Super Bowl 53 – An underrated game

What a game Super Bowl 53 was! For the past five years we have been treated to offensive battles in the Super Bowl and finally we get a defensive masterpiece by both teams. With all the hype surrounding the youngest coach in the history of the Super Bowl and offensive genius Sean McVay, the final score of 13-3 was shocking to all parties involved. However, when you are up against the greatest defensive mind in football history in Bill Belichick, normality goes out the window.

The Patriots decided to stop the best player in the league (Aaron Donald) and a stacked Defensive line through getting quick releases to receivers that cut in and out of routes. Julian Edelman was the go to guy for the Pats and he wholeheartedly deserved being named the SB MVP with his standout performance of 10 Rec and 141 yards. If he hadn’t been able to get as open as he did the Patriots wouldn’t have been able to get a single point in this game. Both QB’s didn’t manage to get a TD and they each had an interception. Brady’s coming on his first play and Goff’s coming in a do or die situation in the 4th quarter.

New England managed to utilise the best Tight End in the league Rob Gronkowski through only targeting him in key situations such as the 29 yard pass in order to set them up for the only Touchdown of the day. For the remainder of the game they used his skills as a blocker in order to help them when they wanted to push the ball on the ground.

On the other side of the ball the Rams came in with no real game plan that would shock the Patriots. Just like the rest of the season they used play action passes one too many times. The Patriots plan was to rush the middle and therefore get to the QB or Running back as fast as possible instead of commiting to a potential left/right run only to find out they had gone the wrong way. Todd Gurley only got a few snaps in the game so the Rams rushing game didn’t prove to be a threat to New England. This is why Bill Belichick decided to place a double team on the Rams best Wide receiver Brandin Cooks to stop any deep balls.

Stephon Gilmore, New England’s best cornerback came up big in the 4th quarter and snagged an interception when Goff was forced to throw the ball too early due to incoming traffic by the D-line. After this, a few rushes for 10-15 yards here and there and that was game, set and match to the Patriots.

Inexperience played a huge factor here and no matter how great of an athlete you are, on the biggest stage of them all with hundreds of millions of people watching around the world, it proved to be too much for the 24 year old Jared Goff and the 33 year old Sean McVay. Especially when the game plan you came in with didn’t work and you had no real backup plan.

All 32 teams will change over the off-season with new draft picks, trades and playbooks ready to do it all again next season for a chance to win America’s greatest prize. Unfortunately for football fans, that won’t be for another 212 days.