In the lowest scoring championship game ever, the New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams 13-3 in Super Bowl LIII. Hosted by the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, New England won its sixth championship, all with legendary quarterback Tom Brady at the helm, in a surprisingly dry contest given the offensive superstars the game featured.
It seems that every year some miscellaneous record is broken in the Super Bowl. This year, the 16 total points scored were the lowest of all time, which sums up how the game went overall. At one point the most exciting moment in the game was a 65-yard punt (also a record). With the Patriots winning their sixth Super Bowl since 2000 and Tom Brady announcing he will not retire after the win, many more wins are predicted in the Pats’ future.
Both teams had their own strengths coming into this game, which set them apart from the rest of the teams in the league and why they were in the last game of the season. With Brady’s great passing ability in conjunction with Bill Belichick’s great coaching, New England have stayed dominant in the regular and postseason. The Pats don’t have many star players, but the way the team works together makes them one of the best teams in the league, and is the reason why they have been in nine Super Bowls since 2000, the most in the league.
Being almost a polar opposite of the Patriots, the L.A. Rams have only been in California for two seasons. Their head coach, Sean McVay, is the youngest head coach to ever be in the Super Bowl at the age of 33 years old. They have a lot of money in their pockets and picked up a lot of star players such as wide receiver Brandin Cooks and cornerback Aqib Talib last offseason. Contrary to the Patriots, it seems that the Rams are stronger on paper than they are in-game. And in the end, this lack of experience cost them.
The Patriots received the kickoff in the first half to get the game underway and started out the game with a bang. A 38 yard kick return by Cordarrelle Patterson gave the Pats great field position to get the game going. Most fans thought that this type of energy and big plays would stay consistent throughout the game, but the game was ridden with punts and incompletions. A couple short runs and passes led to an interception by the Rams off of a squirrely Tom Brady throw on New England’s opening drive.
For the rest of the half, the game was back and forth with very slow play that resulted in no scoring apart from a 42-yard field goal by Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski. New England walked out of a dull half with a 3-0 lead.
While both the Rams and Patriots feature quality defenses, a lot of the lack in scoring was due to subpar performances from the quarterbacks. Jared Goff and Brady had no touchdown passes and also had an interception each. Goff especially had a rough night; it seemed that every play he was getting hit by a New England defender. The Rams offensive line was almost nonexistent.
The rest of the game consisted of a regular Patriots drive, with Brady completing every pass he threw. Rookie running back Sony Michel scored an easy touchdown from two yards out to give the Patriots a seven point advantage. Another Gostkowski field goal with less than two minutes left gave New England a 10 point lead and all but sealed the game.
Julian Edelman won Super Bowl MVP, but there could have been some other choice such as Sony Michel, the person who scored the teams touchdown and put them up by 10. Most doubted the Patriots, but this year they very much proved that they are still dominant as ever, with them upsetting both teams that were considered the best in the league. As long as Brady and Belichick are around, it is likely that the New England area will keep on celebrating wins, and the rest of America will hope that next year the game will be much more exciting.
