Reviewing The Biggest Football Game Of The Year

You’ve probably got wings and Swedish meatballs from your Super Bowl party moldering in the fridge. Your friendly neighborhood blog has some Super Bowl leftovers as well.

Here’s what still needs to be said about the New England Patriots’ 13-3 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII on Sunday:

• You cannot satisfy all of the fans all of the time. Boring, boring, boring – that’s what the critics have said. Too low-scoring. Not enough offense. Do you know what those people say when there’s 48-41 game where the teams combine for 1,000 yards? They say no one plays defense. Granted, watching the Rams punt on their first eight possessions wasn’t scintillating. But watching the matchups, the way the Patriots maneuvered and also outmaneuvered the Rams was fascinating in a way peculiar to defensive struggles. Well, fascinating in this household. The overnight TV ratings were the lowest in 10 years.

• Good luck to Brian Flores, the Patriots former linebackers coach and defensive signal-caller. After 15 years with the Pats, he is now the 13th head coach of the Miami Dolphins. That this would happen was no secret. And Flores faces quite a change. The Patriots went to three straight Super Bowls and won two of them; the Dolphins, an AFC East rival, have made the playoffs twice in 15 years, losing the wild-card game both times. They’ve won the AFC East once since 2000.

• Good luck to Zac Taylor, the former Rams quarterbacks coach and now the 10th head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals have missed the playoffs the last three seasons and haven’t won in the postseason since 1991.

• Hate Tom Brady if you want, but the Patriots quarterback, at 41, is the oldest player at his position to win a Super Bowl and no other player has won six.

• Let us know if anyone figures out what went wrong with Rams running back Todd Gurley. The guy scored 17 touchdowns in the regular season, but touched the ball only 16 times in two playoff games. Something doesn’t add up here.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman