2021 NFL SEASON
Good luck at the window this season!
4 Los Angeles Rams 15-5 (-3.5) @ 4 Cincinnati Bengals 13-7 (48.5): Rams 27-23 Rams 23-20
SBLVI Sunday, 6:30 PM, SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, CA (Weather: Indoors)
Keys: It must be weird being a guest in your own home, but such is the case Sunday when the Cincinnati Bengals "host" the Los Angeles Rams for Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in Sunny and evidently Super-Bowl-record hot Inglewood, CA. Super Bowl LVI is also the second Super Bowl (SB) in a row played in the home stadiums of one of the participants (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2021), something that had never happened in the previous 54 years. This is a game of two teams on completely different trajectories on the same path: The Cincinnati Bengals are a few years early after drafting Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase to eventually get to this point, while the Los Angeles Rams are all-in after trading away their future to get Matthew Stafford, Jalen Ramsey and Von Miller to win now. That makes for a great story line, especially with the "home team" factor, although the "home" stadium will be packed with celebrities and other athletes, among many other mostly not Rams fans, and is one of many great story lines. Will Stafford, OBJ and Aaron Donald finally get their elusive championship? Will Joe Burrow become the third player to win a National Championship and and SB title? Will Burrow become the first to win both and a Heisman trophy? Will Sunday's SB game be the hottest on record? Will the game follow the 2022 trend of record-breaking small score differentials or will it be a blow-out? Will the highly-touted individual match-ups live up to the hype or will one player dominate? There's a lot to look forward to in the game no one expected (i.e. GB@KC) , which could be a defensive battle between a Bengals team that has shown flashes of brilliance and a Rams team that can be among the league's most dominant, or two offenses that are capable of scoring 30 points on any given Sunday with the likes of Cooper Kupp and OBJ (LAR) and Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd (CIN). The key match-ups here are pretty clear: Aaron Donald and the Rams front seven against an inferior Bengals offensive line and Jalen Ramsey against Ja'Marr Chase. If Burrow can get the ball out quick to Higgins and Boyd, or if Joe Mixon can get going enough to get the play action going then the Bengals have a real chance at beating the Rams, but unless Stafford implodes under the pressure to win a SB, or Cam Akers fumbles the ball multiple times, Ramsey and Donald will lead a Rams defense chalk full of play makers like SBLV champion Von Miller, who has 115.5 career sacks (t-31st all-time) to victory and the cover. The Cincinnati Bengals are a great story that will likely be around for years to come, but the Rams paid for this shit.
Super Bowl LVI ended up one of the more exciting SBs in the past few years, the Rams won at home on a story book ending and the game even had the quintessential game-changing terrible calls, luckily off-setting to avoid major controversy. Jalen Ramsey had his head twisted off by Tee Higgins to start the second half as the Bengals went up 17-13, their second consecutive unanswered score after being down 13-3, but the officials somehow never noticed. Truth be told, I never saw it either, but I'm one person watching a television on Stardawg. Fear not, Rams fans and purists, the Bengals got absolutely screwed on a 4th & 1 pass interference call in the Red Zone that would've sealed the victory for the Bengals. The power of Stan Kroenke prevailed, as I predicted in the championship game review, and the officials gave the Rams four more chances to score on the doorstep, leading to the hyper risky but inevitable Cooper Kupp TD catch and even more inevitable subsequent SBLVI MVP (see below). Neither QB shined (In fact, Matthew Stafford threw 2 INTs), and the only players that jumped off the stat sheet besides Aaron Donald (see below) were WRs from each team, the aforementioned Higgins (4 REC/100 YDS/2 TDs) and the record-breaking Kupp (8 REC/92 YDS/2 TDs). We could see the Bengals back next year, but as far as the Rams are concerned the job is done. Besides, Donald and head coach Sean McVay might retire. Have a safe and productive offseason and maybe we'll see you next season! - PFM
Super Bowl LVI MVP: Aaron Donald
Aaron Donald had 3 QB hits, including the game-winning hit on Joe Burrow to seal the victory, to go along with 4 tackles, 2 TFL and 2 sacks. In other words, Donald got robbed of the SBLVI MVP.
Stay tuned PRO FOOTBALL MEDIA Week 1: #NFL Game Predictions (w/ spreads & analysis) OPENING WEEK EDITION coming September...maybe.
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