Another Patriots Win... Or Is It?

Here we are, 2019 and the Patriots are back in the Superbowl. It makes me sick to type that sentence. No matter what happens, they just will not go away and I refuse to pick against them. I am done making that mistake. This is the 9th time Tom Brady has played in the Superbowl over 18 seasons. He is batting .500 and it is sickening.

On paper the Rams have the better team offensively, outscoring the Patriots by roughly 90 points throughout the regular season. Defensively, the Patriots held their opponents to roughly 60 fewer points. But, in the postseason, the Pats have the better offense while the Rams have the better defense. Both teams are very good and likely a nightmare to gameplan against. I am going to do a quick positional breakdown then explain what I would do to beat the Patriots (it's not earth-shattering by any means).

The Patriots and Rams are both highly talented and well-coached teams. This should be a great game and it very well could be the passing of the torch in the NFL. Below is my positional breakdown of each team and who I believe to have the advantage as well as the difference maker for that group.

When breaking it down by the positional groups and the head coach, these two teams are very even. Belichick gives the Patriots the advantage against every team in the league but thanks to guys like Todd Gurley, Brandin Cooks, the Rams' collective offensive line, Aaron Donald, Ndamukong Suh, and their special teams group of Greg Zuerlein and Johnny Hekker give the Rams a fighting chance. The Patriots have Brady, Gronk, Hightower, and McCourty - the same guys who have won a lot of games for them in the past decade and that is enough to make you fear them, not including players the likes of Julian Edelman and all-pro corner Stephon Gilmore.

To win this week, the Rams have to hammer the run and take advantage of their two great runningbacks, Todd Gurley and CJ Anderson. Then on defense, the Rams should play tight man defense utilizing Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters while letting Donald, Suh, Brockers, and Fowler generate as much pressure as possible. Make Brady uncomfortable that is the key to the game. Everybody tries to do it but not everyone succeeds.

I don't think the Rams have a chance. They have playmakers at every level, they are supremely talented, they have a great coach, and they would probably be my pick against 30 other teams, but they're not playing any of the 30 teams I would pick them against; they're playing the evil empire. The Patriots have been historically dominant and it all started against the Rams in 2001. Hopefully, it also ends against the Rams, but I don't see it happening.

I'm picking the Patriots to win 31-23, but for this week and this week only Go Rams!