2018 NFL Playoffs

[Reaser]

I did not think either team was getting to 30, but 16 total points was odd. My worse nightmare for the Rams was they would lose 24-10. I thought there was no chance the Patriots would get blown out.

Surprisingly, James White and Todd Gurley had little impact on the game. I thought the winning team would have one of those guys with about 70 receiving yards.

My prediction was (copy/pasting): "Patriots 31-17. I think after maybe a 3-3 start that it won't really be close. Or at least the outcome won't be in doubt but the score might be closer than the game really is."

Predicted too many TD's, ha. I do wish we would have got to see what the Saints could have done. You said it in another thread and I agree, thought they were the best team in the NFC this season. I thought going into the conference championships we would get a Patriots-Saints SB and was fascinated by the matchups. Was disappointed it was the Rams, didn't think a lot of their chances.

I was very surprised White didn't get a lot of targets, and only one reception. Though the latter is partly due to what I was saying in the previous post about how the ball was coming out tonight, had a screen setup and Brady threw it short/awkwardly on one of the misses to White. With him usually being a part of the Patriots plan and even more so because the Saints threw to Kamara a lot two weeks ago taking advantage of the Rams LB's, it was definitely surprising he was a non-factor. Though they had Edelman's option routes all night -- which they obviously took advantage of.

[Bryan]

*This Super Bowl reminded me of the 2010 NCAA Basketball Tournament, where there were several great games leading up to the Final, then you ended up getting Duke-Butler struggling to make a basket. The game was close for most of the time, but I wouldn't really call it well-played.

*The best summation of the game is that Sean McVay is either an idiot (for not using Gurley) or a liar (for not having Gurley on the injury report).

*One saving grace for this game was the lack of official huddles, calls for replay, ticky-tack PI and roughing calls, etc. I thought the biggest play for the Rams was when Goff threw to Cooks in the endzone, Gilmore grabbed Cooks arm early, but no PI was called. That was their only chance to score a TD all game. Their offense was terrible.

*Speaking of this, I created a new award called the Andy Maurer Award. It is given to the offensive lineman who has the most difficulty in the Super Bowl. This year's recipient is Rams RG Austin Blythe!

*If I had to choose which past Super Bowl this game most resembled, I'd have to choose Super Bowl IX. The Rams resembled the Vikings offense from that game, and Brady's TD drive was like Bradshaw's...score one late TD and the game is over.

*I liked McVay's idea of kicking the FG and then going for an onside kick and a TD. I think Madden did the same thing in the 1975 AFC Championship. The difference was that Madden's kicker actually made his FG.

*Kind of weird that the Patriots give up 41 points to the Eagles in the Super Bowl, then return to the Super Bowl the next year and only give up 3 points. Maybe like the Redskins giving up 73 points to the Bears in the 1940 title game, then holding the Bears to 6 points in the 1942 title game?

*Every sideline TV shot of Belichick had him doing nothing other than staring at Sean McVay across the field. They cut to Belichick like 15 times during the game, and he was never talking into his headset, looking at a play sheet, interacting with his players, complaining to the refs, etc....he was just silently staring at McVay, getting McVay to do his bidding. Great stuff.

[JWL]

Yes, Blythe was horrific.

[TanksAndSpartans]

I don't have anything technical to back this up, but I feel like the Saints and even the Rams who made it all the way to the SB peaked to soon. Probably some/a lot? of the Rams issue was the Gurley injury. On the other side, the Patriots seemed to peak just at the right time. The power run game with the FB, the timely passes to Gronk split wide, I don't even think that's what they were doing most of the season. Defense seemed to play its best in the playoffs too - they far from shutdown Mahomes, but it was good enough. And then they held a team to 3 points in the SB, don't think many saw that coming at midseason the way the scoring was up this year.

[Rupert Patrick]

I just started going back to rewatch the game now, and I don't know if anybody else has pointed out that Gladys Knight gave the best Super Bowl National Anthem performance since Whitney Houston in Super Bowl XXV. She didn't overdo it by adding octaves where they weren't really needed just to show us she could do it, she just went and belted it out.

Dr. King's daughter was also the first female to toss the coin at the Super Bowl.

[ChrisBabcock]

Also the roughing the passer calls, there was/always is a chance to gift Brady his usual free 15 and they didn't call it.

There was one on Aaron Donald that wasn't called but definitely should have. (based on how they've been calling roughing the passer this season.)

[James]

Loved the Super Bowl last night. I've always liked a defensive struggle and what a struggle it was. Both defenses kept their respective offense in the game, it would be a matter of which offense would be able to score a touchdown. he Patriots did, the Rams couldn't. After the 3rd Quarter, I was thinking the way he game was going that either Punter might win MVP.

[James]

Also the roughing the passer calls, there was/always is a chance to gift Brady his usual free 15 and they didn't call it.

There was one on Aaron Donald that wasn't called but definitely should have. (based on how they've been calling roughing the passer this season.)

I LOVED that no call on Donald as the refs let them play as they should. It's the Super Bowl. Regular season that would have been 15 yards, which is ridiculous, but at least for the most part, the refs usually let them play in the Super Bowl.

[Rupert Patrick]

Loved the Super Bowl last night. I've always liked a defensive struggle and what a struggle it was. Both defenses kept their respective offense in the game, it would be a matter of which offense would be able to score a touchdown. he Patriots did, the Rams couldn't. After the 3rd Quarter, I was thinking the way he game was going that either Punter might win MVP.

I think the Rams defense was very good last night, they kept New England in check, but the Rams offense was too tight for most of the game, couldn't get their game in gear. Neither QB had a very good game, and I was happy to see Brady not get the MVP because he didn't deserve it.

Were the Rams wearing their throwback uniforms last night? What I mean is, isn't the blue and white their official helmet and colors these days? It is on their logo; there is no gold on their logo, and I think teams can only have one official helmet configuration (blue and white), not two (blue and white and blue and gold). Doesn't the blue and gold helmet fall into a throwback category? I was surprised to see them come out in the blue and gold uniforms and helmets. Did they have to get special permission to wear the blue and gold last night?

[ChrisBabcock]

Were the Rams wearing their throwback uniforms last night? What I mean is, isn't the blue and white their official helmet and colors these days? It is on their logo; there is no gold on their logo, and I think teams can only have one official helmet configuration (blue and white), not two (blue and white and blue and gold). Doesn't the blue and gold helmet fall into a throwback category? I was surprised to see them come out in the blue and gold uniforms and helmets. Did they have to get special permission to wear the blue and gold last night?

I was wondering the same thing. If they were in fact throwbacks, they would have been the second team to wear some sort of throwback/alternate jersey in the Super Bowl after the 49ers in XXIX.