Patriots Win Possibly Worst Super Bowl Ever Played

PATRIOTS 13 - RAMS 3

Sunday night was not a good night for the NFL. In fact it was an abject failure.

In what will be remembered as the most "boring" Super Bowl in NFL history, the Patriots outlasted the Los Angeles Rams 13-3, in a game that featured terrific defense, some horrible offense, one of the worst halftime shows in history, and a postgame where CBS's Tracy Wolfson was practically trampled as she tried to secure an interview with Tom Brady.

Yep, it was not a good night for the NFL, and the proof was in the podding, when word came down that Super Bowl LIII was the lowest rated Super Bowl in 10 years with a national rating of 44.9, a five percent drop from last season's miracle win by the Eagles over these same Patriots.

Clearly people were turned off by the fact the Patriots, a team that most folks outside of New England despise, were in the game for the third straight season, and ninth time in the last 18 years. Call it Patriots fatigue. That on top of the fact the game was a snooze fest for three quarters didn't help matters.

Give credit to the defenses, both units played outstanding football.

The Patriots completely shut down the Rams high-octaine offense, with incredible amounts of pressure on quarterback Jared Goff, who looked totally lost. Goff completed only 19 of 38 passes for 229 yards and an interception, but, even that doesn't begin to tell the tale of how the Patriots harassed the quarterback all night. The blitzes clearly confused the young quarterback, who didn't have the services of wide receiver Cooper Kupp and running back Todd Gurley in this game. Gurley, in fact spent more time on the sideline when the Rams had the football. Perhaps he was still nursing the injured knee that has bothered him all postseason.

The Rams inability to run the football on the Pats, only gave New England more opportunities to hit Goff, who was sacked four times, including a nasty shot Klye VanNoy on a critical third and two in the fourth quarter that knocked Goff to his knees.

As for New England it was really the Julian Edelman Show. The speedy slot receiver dominated the game, and rescued Tom Brady from having one of the worst showings in the Super Bowl in his career. Edelman caught 10 passes for 141 yards, slicing and dicing a Rams secondary that had no answer for him.

At halftime Edleman had seven catches - a Super Bowl record, and was well on his way to MVP honors.

While Brady struggled for the most part on Super Sunday, his 41-year old arm mustered one scoring drive in the fourth quarter when New England went with a five wide receiver spread that totally befuddled the Rams. Brady hit Rob Gronkowski for 18-yards on first down to get the ball rolling, then came back to Edelman for 13 more to move the chains into L.A. territory.

After Rex Burkhead caught an underneath slant from Brady for a seven yard pick-up, the 4-time Super Bowl MVP delivered his best throw of the night when he connected with Gronkowski in triple coverage at the Rams two yard line. Sony Michel caped of the drive by flying into the end zone to give the Pats a 10-3 advantage with seven minutes to play.

The Rams had one last shot to really do anything against the Patriots, and for a short while it looked like the Rams were about to wake up from their doldrums as Goff finally guided the Rams into Patriots territory. However on second down from the Patriots' 27, Goff heaved up a lollipop that wound up in the hands of Patriots corner Stephon Gilmore for the final dagger.

New England would chew up the next three minutes on the clock, using a heavy dose of the run to set up a Stephen Goskowski field goal to put the game out of reach with 1:12 to play.

The victory solidify's the Patriots sixth world championship in the Brady/Belichick era. Who knows how much longer their domination over the National Football League will continue, but if this season was any indication, it won't be coming to an end anytime soon.