You're coming to the Super Bowl as underdogs. The team you are about to play won the Super Bowl just 2 years earlier, and has a quarterback that is a former MVP and Super Bowl MVP. The great MVP quarterback you're going to face had to overcome his own doubters in the past. Unlike a lot of great quarterbacks, he was not a first round draft pick. He wasn't a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th round draft pick. The NFL Draft after this QB's senior year of college made it clear that nobody thought this guy would be a great quarterback, and yet, here is, favored to win another Super Bowl.
Your fans have seen their team represent their city in the Super Bowl before, but they haven't seen their team win it. However, the fans are cautiously optimistic this time, because your team has a head coach that some consider to be a "genius". He's managed to lead your team to the Super Bowl in only his second year with the team, and if anyone can figure out a way to pull an upset in this Rams/Patriots Super Bowl, it will be him.
What I find most fascinating about this upcoming Super Bowl is that the description above could refer to either Tom Brady in 2002 or Jared Goff in 2019.
( I just listed the details of all the parallels between 24-year-old Brady and 24-year-old Goff, but I accidentally hit a key on my laptop that somehow wiped almost all those lines out. Blogger auto-saves every few seconds, so all those lines I wrote are now gone. I'm not going to take the time to write all those lines again, so if you want more details about these paralles, let Google be your guide ).
As a Patriots-hater, I'm really hoping that these parallels continue, and the 24-year QB manages to lead his team to a upset victory this Sunday. While many Patriots fans have said that another Super Bowl victory over the Rams would be a perfect bookend to Brady's career, I think it would be even better if the Brady/Belichick dynasty ended the way it started, with a 24-year old QB leading his team to an upset in the Super Bowl.
On a semi-related note, I can't believe that Tom Brady is still torturing me 17 years after the first Pats/Rams Super Bowl. 17 years ago, my wife and I were not ready to have kids yet. Now we have a 15-year old son who has his heart broken by Tom Brady last Sunday. I can't believe the my family has endured 2 generations of this crap.
In any case, all that being said, I'd rather think about Tom Brady and the Pats than the state of the world right now. So, instead of thinking about all the awful stuff in the new these days, spend a little time thinking about the following Super Bowl tidbits.
- This is Brady's 3rd Super Bowl rematch. He faced the Giants in the Super Bowl after the 2007 and 2011 seasons, and he faced the Eagles in the Super Bowl after the 2004 and 2017 seasons. In both cases in the past, the Patriots lost the rematch ( they actually lost to the Giants both times ). Hopefully this pattern continues in the 2nd Patriots/Rams Super Bowl.
- The Patriots are in the Super Bowl for the 3rd year in a row, which makes them just the 3rd team to accomplish this feat. The '71/'72/'73 Dolphins lost the Super Bowl and their first try and won the next two, and the '90/'91/'92/'93 Bills lost all 4 Super Bowls they went to.
- The 2007 Giants, the 2011 Giants, and 2017 Eagles, are the only teams to beat Brady in the Superbowl, and each of those teams played a base 4-3 defense. I don't think that is an accident. You can't beat Brady unless you run the passer effectively, and teams that put 4 defenders at the line of scrimmage generally have an easier time rushing the quarterback than teams that put 3 defenders at the line of scrimmage. It is also worth noting that teams that line up with 1 defender past the line of scrimmage always lose to the Patriots.
FYI, the Rams play a 3-4 Defense ( 😞 ).
- If Tom Brady wins his 6th Super Bowl on Sunday, the quarterback alumni of the University of Michigan will be able to boast 6 Super Bowl rings ( all belonging to Brady ). Michigan is currently tied with Notre Dame with 5 ( Montana 4, Theismann 1 ) Super Bowl rings won by its former quarterbacks. The school that can boast the most different quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl ring is Purdue University with 3 ( Len Dawson, Bob Griese, and Drew Brees ).
- For 15 out of the last 16 seasons ( including this one ), the AFC has been represented in the Super Bowl by a team lead by Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, or Ben Roethlisberger. Half of those times, it was Brady. The one exception to the Brady/Manning/Roethlisberger troika was Joe Flacco after the 2012 season.
- Too bad a Manning bother is not involved in this Super Bowl, because Tom Brady is 0-5 in playoff games against a Manning brother that are played outside Foxborough. 2 of those 5 loses came in the Super Bowl and 3 or them came in the AFC championship game. If Archie Manning had never met his wife, maybe Brady would be trying to win his 11th Super Bowl this Sunday. Of course if Cooper Manning had decided to play QB, maybe Brady would have none. *
* - Far-fetched, considering that Cooper was a wide receiver and his football career ended after high school due to spinal stenosis - but a guy can dream, can't he?
GO RAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rich
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