If you wanted to find a high scoring football game, this one wasn't for you. It started off with New England getting picked off on the first drive of the game. Corey Littleton snagged a deflected Brady pass. It might have been an early sign for things to come, but nothing ever materialized from it. Los Angeles wasn't able to do anything with it. New England got the ball back, had a nice drive, only for Stephen Gostkowski to miss from 46 yards out. The next three drives all ended the same way, with teams trading punts. New England finally got on the board early in the second half when Gostkowski hit from 42 yards out. That was all the scoring in the first half. Los Angeles punted four more times in the half, while New England had three punts and a loss of downs.
Los Angeles wouldn't get shut out on the day. Greg Zuerlein put up the only rams points on the day hitting from 53 yards out.New England would close out the scoring with the final ten points on the day. The lone touchdown on the evening came with 7 minutes left in the game. Sony Michel scored from two yards out. Gostkowski put the nail in the coffin, hitting a 41 yard field goal with 1:12 left to seal the game for New England. While the scoring wasn't very high, teams had a few chances and put up some decent numbers.
Tom Brady finished the day going 21 of 35 for 262 yards. The only mistake he made all day was getting picked off by Littelton on the opening drive. Julian Edelman was Brady's top target with 10 receptions for 141 yards. His performance on the day was so good, he walked away with MVP honors. He joins Deion Branch and four time winner Tom Brady as the only Patriots to win MVP. He also became the seventh Wide Receiver to walk away with MVP and the first wide out since Santonio Holmes in 2010 to win the award. Edleman wasn't the only Pat player to have an impact. Rob Gronkowski caught six passes for 87 yards. Sonny Michel was the top rusher of the game with 94 yards and a touchdown.
The Rams weren't quite as good. Jared Goff finished the day 19-for-38 passing, for 229 yards and an interception. Brandin Cooks was his top receiver with eight receptions for 120 yards. Todd Gurley was quiet, with 10 carries for 35 yards, while CJ Anderson had seven carries fro 22 yards. LA was only the second team in Super Bowl history to fail to score a touchdown, the first having been the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI after the 1971 season.
There were a few records that New England set in this game. With the win, Brady now has more victories (regular season and playoffs combined) with 237. He broke a tie with Adam Vinatieri for the wins total. It was also the 6th ring for Brady, most of any player. It was also amazing to read that the only red zone play run the entire day was the Michel touchdown run. A part of me feels bad for the Rams, who tied the 1971 Dolphins for fewest points in a Super Bowl. The three points they scored are also the fewest points scored by the Rams in the 36 games they've played under Sean McVay.
It was a tough game to watch, not just because the Pats won (that's the Jets fan in me talking). It was a game that saw sixteen total points scored and fourteen punts. Sean McVay hadn't done a lot in the challenge department calling plays. He wasn't really taking shots downfield. A lot of this had to do with Todd Gurley not being effective. Gurley had been the bread and butter for the Rams this year, and when he wasn't an effective option, it showed the shortcomings in the Rams offensive game. New England took advantage of it defensively and held them to three points.
New England wasn't perfect, but they did what they had to do in order to get the win. Congratulations to the Patriots on their sixth Super Bowl Title!
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