Super Bowl Analysis:
This just might be the one they win by double digits.
With exception of the Eagles last year, who I loved over the 27th ranked Patriots defense, I have asked myself the same question in the other 7 Pats' title game appearances:
Can the team the Patriots are playing get pressure on Brady without blitzing.
If so, you take the points.
If they can't, you lay it and ride and die with the G-O-A-T.
That my friends puts the onus on the Patriots offensive line, which has not allowed a sack in the playoffs.
The kept Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram in check. They kept Chris Jones, Dee Ford and Justin Houston in check.
Sunday I give you Aaron Donald, Ndamukong Suh, Michael Brocker and Dante Fowler and in those 4 lies the keys to the game.
Can they do what the Chargers and the Chiefs before them couldn't do??
And that ladies and gentleman is the $1,000,000 question.
I answer that question with an emphatic NO, and it's why I am laying the number with New England Sunday.
Donald and company may get there a few times and that is fine, but you have to get their all game long, get pressure all game long and I just don't see them doing that.
This Patriots team has been a completely different bunch in the playoffs than the team we saw in the regular season that lost 5 games, 3 by double-digits.
They are the healthiest they have been all year long with not one player listed on the injury report this week.
I am not discounting the Rams and their talent. This is a very good football team but after their defensive line, I truly believe their secondary can be exposed by Brady.
They also still have a very young QB prone to make mistakes when pressured.
Sean McVay is a master play caller. I give him so much credit for Jared Goff's 2nd-half performance against the Saints, in that dome, against that crowd.
McVay will have Goff ready but at the end of the day, McVay can't hold his hand all game long. Goff is going to have to make some big boy decisions in some big boy moments.
Can he execute under intense pressure for 60 minutes against a coach that just shut down Philip Rivers and Patrick Mahomes?? I answer with another emphatic no.
The bottom line is this: with the number less than 3, you force Goff to outplay Brady and beat the G-O-A-T and beat Belichick.
If he does, I will tip my cap and move on my way but I truly feel in this game, he can't outplay Brady at the level he is going to have to to win this game.
Tom Brady has been there and done that. Nothing Wade Phillips will show him in this game will surprise him or Josh McDaniels, who truly doesn't get enough credit for his play calling.
I believe the Patriots will have success running the football, eat up the clock and with that, the success in the passing game will follow.
Tom Brady will be your MVP. The Patriots will get #6 on Sunday
Patriots 34-24.