No, Super Bowl 53 Didn’t Suck
First and foremost, I get it. The Super Bowl was boring to watch. It was the lowest scoring Super Bowl ever. But boring and bad play don't go hand in hand.
Super Bowl 53 was a defensive battle. And yes, defensive battles aren't necessarily appealing to the eye. People want to see scoring. People want to see shootouts like they saw in the regular season. A season that saw the most points scored ever.
But again, this doesn't mean the Super Bowl sucked. We got to see some of the most brilliant defensive play in a Super Bowl, ever. And it started early, with the Rams masking zone coverage to make it look like man to man. Tom Brady bit on this coverage and threw a pick on his first throw of the game. See the video below at :35. I'll list more of the great defensive plays later.
As for the Patriots defensively, if was a masterful game plan put together by Bill Belichick and Brian Flores. And we got to see guys like Dont'a Hightower, Kyle Van Noy, Stephon Gilmore, and the McCourty twins shine.
The play that Jason McCourty made to break up the pass to Brandin Cooks in the end zone was nothing short of spectacular. That wasn't even his man or his play. He just saw that Cooks was standing wide open and ended up covering some serious ground to make a game saving play. Head to 7:54 to see the amazing play by J-Mac.
Other plays to watch in the video below to see the defenses shine:
- 2:54 - The Rams coverage is so good, Brady holds onto the ball for too long, causing a sack and a fumble that the Patriots ended up recovering.
- 3:16 - The Patriots tip a pass at the line of scrimmage. If the pass isn't tipped, it's most likely intercepted by Devin McCourty.
- 4:15 - The Patriots' pressure is right in Goff's face, and Jason McCourty makes a Hell of a play to break up the pass.
- 4:32 - Goff has no where to throw the ball. Despite having a ton of time to throw, he still takes a sack. Okay, the sack was on him, he should have thrown it away.
- 5:11 - The Rams make a great play on 4th and 1 to stop the Patriots and get the ball on downs.
- 5:22 - On the first play of the very next drive, the Patriots pass rush swarms Goff, getting the sack.
- 6:06 - On third and 5, Stephon GIlmore makes a great play to break up the pass, preventing a Rams' first down.
- 6:30 - Marcus Peters makes a similar play for the Rams to prevent a Patriot's first down.
- 6:38 - There was also some amazing special teams play with both teams downing punts really far in the other team's territory, This one has Matthew Slater downing the ball at the Rams 2 yard line.
- 8:20 - Then on third down, the Patriots bring the heat and sack Goff. Taking the Rams almost out of field goal range.
- 8:57 - Patriots have the ball in Rams territory, but the Rams make a great play to break up the pass and force fourth down.
- 9:03 - Another punt by the Patriots that's down inside the 10 yard line.
- 9:15 - CJ Anderson gets outside but Stephon Gilmore, while taking a major stiff arm, pokes the ball loose, but it ends up going out of bounds.
- 11:20 - Gilmore and Duron Harmon make a great play to break up a pass to Brandin Cooks. Yeah, I've heard lots of people complain there should have been a flag on Gilmore. If you want to bitch about that, go watch ANY route run by Gronk. He puts up with way worse on every play.
- 11:35 - Here is the big interception by Gilmore on a pass to Cooks.
- 12:22 - The Patriots get a first down and the game is over. But the Rams at least get the stop here to force a field goal.
So yes, I get it. You found the game boring. But that doesn't mean the teams sucked. It just means their defenses controlled the game.