Was Last Night's Game Actually Bad?
Photo Credit: USA Today
So last night’s Superbowl was not what we expected. It actually turned out to be something that not in our wildest imagination we thought would ever happen in that match up of teams. As we all know, the final was 13-3 with the Patriots defeating the Rams. Offense was nonexistent. The game was tied 3-3 heading to the 4th qtr. The Rams punted on their first 8 possessions. There was only 1 play in the redzone the entire game. 1 play! This has lead many to say that last night was one of the worst Superbowl’s ever. Well I can think of a Super Bowl just a handful of years ago that was much worse between the Broncos and the Seahawks. See despite all the offensive mishaps by both teams, this game was actually a great spectacle if you like defense. I mean really does every game have to be 38-35 for it to be entertaining? Have we forgotten how good an old classic defensive battle can be? Now I’m not saying that it was one of the better Superbowls ever played, just that it wasn’t nearly as bad as people are making it out to be and in my mind it was still a really good game, granted I might be biased with my Patriots fandom.
What the defenses did last night was an absolute masterpiece. The Patriots held a team to 3 pts that had averaged 33 pts all season. The Rams stalled the Pats offense over and over on third down and even when the Pats were able to get some momentum and get across midfield. There were spectacular plays like the Rams interception on Brady’s first throw of the game, Jason McCourty’s last ditch effort to run down Brandin Cooks and knock the go ahead touchdown from his hands and Stephon Gilmore’s interception that resulted from the Pats getting pressure on Jared Goff for the 100th time. And to top it off this game was close till the end. The Rams were driving with 4 mins left when they turned the ball over and the Pats still needed to get multiple first downs to cap the game. So yeah this wasn’t some high scoring game like the Rams and Chiefs game that ended 54-51. It was the complete opposite. This game reminded us that defense still matters and that it’s still a very important part of the game and I for one enjoyed.
But seriously why couldn’t the Pats shown an ounce of that defensive play a year ago vs the Eagles when they let Nick Foles run wild.
Here’s a couple of those spectacular plays: