The New England Patriots are headed to Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta to play the Los Angeles Rams at Mercedes Benz Stadium.
But how do these two teams match up, and how did they get to the big game?
The Rams finished the regular season first in the NFC West and second in the conference with a 13-3 record. In the playoffs, the Rams defeated the Dallas Cowboys 30-22 at the Memorial Coliseum in the divisional round and then traveled to New Orleans where they escaped with a 26-23 controversial overtime victory over the Saints in the NFC championship game.
The Patriots, on the other hand, finished the regular season first in the AFC East and second in the conference with an 11-5 record. This postseason they defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 41-28 at Gillette Stadium in the divisional round, and then went on the road to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 37-31 in overtime in the AFC championship game.
The Patriots, who just played in their eighth conference title game in a row, are playing in their third straight Super Bowl. They will try to earn their second win in the last three years after defeating the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI and losing to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII.
For Los Angeles, quarterback Jared Goff finished with 4,688 yards and 32 touchdowns with 12 interceptions, with six of them coming in the Rams’ three losses, so creating turnovers should be a point of emphasis for the Patriots.
On the other side of the ball, New England’s offensive linemen have been outstanding in the playoffs where quarterback Tom Brady has passed 90 times and they have allowed no sacks on him. That’s good because they will face a huge challenge in the Rams’ defensive tackles Aaron Donald, who led the league with 20.5 sacks, and Ndamukong Suh.
The Pats offensive line has also done a superb job opening holes and lanes for the running backs in the postseason. In these playoffs, New England’s backs have gained over 330 yards on the ground against the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs.
That’s good because although the Rams are better at defending the run than the Chiefs, they were far from great as they ranked 23rd in the league during the regular season. Look for the Patriots to continue that trend to try Goff and the rest of the Rams explosive offense off the field.
