As for the Patriots, they finished the year with an 11-5 record, good enough for the second seed in the AFC and making it their 17th season with double digit wins in their 19 years under head coach Bill Belichick. Once the playoffs got rolling, they knocked off the Los Angeles Chargers in the Divisional Round, and then took out the Kansas City Chiefs in the Conference Championship game, to reach the Super Bowl. They went on to join the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills as the only teams in NFL history to ever reach three consecutive Super Bowls.
New England has seen this act before. Its the ninth time with Brady at QB and the 3rd year in a row they are playing in the big game. Should the Patriots come up short, Brady would tie Jim Kelly for the most losses by a QB in Super Bowl History. He's too good a talent to let that happen without a fight. He's got weapons all over the place with which to work with. Sony Michel has been outstanding out of the backfield for the Pats this season, even more so in the playoffs. Its not just Michel either. You're also getting contributions from James White catching the ball and Rex Burkhead doing both. the pass attack ain't so bad in New England either. Julian Edelman always finds a way to make a big play over the middle when it's needed the most. Him and Rob Gronkowski, who isn't quite the same as he once was, are still real threats to try and defend against. With those two guys as weapons, it opens things up more for the rest of the players to step their game up.
One big slight you could make on the Patriots is how they handle pressure from the inside. If Brady gets rushed off the edge, the team can handle it, but inside pressure hasn't been very kind to the Patriots, who have struggled with it. New Englad knows how to adjust on the fly and should be able to handle anything thrown their way by the Rams. Besides putting points up on the board, New England is pretty good at shutting down the opposition. Trey Flowers and Kyle Van Noy know how to put pressure on the opposition and force them into making mistakes. If you look at the secondary, Stephen Gilmore and Patrick Chung are going to make it tough for opposing receivers to get open and make plays.
Making plays is something this Rams offense is no stranger to. They finished second in the NFL during the regular season, scoring 528 points and also finished second in yards with 6,738. That shouldn't be a problem. When you have Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods as your go to targets in the pass game, it really helps open things up in the middle of the field for your underneath targets. If you think that's impressive, you should see the running game in LA. CJ Anderson and Todd Gurley make a pretty impressive one two punch running the ball. Even though it looks like Gurley been having an off time in the playoffs. He looked OK in the Divisional round against Dallas, but something seemed off in the Championship game against the Saints. The only question mark you could throw out there for the Rams is, can Jared Goff hold onto the football. he's fumbled the ball twelve times this season, most for any quarterback in the league. The Rams offense can't be giving New England too many chances in good field position, otherwise it will cost them.
Much like the Patriots, Los Angeles has a solid defense in its own right. The best defensive player in the league, Aaron Donald, anchors that defensive line. Along with Ndamukong Suh, Los Angeles has a pretty solid one two punch on the line, creating havoc for opposing offenses to try and plan against. Cory Littelton has also had a big impact for the Rams, leading the team with 125 tackles. Throw in a secondary that has John Johnson, Marcus Peters and Lamarcus Joyner, its going to possibly cause matchup problems for the Patriots. New England will try and find ways to throw new looks at teams, but head coach Sean McVay has no trouble with getting around such things and making adjustments.
This one was a tough one to predict going in. Both teams are so good. It going to come down to turnovers and who can make the most of it. New England isn't immune to it but the Rams are slightly worse at hanging onto the ball then the Patriots are. As much as it pains me to say this, well the Jets fan in me anyway, New England is just too good of a team. yes they had five losses on the year but they found their groove at the right time of the year. New England is going to take advantage of one small mistake made by the Rams.
Prediction: Patriots 37, Rams 34
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