Simpelton
In the Starting Line-Up
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2017
- Messages
- 3,883
- Reaction score
- 5,296
I really feel that the key to the outcome of this game wasn't skill or game plan. Those factored in of course, but to suppliment what has always been the true backbone of this franchise, which is the mental toughness of Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and other key pieces of the team.
In many ways this was a throwback game, in the middle of one of the most offensive eras in NFL history, this Superbowl felt almost exactly like one of the early Brady Superbowls. The ones where Brady wasn't always sharp, a lot of pressure got through to him, and he had to fight like mad for everything he got, and there was a sense that the defense had to carry a bit more than its share of the load. SB53, in a word, felt very much like SB36. And the key to that game was the ability to hang in there, control the ball and the time of possession and execute in the clutch. And the key to that was always the fact that Brady in particular, and Belichick coached teams in general, are able to be mentally tough, focus in the clutch, and execute just that little bit longer and better and further than their opponents.
Which I feel is how this Superbowl victory happened for this team. Once the defense started getting stops against Goff, it was always going to be a game of "whoever makes the first big defensive mistake loses." And as the grind of the game went on, it became clearer and clearer to me that it would be Los Angeles to make that mistake. The defensive gameplan is already being called a masterpiece and that is not an exaggeration, and the players, despite not being the most talented individually, executed it to near perfection. If they had let the Rams exploit them even once, Goff, who is a very good quarterback, would have been able to get his feet under him, get some confidence, and start putting points on the board. But they played the best 4 quarters of football I've ever personally seen a defense perform and all but shut out an offense that, let's not kid ourselves, was right there among the best offenses in the NFL this year -- and if they were missing some key people, so was our D, especially after the injury to Chung.
And so it came down to the offense, which means it came down to Brady. They needd to find a way to break through against a very tough, physical defense. And in their time, in the 4th quarter, the time when the grind starts to show in the players and the difference between victory and defeat is true mental toughness, the GOAT delivered, finally found a few holes in the impressive defensive gameplan he was facing, and put his team over the top.
To me here's the difference. The Patriots defensive scheme clearly got into the head of Goff. He was starting to make some mistakes as the game went on, especially after the Patriots took away his ability to roll out (IE buy time to read the defense). The result was a frustrated Goff who threw the pick to Gilmore that IMHO put the game on ice for the Patriots.
Now contrast that to Brady, who had to have been just as frustrated, against a defense that was better than ours on paper and playing very well all night, but instead of getting frustrated, TB12 kept patiently grinding, adjusting, working, and above all thinking, and picking at the defensive structure opposing him until he finally found an opening, and was able to string enough plays together to make the decisive score.
That patience and ability to keep grinding was the difference in the game. So you can say the GOAT had a tough game, and you'd probably be right, but you know what that old adage says about what happens when the going gets tough.
In many ways this was a throwback game, in the middle of one of the most offensive eras in NFL history, this Superbowl felt almost exactly like one of the early Brady Superbowls. The ones where Brady wasn't always sharp, a lot of pressure got through to him, and he had to fight like mad for everything he got, and there was a sense that the defense had to carry a bit more than its share of the load. SB53, in a word, felt very much like SB36. And the key to that game was the ability to hang in there, control the ball and the time of possession and execute in the clutch. And the key to that was always the fact that Brady in particular, and Belichick coached teams in general, are able to be mentally tough, focus in the clutch, and execute just that little bit longer and better and further than their opponents.
Which I feel is how this Superbowl victory happened for this team. Once the defense started getting stops against Goff, it was always going to be a game of "whoever makes the first big defensive mistake loses." And as the grind of the game went on, it became clearer and clearer to me that it would be Los Angeles to make that mistake. The defensive gameplan is already being called a masterpiece and that is not an exaggeration, and the players, despite not being the most talented individually, executed it to near perfection. If they had let the Rams exploit them even once, Goff, who is a very good quarterback, would have been able to get his feet under him, get some confidence, and start putting points on the board. But they played the best 4 quarters of football I've ever personally seen a defense perform and all but shut out an offense that, let's not kid ourselves, was right there among the best offenses in the NFL this year -- and if they were missing some key people, so was our D, especially after the injury to Chung.
And so it came down to the offense, which means it came down to Brady. They needd to find a way to break through against a very tough, physical defense. And in their time, in the 4th quarter, the time when the grind starts to show in the players and the difference between victory and defeat is true mental toughness, the GOAT delivered, finally found a few holes in the impressive defensive gameplan he was facing, and put his team over the top.
To me here's the difference. The Patriots defensive scheme clearly got into the head of Goff. He was starting to make some mistakes as the game went on, especially after the Patriots took away his ability to roll out (IE buy time to read the defense). The result was a frustrated Goff who threw the pick to Gilmore that IMHO put the game on ice for the Patriots.
Now contrast that to Brady, who had to have been just as frustrated, against a defense that was better than ours on paper and playing very well all night, but instead of getting frustrated, TB12 kept patiently grinding, adjusting, working, and above all thinking, and picking at the defensive structure opposing him until he finally found an opening, and was able to string enough plays together to make the decisive score.
That patience and ability to keep grinding was the difference in the game. So you can say the GOAT had a tough game, and you'd probably be right, but you know what that old adage says about what happens when the going gets tough.
