Patriots top Rams for 6th Super Bowl title

The 53 things we learned from the New England Patriots’ 13-3 Super Bowl LIII win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night:

1. Patriots QB Tom Brady now stands alone with six of his very own Super Bowl rings, most of any player in NFL history.

2. Playing in their record 11th Super Bowl – and 10th in Robert Kraft’s quarter century of ownership – the Patriots themselves now stand alone with a league record 37 playoff victories.

3. New England also tied Pittsburgh for the most Lombardi Trophies won (6), now making it a race for The Stairway to Seven.

4. Bill Belichick joined George Halas and Curly Lambeau as the only coaches in the NFL’s 99-year history to win six titles.

5. Brady now has 237 career wins (regular season and playoffs combined), breaking his tie with former teammate Adam Vinatieri for the most in league annals.

6. Brady (41) is still the oldest quarterback to win a Super Bowl, and Belichick (66) is still the oldest coach.

7. The Patriots became the first team (and third overall) since the 1972 Dolphins to win the Super Bowl one year after losing it.

8. New England is also just the third franchise to play in three straight Super Bowls – so did the 1971-73 Miami teams – and can match the 1990-93 Buffalo Bills record of four by reaching Super LIV next year.

9. The Patriots’ 10-point win over the Rams was the largest margin, win or lose, of any of their nine Super Bowls during the Brady-Belichick era.

10. Maybe it was East Coast proximity, but Mercedes-Benz Stadium was decidedly pro-Patriots. New England’s Rob Gronkowski said, “today was a home game basically.”

11. If this was Gronkowski’s final NFL game – he evaded the retirement question all week up through Sunday night, saying at one point he was 51 percent decided (without indicating which way he was leaning) – go ahead and put him in the conversation as greatest tight end in league history. He won’t finish with the stats of a Tony Gonzalez or Antonio Gates, but good luck finding anyone at his position who had as great an impact on a per-game basis.

11a. Gronk’s 23 career Super Sunday catches for 297 yards are both records for a tight end.

12. The Rams shut New England out in the first quarter. The Patriots have three points — total — in the opening period of their nine Super Bowls under Brady and Belichick.

13. With 10 catches for 141 yards, Patriots WR Julian Edelman was the clear choice for MVP. Must’ve gotten some good advice from that random dude who gave him a tour of Atlanta a week before the game.

14. Now with 115 career catches for 1,412 yards in the postseason, Edelman ranks second only to Jerry Rice all time in both categories.

15. Brady has only failed to win MVP honors twice during his six Super Bowl wins. Edelman and former WR Deion Branch picked up the hardware the other times.

16. Hated to see Patriots S Patrick Chung wind up in a sling, but how much did it remind of Rodney Harrison’s injury against Carolina in Super Bowl XXXVIII?

17. Bravo to New England’s offensive line, which allowed one sack of Brady in the playoffs.

18. After leading the NFL with 20½ sacks in the regular season, two-time league defensive player of the year Aaron Donald had none this postseason.

19. Statistically, this was Brady’s worst Super Bowl. It marked the first time he failed to throw a TD pass, and his 71.4 QB rating was easily his worst.

20. Brady also joined Jim Kelly and Ron Jaworski as the only Super Bowl QBs to have their first pass of the game intercepted.

21. But Jared Goff would take it. The Rams’ 24-year-old quarterback was under fire all night and didn’t look like a player yet ready to put a team on his back in the most pressure-packed of situations. He finished the playoffs with one TD pass and two INTs along with a 71.7 passer rating.

22. Sony Michel earned the decided nod over Todd Gurley in the battle of former University of Georgia backs on this Atlanta evening. Michel outgained Gurley by 60 total yards (94-34) and extended his rookie record with his sixth TD of these playoffs.

23. Despite his repeated denials, still seems like there’s something fishy with Gurley’s health.

24. Gronkowski’s 29-yard catch, which set up Michel’s decisive fourth-quarter TD, was the game’s longest play from scrimmage.

25. Very nice to see Eagles DE Chris Long deservedly win the prestigious Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award on Saturday. Long won a ring with New England in 2016 and with Philly last year.

26. Rams WR Brandin Cooks doesn’t have Long’s luck. A concussion knocked Cooks from the Patriots’ loss in Super Bowl LII to the Eagles, and he was on the wrong side again Sunday despite snaring eight passes for 120 yards.

27. Cooks wasn’t able to make a pair of potential TD catches, either – one he should have had, and one Goff underthrew – that likely would’ve produced a far different game.

28. The Patriots ran one play in the red zone (Michel’s TD run)... which was one more than the Rams had.

29. Super Bowl LIII was only the second to enter the fourth quarter tied (3-3). The other was Super Bowl XXXIX, when the Patriots overcame the Eagles following the 2004 season.

30. The Rams tied the 1971 Dolphins for fewest points in a Super Bowl.

31. The Rams’ three points were also their fewest in 36 games under Sean McVay.

32. LA had also never suffered a first-half shutout under McVay.

33. With 16 combined points, Super Bowl LIII set a record for the fewest scored, breaking the previous mark of Super Bowl VII (Miami beat Washington 14-7).

34. There were only two fewer total punts (14) than points scored.

35. Last year, New England and Philadelphia combined for one punt in Super Bowl LII.

36. LA’s Johnny Hekker set a Super Bowl record with a 65-yard punt, breaking the record (by 1 yard) of New England’s Ryan Allen... who happened to be Hekker’s teammate at Oregon State.

37. Patriots LB Kyle Van Noy had three sacks in the playoffs after collecting 3½ in the regular season.

38. Whether you want to say New England’s defense won this game or the Los Angeles offense lost it, take your pick. 39. The defensive play of the game was probably Patriots CB Stephon Gilmore’s fourth-quarter interception of Goff. Gilmore and Brady were New England’s only Pro Bowlers in 2018.

40. The paid attendance of 70,081 was the eighth lowest in Super Bowl history, but that’s more a capacity issue of Mercedes-Benz Stadium than an indicator of lacking interest.

41. The Patriots also picked up a Hall of Famer when CB Ty Law – he played 10 years in New England – was selected over the weekend.

42. The Rams did not as WR Isaac Bruce failed to make the Canton cut once again.

43. In his final pre-game press conference Thursday, Brady was serenaded by a “journalist” singing Queen’s “We Are the Champions” while playing a ukulele. Apropos as it turns out.

44. New England should largely be able to keep the band together for another title run in 2019. DE Trey Flowers and K Stephen Gostkowski are the key free agents.

45. Meanwhile, the Rams have decisions to make on Ndamukong Suh, Lamarcus Joyner, Rodger Saffold and Dante Fowler Jr., who all have expiring contracts.

46. Starting Monday, Patriots linebackers coach Brian Flores will begin his transition into head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Good luck with that, dude. At least you worked for the real genius Sunday.

47. Starting Monday, Rams quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor will begin his transition into head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. Good luck with that, dude.

48. Maroon 5. Meh.

49. Gladys Knight. Yay.

50. Now that so many NFL cities have been rewarded with Super Bowls in the wake of constructing new stadiums, let’s hope Atlanta settles in as a regular part of the rotation. Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a first-class facility, and the city did a great job hosting the event and making so many of the league’s exhibitions and mid-week events accessible and walkable.

51. Kudos to the Patriots’ McCourty brothers. DBs Devin and Jason became the first set of twins to play in a Super Bowl.

52. Suspended Patriots WR Josh Gordon remained on the minds of many of his teammates during the week.

53. Backup QBs Brian Hoyer (Patriots) and Sean Mannion (Rams) were the only players in uniform Sunday who didn’t get to play.