Six months after SB win, what little thing sticks in your memory?

chris_in_sunnyvale said:

I still chuckle at in 9 SBs since 2001:

- SB52 featured the most points the Pats scored in regulation...and lost.

- SB53 featured their fewest points scored...and the win was by their largest margin.

Regards,
Chris

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luuked said:

It is funny how you think Patricia is a clown for maybe his finest coaching job in his entire tenure here. With Branch rather standing in line at Panda Express than defending the line on the field, Hightower lost to IR leaving absolutely no LB depth and losing Jonathan Jones who had challenged Butler as a starting CB. His defenses in 2014, 2016 and especially 2015 were really good.

But that's par for the course for some around here. Success (or lack of) has not particularly much to do with how someone performed and most certainly should not be used in any way to evaluate people.

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The Brandon Five said:

Pats going into Arrowhead and beating the "heir apparent" in is own house after a week when everyone was saying that the Pats had no chance. Delicious.

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ivanvamp said:

I think so, given the caliber of opponent, yes. Here are, IMO, the candidates for best defensive performance in a Super Bowl:

SB 3 - Jets 16, Colts 7
SB 18 - Raiders 38, Redskins 9
SB 20 - Bears 46, Patriots 10
SB 35 - Ravens 34, Giants 7
SB 42 - Giants 17, Patriots 14
SB 48 - Seahawks 43, Broncos 8
SB 53 - Patriots 13, Rams 3

Ok so let's break those down.

SB 3: Colts had the #2 scoring, #4 yardage offense in the NFL that year. They averaged 28.7 points a game, so the Jets held them to 21.7 fewer points than average. They allowed 324 total yards to Baltimore that day.

SB 18: Redskins had the #1 scoring, #3 yardage offense in the NFL that year. They averaged 33.8 points a game, so the Raiders held them to 24.8 fewer points than average. They allowed just 283 total yards to Washington that day. But the Raiders blew them out, so it made defense easier as the game went on.

SB 20: Pats had the #10 scoring, #9 yardage offense in the NFL that year. They averaged 25.8 points a game, so the Bears held them to 15.8 fewer points than average. They allowed just 123 total yards to NE in that game, but just as was the case with SB 18, the Bears were up by so much that it made NE one-dimensional, and a bad one at that.

SB 35: Giants had the #15 scoring, #13 yardage offense in the NFL that year. They averaged 20.5 points a game, so the Ravens held them to 13.5 fewer points than average. They allowed just 152 total yards to NY in that game, but see the previous two situations, as the lopsided score made playing defense easier. Also, the Giants' offense was the definition of mediocre that year.

SB 42: Pats had the #1 scoring, #1 yardage offense in the NFL that year. They averaged 36.8 points a game, so the Giants held them to 22.8 fewer points than average. They allowed just 274 total yards to NE in that game. Great performance against maybe the greatest offense the NFL has ever seen. -sigh-

SB 48: Broncos had the #1 scoring, #1 yardage offense in the NFL that year. They averaged 37.9 points a game, so the Seahawks held them to 29.9 fewer points than average. They allowed just 306 total yards to Den in that game. Great performance against an all-time great offense, but the lopsided score made it far easier to play the suddenly one-dimensional Broncos' offense.

SB 53: Rams had the #2 scoring, #2 yardage offense in the NFL that year. They averaged 32.9 points a game, so the Patriots held them to 29.9 fewer points than average. They allowed just 260 total yards to LA in that game. Great performance against one of the great offenses in history, AND the score was so tight all game long that there was absolutely no room for error.


So in SB 53, the Patriots tied the SB 48 Seahawks for the record of holding their opponents to more points under their average than any other team in SB history. Moreover, they held the Rams to fewer total yards than Seattle did Denver. AND the game was much tighter, meaning the defense had no margin for error all game long until the last drive of the game.

So yes, at WORST, it's on the short short list of best defensive performances in SB history, but a strong case can be made that it was numero uno, all things considered.

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QuantumMechanic said:

GOATs in various sports also will tell you about how much they believe in the “hot hand” even though that’s pretty much been proven not to exist. So just because a GOAT says something about their sport, especially if it is some subjective thing with years of cliches or folk beliefs about it, doesn’t mean they’re correct about it.

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Soliel said:

The stark difference between coaching staffs. Rams defense played a hell of a game but we’re outplayed on both sides and destroyed on special teams

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203Pat said:

Wade Phillips had no answer for Edelman in the slot. Nickel Coleman the self proclaimed “slot god” got torched. With that said I certainly wouldn’t put that Rams loss of Phillips.

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Patriot Missile said:

So much thunder already taken between the defense with the genius quarters design to Gronk’s possibly last contribution.

So I’ll have to go with the special teams here and say that we witnessed the best combined kicking performance by 2 punters in not just the super bowl, but the history of the game.

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TruthSeeker said:

Here are a series of articles providing a statistical look at momentum in football (links to articles 1-4 in article 5):

Advanced Football Analytics (formerly Advanced NFL Stats): Momentum Part 5 - Series Level Analysis

This shows a very slight (essentially unnoticeable, certainly not statistically significant) momentum. I remember reading other statistical articles on momentum that showed a slight anti-momentum.

Bottom line is I've never seen any statistical proof for momentum.

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1960Pats said:

I definitely felt momentum during my sports playing days, on multiple occasions. Sometimes it was so prevalent I felt like I could cut it with a knife.

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Hyped said:

LOL! I'll lament the losses all I want to. BTW, I tell the haters the same thing when they point out how lucky we were to win....

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1960Pats said:

I definitely felt momentum during my sports playing days, on multiple occasions. Sometimes it was so prevalent I felt like I could cut it with a knife.

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ivanvamp said:

Is momentum something that causes a team to put together a stretch of good performance, or is a stretch of good performance what we simply label as "momentum"?

You're hitting shot after shot in a basketball game - some are swishes and some are lucky bounces. Are they going in *because* of momentum? Or is momentum caused by you making shot after shot?

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