Surprise, surprise! Underdog road teams are going to the Super Bowl.
Championship Sunday could have been named ‘Rematch Sunday’ or “Won It In OT Sunday.”
The Saints-Rams rematch wasn’t the same game I saw in Week 9. I was tempted to turn off the game after it looked like it was going to be a blowout. The Rams couldn’t move the ball.
But, then, the Rams ran a fake on 4th Down and got a first down in the process. Momentum shifted, and LA went on to score a touchdown just before the half ended. Later, the teams were tied at 20 when Ted Ginn caught a huge 43-yard pass. The Saints got a go-ahead field goal, but the Rams tied it before time expired.
The two teams went into OT, and Sean McVay came out a winner.
Despite getting a break with an obvious PI, I think the Rams deserved the win. They turned in an all-around team effort–with great offensive, solid special teams, and defensive stops, including corralling Drew Brees.
The New England-Kansas City game was also different from when the two teams faced each another in Week 6. For one thing, it didn’t start as an electrifying game, largely because Patrick Mahomes wasn’t the gunslinger we’ve come to enjoy watching. Even Tom Brady made uncharacteristic bad throws.
Instead of getting a lot of offense, the Patriots’ defense shone through early, busting through a moribund Chiefs’ O-line and pestering Mahomes repeatedly.
But the second half was a different story. We saw ‘Mahomes Magic’ again! He threw a touchdown pass on the very first drive, and the momentum shifted the Chiefs’ way. A Brady pass turned into another TO, and the KC offense capitalized on it, scoring a TD.
What had been a low-scoring game quickly became a shootout with the teams trading scores.
It came down to the wire with the Chiefs up by four. The Patriots scored a TD to go up by three, and the Chiefs had a half-minute to tie the game. Good!
The game went into OT, and the coin flip went against KC.
You just knew in your gut that Brady & Co. would take the kickoff and drive down the field. They did. They scored. KC was done. NE won.
They say that defense wins championships, but the way elite teams play offense these days, I think it’s the other way around. It’s about scoring more points than the opposition in shootouts, and not about ONLY stopping the other team from scoring.
That’s the key for the Rams in the Super Bowl. They’ll need to score and score — until the clock reaches zero.
