2019 Super Bowl predictions: Will the Patriots be able to beat the Rams?

Only two of 32 NFL teams are left standing in the race for the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and today they will square off in Super Bowl 53: the AFC champion New England Patriots will play the NFC champion Los Angeles Rams on pro football’s biggest stage — exactly 17 years after the two teams first met in a title game; one that kicked off the Patriots’ dynasty that has been going strong ever since.

Will it be able to add another trophy to its already legendary résumé today? We will see, but the Pats Pulpit crew thinks that it will:

According to our picks, the Patriots will win their sixth Super Bowl later today with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick further cementing their statuses as the greatest to ever grace the gridiron. Let’s find out what the rationale behind all the picks is.

Bernd Buchmasser: I’m going with the old saying “Never count out Touchdown Tom.” While the Rams are a very good team, and one certainly capable of pulling this off, I think New England’s experience and progression throughout the postseason make this a favorable game for them. Of course, it ultimately all comes down to execution but I feel confident in the Patriots’ ability to put it all together when it counts most — even though they have been wildly inconsistent at times this year. Being around the team all week only strengthens this belief.

Rich Hill: So when the Patriots advanced to the conference championship round, I called the Rams the most difficult matchup of the three other teams. They had more depth on offense, with Brandin Cooks, Robert Woods, and a pair of great running backs. They had a better offensive line. They had the best defensive line with a pair of All Pros to generate pressure up the middle and the best cornerback duo with another pair of All Pros.

Kansas City had a terrible defense. New Orleans had an offense entirely reliant on two players: Michael Thomas and whichever running back was on the field. Both teams could be stopped and both teams were.

I still think the Rams are the most difficult team for the Patriots all season. I want New England to win. But the Patriots have always struggled with the stretch zone run that the Rams love to use on offense and they have the interior pressure/man coverage capabilities to disrupt the New England offense.

I hope I’m wrong. Rams win 36-28.

Alec Shane: A team that everyone more or less wrote off early in the season comes on strong in the end, finishes 11-5, manages to secure a playoff bye, and comes away with an upset win on the road against the best team in the AFC. They earn the right to head to the Super Bowl to take on the NFC’s most potent offense, loaded with elite receivers and a dangerous running back.

Did I just describe this season, or the 2001 season?

The answer, of course, is yes.

The number of similarities between Tommy B’s first SB appearance and this one are just too uncanny to ignore, and so for that reason, I may as well go with the exact same score as SB 36. Patriots 20, Rams 17.

Michael McDermott: New England 28, LA Rams 25. It will come down to how productive a game Sony Michel and the Patriots RBs have because I think that’s the matchup that favors NE the most. If Michel records his 3rd consecutive playoff hundo and multi-TD game, NE wins by a TD and Playstation gets Super Bowl MVP. I’m going to say he gets 25/110/2 on the ground while James White puts up 10+ catches against the Rams linebackers in coverage. Patriots Super Bowls are typically end up being decided by 1 possession and I don’t see how this will be any different. Rams will be too talented for NE to bury, even with the perfect game plan for Gurley and Goff. Brady will throw at least one WTF interception (had it in SB 38, 46, 49, and 51) because it tends to happen as often as it doesn’t. Patriots will double Brandin Cooks with Jonathan Jones + DMac so he doesn’t kill them deep while Gilmore plays Robert Woods, who is the primary chain mover in that passing offense. JC Jackson ends up sealing it at the end with a big forced fumble with the Rams on the edge of FG range in the final minute.

Matthew Rewinski: If you go to your friendly neighborhood watering hole this weekend, and tell the bartender “I’d like some Dante Scarnecchia Kool-Aid, please”, they’ll tell you “We’re fresh out” and when you ask “WTF, why?”, they’ll say “THAT gentleman at the end of the bar drank it all”.

Then I’ll wave like Forrest Gump.

As far as dealing with the Rams defensive line, that takes care of that.

As far as the rest.......if I may paraphrase a band that I don’t even like, we have the facts and we’re voting yes.

