ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
The Los Angeles Rams are in their second Super Bowl since 2018 and playing in their home stadium. They face the Bengals, who haven’t been to a Super Bowl since 1989.
GAME SNAPSHOT
The Rams are 4.5 point favorites against the AFC’s Bengals. Both teams bring in high powered passing games. The biggest difference may be the two teams’ ability to protect their quarterbacks. The Bengals offense gave up a league-league 55 sacks in 2022, the Rams gave up 31. Both teams were able to pressure opposing quarterbacks. The Rams had 50 sacks and the Bengals had 42 in the regular season.
THE QUARTERBACKS
Joe Burrow: Burrow won a National Championship at LSU and was the first overall pick of the 2020 draft by Cincinnati. Burrow led the NFL in completion percentage (70.3) and his 108.3 quarterback rating was 2nd in the league. Burrow sat out the last regular-season game after getting banged up in a playoff-clinching victory against the Chiefs in week 17.
Burrow’s leading receiver is Ja’Marr Chase, who had 1,455 receiving yards (4th in the NFL) and the offense also features running back Joe Mixon who ran for 1,205 yards (3rd in the NFL).
Matt Stafford: The Rams traded their 2016 first overall pick, Jared Goff, to Detroit for Stafford in the offseason. Stafford went to Georgia and was drafted by Detroit first overall in 2009. Stafford played 12 seasons in Detroit where they made the playoffs three times and went 0-3. Stafford’s 2021 quarterback rating was 102.9 and he was third in the NFL in passing yards (4886) and second in TDs (41).
Stafford’s leading receiver is Cooper Kupp, who led the NFL with 145 catches, 1,947 yards and 16 TDs this season.