Last night the Bill Belichick and the Patriots wrapped up their sixth Super Bowl victory since 2002 when they defeated the Los Angeles Rams 13-3 in the one of the biggest snoozer’s you’ll ever see in a Championship game.
The NFL‘s version of ambient though was a result of some pretty stingy defenses from both teams who each held each other without a touchdown until just over seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Obviously though the Patriots were able to sustain that stinginess as they kept a high-powered Rams offense out of the end zone all night, limited what Jared Goff was able to do through the air and once again made Todd Gurley‘s postseason a complete nightmare.
So what was the recipe for success for Belichick and company other than they’re the Patriots and if you give them two weeks to prepare they can beat anyone?
Try the Lions‘ 30-16 week 13 loss to the Rams as an apparent blueprint for Belichick.
That’s right, Belichick in the postgame credited his former defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and the Lions for what they were able to do defensively against LA that week.
Via LionsWire:
“We felt like if we could make them drive it, make them earn it, similar to what the Lions did,” Belichick said in one of his postgame press addresses, as heard on the CBS radio feed. “Make them run a lot of plays and if we get them in third down, we felt like we could get them off the field.”
Up to their week 13 matchup, Goff was on average good for multiple touchdown passes week-to-week while averaging over 300 yards passing almost on a weekly basis. In fact Goff failed to reach the 300 yard mark in four of those first 12 weeks which includes a 295 yard game against the Packers on October 28.
Bill Belichick credits the Lions for helping solve the Rams offense in their Super Bowl win. #patriots #lions #rams #SuperBowI pic.twitter.com/n0YTFBHZq2
— Evan Jankens (@KINGoftheKC) February 4, 2019
Even after the Lions game though it seems like the rest of the League potentially dialed up some semblance of the Lions’ game plan.
For instance Goff managed just one more week (including the playoffs) where he threw for over 300 yards in a game (12/16 against the Eagles). Likewise there was only one further game the rest of the season (including the playoffs) where Goff had multiple touchdowns in a single game (12/30 against the 49ers).
Not to mention it wasn’t like there wasn’t already tape out there on Goff and the Rams offense. Hell we were in week 13 already.
So if Lions fans want to take some positivity heading into next season, perhaps this is it.