Well, I continued my streak of getting 50% of my predictions correctly. I got the Patriots right but I missed on Seattle which is fitting because I have been wrong about them pretty much all year. It was a fun couple of games and here are some of my takeaways from the big games.

The Best team from each conference are in the Super Bowl:

This doesn’t always happen but we got the best team from each side of the bracket. In fact, they were arguably the best two teams all year. There is an argument for the Broncos but both them and the Patriots played the two easiest schedules and while the Patriots sailed through most of it, the Broncos squeaked out wins. I think winning close games is a skill and a sign of a good football team but I think the Patriots are just a more balanced football team. Seattle has been good from beginning to end. And while I think the Rams have better talent at certain positions, the Seahawks have the better overall team and that showed on Sunday.

Not so special teams:

The Broncos missed a 54 yard FG towards the end of the first half and then had another FG tipped in the second half. They lost by 3 points. The Rams punt returner muffed two kicks, the second one was recovered by Seattle and then the Seahawks scored a td off of it. The Rams lost by 4 points. It takes everyone on your team to win a championship.

Stiddy was not so steady:

Stidham wasn’t terrible but he wasn’t good. He had a couple of good drives in the first half but then made a terrible decision to not just take a sack on a blown play on 3rd down and tried to I guess throw it near his running back. It went slightly backwards and the Patriots recovered leading to their only TD. After that play, the offense only gained 61 yards and he threw a game sealing interception.

Weather is fun:

I know some fans think games like these shouldn’t be determined in snow globes but I think that is part of the fun of football compared to other sports. Sometimes you aren’t just competing against the other team, you are also battling the weather. And the weather in Denver was nutty. It went from pretty nice here to snow everywhere real fast.

Sean Payton was not good:

Payton is a heck of a coach, don’t worry, he’ll tell you all about it. But this was not his finest hour. He lost a timeout challenging a difficult play to overturn due to the pile up on QB sneaks. He seemed to have no adjustment in the run game that was getting no traction against the Pats defensive front. They only ran 3 plays in the 3rd quarter which was just brutal. But his biggest mistake was in the second quarter when he should have kicked a FG on 4th and 1. I’m all for being aggressive if it makes sense but nothing about this makes sense. Both teams were struggling to move the ball. And there was impending weather that was going to make it that much harder to score. Your defense had only given up 1 first down at that point and points were going to be at a premium. And you haven’t been able to run the ball at all and you have a back up QB playing. So kick the FG go up 10-0 and put more pressure on the Patriots. But instead you had a run play called. You take a timeout to change the call but this also gives the defense a chance to regroup and think about all the things you might do. Then you run a simple roll out play that is easily stopped and momentum changes. Sometimes coaches are too smart for their own good and this is one of those times. Sean is now just 10-9 in the playoffs. He’s probably a hall of fame coach but it seems to me he is a much better regular season coach than he is a post season one.

Bo Nix was missed:

The main reason I picked the Patriots was simply because Bo wasn’t playing. I figured this would be a low scoring close game and it was. And sure enough the Broncos had a chance to tie the game or take the lead with a little over a minute to go. I’m not saying that if you insert Bo into that exact scenario they win the game, but there is a much better chance of it.

Road Warriors:

Credit to the Patriots for going a perfect 9-0 on the road this year. I don’t care who you are playing, that is impressive.

Avoid Bad Plays:
Mike Vrabel said this early on in his first year with the Pats. He coaches this and is correct that games are often lost instead of won and that was certainly true in this game. The Pats didn’t play great on offense but they didn’t turn the ball over and that was the difference in the game.

Sam Darnold Balled out:

I make fun of Sam a lot because he has had a rough go of it and been a bit of a choke artist. But I genuinely like the guy. He seems like a good egg with a good head on his shoulders. He was also the only reason I picked the Rams. And he proved me and many others wrong. He was excellent. He made a couple of turnover worthy throws that didn’t go against him but for the most part he was very solid. He was excellent on 3rd down which really was the difference in the game. If you would have told me he was going to out play Matt Stafford even though Stafford was going to play great, I would have thought you were joking. But that’s just what he did. So good for you, Sam.

Matt Stafford was awesome…mostly:

Stafford also balled out but unfortunately, he was 0-7 on 3rd and 4th down. And that was the difference in the game.

Rams offense as the key to the Seattle D:

Seattle’s defense has been excellent against pretty much everyone, except the Rams. McVay, Stafford and the gang somehow are able to move the ball up and down the field on them where other teams simply can’t. And credit to the Rams, they could have easily folded multiple times against Seattle but instead they rallied every time to keep the game competitive. It was just 3rd and 4th down that killed them.

JSN is good at sports:

I mean, sure they have Shaheed and Cooper Kupp and their tight ends are alright but JSN is that dude. He’s always open. I don’t know how or why. Even Tom Brady was like why aren’t they covering this guy. He just seems uncoverable at this point.

Seattle D is tough:

I understand that the Rams have some answers but that Seattle D is very good. They are everywhere and very talented. And they are good at every level. It will be interesting to see if the Patriots can compete against them like the Rams or if they look like most of the rest of the league looks against them.

Mike Macdonald has done a heck of a job:

He has done a great job building this team and making a decent team really, really good. He believed in Darnold when others including myself didn’t. And now he has his team in the Super Bowl. Just superb coaching by both him and Vrabel.

I might have a little something else later in the week but I’ll mostly be working on next week’s material because every Super Bowl week, I do a daily post to get you ready for the big game. So get ready for Super Bowl fun, analysis and predictions starting next Monday.