Defending great Super Bowl defense

By STEVE KING

Some thoughts on the New England Patriots’ 13-3 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl 53 on Sunday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta:

*The fact the Patriots won is hardly a surprise. Most people – not all, but most people and in fact the vast majority of them – picked the Pats. To do otherwise would have been like betting against Amazon. The surprising part – the stunning, unbelievable part — of course, was the offense, or lack thereof. Nobody foresaw a combined total of just 16 points being scored in the game. Those two teams can easily get 16 in a quarter, and did – and then some — on any number of occasions this year.

*New England quarterback Tom Brady is taking criticism for, what some consider, not having played a very good game. That is coming from people who don’t know football – don’t know a darn thing about it. It’s the quarterback job to win the game, not to throw for 350 yards and three touchdowns. He made the throws when he had to make them, especially in the fourth quarter, against a very good defense that choked the life out of Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship Game. Jared Goff’s stats were not outstanding, either, but the real issue was that the young Rams quarterback didn’t make a big throw all night.

*A boring Super Bowl? That’s what a lot of people are saying. Are you kidding me? It was fascinating to see the chess match going on between the coaches on both sides. That, in itself, was worth watching.

*Play-by-play man Jim Nantz did his usual great job on CBS’s telecast of the game, but I thought color analyst Tony Romo turned in – by far – his worst effort since he began with the network. He seemed totally unprepared. He added nothing to the telecast.

*But other than Romo, I like the work that CBS did. I think it does a much more watchable, and enjoyable job in its telecasts of NFL games. Fox? Not so much. Its graphics and production are too gaudy and overdone.

*And then there’s some guy named Bill Belichick. He was more than a part of the game. He was the game in every respect. We’ll get to him next time.