Need more? The Patriots overtime drive in KC should be the football equivalent of popping open the oven when your mom’s lasagna’s been cooking for hours and the timer rings (not a mom joke; I’m assuming your mom also makes excellent lasagna). Chiefs had the Patriots in 3rd and long at least 3 different times, and aside from everyone executing individually, Brady’s just....he can’t be fooled. Possibly ever again. After that, the Rams could deploy the Pats’ own quasi-infamous amoeba defense against them and I’d see Brady stare it down pre-snap, bark a couple things, and think “Cool, he figured it out”.

What else you got?

Ah. Right. Almost forgot. The Pats are incapable of playing a championship game that doesn’t come down to the final couple minutes, so, thanks to each and every one of you that said you loved the Panthers Super Bowl. Yeah, me too...totally.....

Doug Moore: New England - 38, Los Angeles - 34

I’ve picked against the Patriots in both the divisional round agains the Chargers and in the championship round against the Chiefs. New England has shown time and time again that you can never truly rule them out and I believe that they will once away come away with the victory.

The Rams have a slight advantage on offense given their wide receiver core and having Todd Gurley but the Patriots have a better defense and all-around roster. I think we will see another star performance from Brady and his two main backs in Michel & White. In what is likely Gronk’s last game, we could see him leave it all on the field and finish off strong as well.

Both teams will score a lot of points but Brady will make sure that his team is the one holding the Lombardi yet again at the end of the night.

Ryan Keiran: The Patriots simply match up too well with the Rams to ultimately lose this game with the edge in experience unless Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh completely wreck everything. Put Gilmore on Woods, Jackson on Reynolds, Jones with safety help on Cooks, use the linebackers to minimize the running game, and hope the last man (Harmon, Jason McCourty, Chung, Van Noy, whoever is on the TEs) can manage Everett/Higbee. Stay creative with the blitzes and Goff will get rattled. On offense, despite my year long hatred of the short yardage outside zone calls, its time to break them out all over the place. Minimize the chances of Donald and Suh impacting running plays and trust your tackles/tight ends/pulling interior linemen/Develin to win on the outside. Getting the ball out of Brady’s hands quick should be manageable as the Rams have no real defensive answer for Edelman or White. The game plan should be similar to what we saw with the Chiefs, but the Chiefs are a better team, albeit one without the interior monsters the Rams have. I trust Belichick, Brady, Scar, this O-Line, and McDaniels (in that order) to not let those monsters take away ring #6. Patriots 31-24.

Pat Lane: Rich, I’m pretty sure that you’ve picked against the Pats in all 3 games this postseason, let’s hope you’re wrong again!

I picked against the Patriots against the Chiefs, and I won’t be making that mistake again. Right now, everyone is healthy, and the team is playing in a way that I haven’t seen in a long time. The Rams are a talented group, and have a ton of weapons, but I think they’re able to take away Reynolds and Woods in the passing game, and Cooks won’t kill them.

I haven’t been this confident about a Patriots game in a long time. Last year it was a stupid confidence, where I looked at Nick Foles and thought there was no chance he could beat the Patriots. This year’s confidence is all about the Patriots and how they’ve been playing. The execution, especially on 3rd down is second to none. I don’t see how they lose this game. I really believe that 15 years from now, when Sean McVay is coaching in his 6th Super Bowl, he’ll be talking about how losing this game shaped his legacy. He wasn’t able to beat the best coach and best QB, but what he learned from that game was a big part of turning into one of the best coaches in the NFL.

Ryan Spagnoli: I got the Patriots, 31-20. I think it’ll be tough in the first half and kind of a back and forth game. However, in the second half, I think the Patriots experience will kick in and they’ll be able to grind it out and pull away with the game late. As much as I want to pick Brady (because he’s the GOAT and QB’s always win MVP) I got Sony Michel in this game. I think if he carries the ball 25+ times it will lead to 100 yards on the ground (because that’s what he does) and a few touchdowns.

Chris Blackey: Brady gets his sixth in this one. The Pats have good mojo going into this game as I don’t ever recall a Patriots team looking this focused in all my years of watching. The Rams are a good matchup for the Pats and I think if this is indeed Rob Gronkowksi’s last game he goes out in style with two touchdowns.