7 Reasons Why the Los Angeles Rams Will Win Super Bowl LIII

The Los Angeles Rams is one of the elder franchises in the National Football League, starting in Cleveland before moving to Los Angeles, to St. Louis and back to Los Angeles. The team has won three NFL championships and are the only team to win titles in three different cities. They won the 1945 title in Cleveland, the 1951 title in Los Angeles and the 1999 title (Super Bowl XXXIV) in St. Louis. They now prepare to meet the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII, a rematch of Super Bowl XXXVI, which the Patriots won in a major upset, as the Rams came in as 14-point favorites. Current Rams coach Sean McVay was in high school during that season, though, so that ancient history doesn’t matter much to the Rams. Vegas thought that the Rams should be favored, opening sports betting for Super Bowl LIII with the Rams favored by one. However, betting money moved the line to a 2 ½-point spread favoring the Patriots at this writing. Can the Los Angeles Rams beat the Patriots? Here are seven reasons why we say yes.

7 Reasons Why the Los Angeles Rams Will Win Super Bowl LIII

The dust has settled. The patch is mounted. 12 days until #SBLIII. pic.twitter.com/QIPnTCSmCe

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) January 22, 2019

The Rams did overcome adversity in the NFC Championship

All the noise coming out of the Rams’ overtime win has to do with a pass interference call that the referees missed — which would have given New Orleans time to run out the clock if called. While this is true, it does not address the fact that the Saints opened up a 13-0 lead after the first quarter but then saw their offense fall off the table, as the Rams made the adjustments. If the Rams fall into a similar hole against New England, expect McVay and the coaching staff to make adjustments to shift the momentum.

The Rams can rush the passer better than the Chargers or the Chiefs

The Chiefs didn’t lay a finger on Tom Brady until a slap on the shoulder that the referee saw as roughing the passer, gifting the Patriots with 15 free yards. They didn’t sack him a single time, and he looked hardly bothered at all as he led clutch drives in the fourth quarter and overtime. The Rams sacked Dak Prescott and Drew Brees three times and hit them nine times in the first two rounds of the postseason, and they had 12 ½ combined tackles for loss. It was Dante Fowler Jr. who whacked Drew Brees’ arm on that pass in overtime, leading to the flutterball that the Rams picked off near midfield, leading to the short drive that would give the Rams their game-winning field goal. They can make Brady hurry more than the Chiefs did.

The Rams can control the pace with their running game

The Rams have picked up 350 yards of rushing offense and have scored four rushing touchdowns in their wins over Dallas and Los Angeles. It is true that they did much of that damage against Dallas, but C.J. Anderson has run for 167 combined yards and a pair of scores in those two games. Where was Todd Gurley II in the NFC Championship? He did score a touchdown just before halftime but spent most of the game on the sideline, leading to talk about a recurrence of his knee issues. The Rams’ O-line should be able to open up holes in the Patriots’ front seven for their running game, and if that works, they should be able to control time of possession and keep the Rams’ defense from running out of gas.

The Rams’ front seven is better than Kansas City’s

The Patriots were able to use Sony Michel to pick up big-time running yards, as he has gained 242 yards on 53 carries in two postseason games — and he didn’t even see the ball in the fourth quarter or overtime against the Chiefs. He averaged 5.5 yards per carry against the Chiefs, giving the Patriots enough balance to give Brady time in the pocket. However, with Donald, Suh and Brockers up front, the Rams should be able to stall the Patriots’ rushing game more effectively.

The Rams’ offensive line can handle the Patriot rush

Jared Goff has gone down to just one sack in the Rams’ two playoff games. The Saints did hit Goff six times, the most hits he had taken since Week 15. However, Goff had mostly clean pockets against a variety of defensive packages from the Saints, including a number of blitzes, and they should be able to do the same against New England.

Atlanta has been kind to the Rams

The Rams won Super Bowl XXXIV in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome. The Rams have put up 161 points in the six games they’ve played in Atlanta since that Super Bowl win.

Alexa picked the Patriots to win

That’s right, Amazon’s virtual assistant, when asked who will win, grudgingly says the Pats will win. She also picked Kansas City and New Orleans to win the two conference championships. It’s hard to argue against a cold streak like that…right?