it’s feasible that New England could
struggle to light up the scoreboard. Meanwhile, Jared Goff has been
merely average in the second half of the season and who knows what kind
of factor Todd Gurley will be after seeing limited snaps in the NFC
title game due to poor performance? Now I’m starting to wonder if
anybody is going to score points in this game. Eventually someone will
have to, but it could be a grind. I’m talking myself in circles here; I
need some sound advice, and there’s no one I trust more than the best
analyst in the biz. What do you have for me CriColl?
Damn it Cris. Alright, what do I do here? Obviously it has to be a one-possession game either way, since that's been the case in every Brady/Belichick Super Bowl. I'd prefer a tie, but since that's impossible in this scenario I'll go ahead and say ...
Rams 23-20