The Big Game is upon us—the biggest single world-wide event, The Super Bowl.  This is the 53^rd installment, pitting the team that’s increased their leading appearances (this will be their 11^th), with the Rams appearing in their 4^th appearance.  If you’ve watched any pregame, or have paid attention you’d know this is the matchup of Elder vs. Wunderkind.  While it’s been covered at nausea, it’s accurate.  McVay, since taking over as LA’s Head Coach in 2017, has been the darling of the NFL and has proven to get the most out of his team.  Belichick, as always, has his team playing their best football at the best time.

Why you should root for New England—No one will catch Brady and his 5 (6 if they win today) rings, so what does it really matter if the best adds yet another one?  Nothing, nothing changes.  Also, it would hold the Rams to just 1 Super Bowl title in 4 appearances (3 since 1992).  If the Rams win, they would be yet another team to equal the Packers, furthering many fans’ perspectives of the Packers “great success.”

Why you should root for Los Angeles—the Rams and Packers are built similarly in the essence that they have a young innovative head coach, a true west coast quarterback, decent weapons on offense, and threatening HB, and the defense is built around a great talent at the D-line.  The Rams never really seemed to have all that talent until McVay arrived and they acquired a few pieces (Suh, Peters, and Talib) that are good enough to be 20^th in the NFL in points given up, which the Packers currently show to have a better defense.  So if the Rams can win, it should give hope (legitimate hope with thinking involved not just blind fandom) to Packer nation they can quickly right the ship and return to championship caliber.

Matchup—there was a matchup stat posted on NFL Network that showed McDaniels’ offenses vs. Wade Phillips’ defenses, with McDaniels getting the better of him 7 of 9 times and scoring over 29 points/game.  While I believe that’s a large enough sample size, it shouldn’t be the only indicator for what will happen in this game.

Pats’ Offense vs Rams’ Defense: 4^th (27.2 pts/gm) vs 20^th (24.0 pts/gm).  Edge goes to the Patriots for many reasons.  Mainly Tom Brady, but NE also is the best at attacking an opposing team’s weakness instead of playing to their own strength.  Expect to see many looks, but be surprised by nothing.  The Pats could open the game with 5-wide, no huddle (i.e. see the Packer game) to build a lead, or they could go heavy and establish the run with a ton of their running backs.

Pats’ Defense vs Rams’ Offense: 7^th (20.3 pts/gm) vs 2^nd (32.9 pts/gm).  Advantage Rams, however I believe it’ll be a slighter edge than the amount NE will have over them on the other side of the ball.  Expect a high-scoring game, after feeling each other out a bit, I think it’ll be a well-executed offensive game.  (Take the over).

Patriots 31
Rams 27