New England Patriots Super Bowl LIII Odds & Preview

The Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots will take part in Super Bowl LIII on Sunday, February 3, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Both the Rams and the Patriots needed overtime to eliminate the Saints and the Chiefs, respectively, in their conference championships, and the Rams also needed the entire officiating crew to miss one of the more obvious pass interference calls in recent years to get a chance to get the football back and march down the field for the tying field goal. The first point spread that came out for Super Bowl LIII had the Rams favored by a point, but so much money poured in on the New England side that it only took a few minutes for the spread to move as high as New England -3. Here’s a look at the New England Patriots’ chances to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.

New England Patriots Super Bowl LIII Odds & Preview

• Current Super Bowl LIII Odds: New England -150 / Los Angeles +130

Alexa predicts the Patriots will win

In the AFC Championship, Alexa (the speaker-based virtual assistant sold by Amazon) predicts that the Patriots will win. If you ask her who will win the Super Bowl, she says, “You can never count out the New England Patriots” and that “Tom Brady will need to use his other hand for that sixth Super Bowl ring.” Of course, Alexa also predicted that Kansas City would win the AFC Championship, so you can’t always trust your virtual assistant to be right. In the NFC Championship, she said that New Orleans would advance to the Super Bowl. So maybe we should look elsewhere for support for a Pats title.

The Patriots can run the ball

That’s one reason why pass rushers haven’t made it to Tom Brady — they have to respect the run. Sony Michel ran for 113 yards and two scores in the AFC Championship despite barely making it onto the field in the fourth quarter and overtime, giving way to Rex Burkhead. But the fact that it didn’t seem to matter who was carrying the ball showed you how well the line was blocking. The Rams were just 23rd overall in the regular season and struggled against the run.

Gronk and Edelman

Despite their age, despite the fact that they looked slow running down the field, Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman were still open and catching passes when it mattered, converting third down after third down with catches near the sticks. Edelman had nine catches for 151 yards in the divisional round win over the Chargers. Luckily, he didn’t touch what was initially called a muffed punt, and a pass that clanged off his hands for an interception in the fourth quarter was overturned thanks to Kansas City linebacker Dee Ford lining up well into the neutral zone. These two were clutch, and Gronk’s blocking was key in the running game as well.

New England can rush the passer

Jared Goff for the Rams has taken only one postseason tack. However, the Patriots were able to sack Patrick Mahomes II four times in the AFC Championship, and Mahomes is a lot more mobile than Goff. One of those sacks pushed the Chiefs out of field goal range late in the second quarter, and the Chiefs could have used those points later on.

Brady? Or Goff?

Which quarterback do you expect to grind out the win? Yes, Brady made some mistakes against Kansas City but was money in crunch time. Goff’s team needed a lot more help from the officials to get their win. I see Brady winning yet another duel and pushing the Patriots to yet another title. If Goff still had Cooper Kupp on the field, that would be one thing, but he doesn’t have as many weapons — and the Patriots will rush the passer better than the Saints did.