BA Sports column: The Super Bowl

This past NFL season lots of teams have seen their fair share of ups and downs. Seventeen brutal, memorable, intense weeks of football have finally come to an end. At the top of the pack stood only the elite twelve. The best thing about these playoffs was that they have never been more wide open. All teams proved why they deserve to be in the postseason and all faced their ultimate test in the winner go home scenario.

A lot these playoff games have been determined by short moments and plays. In the divisional game, Bears kicker Cody Parkey missed a 43-yard field goal to win. Or maybe the fumble recovery by Melvin Ingram to seal the victory and ruin the Ravens’ comeback. Most memorable perhaps being the blown PI call in the NFC championship that broke Saints fans’ hearts. This Super Bowl is shaping up to promise more.

These playoffs have had teams coming from a wide variety of seasons. There was the reigning Super Bowl champs, The Philadelphia Eagles, led by backup QB Nick Foles who slipped in at the 6th seed. However being down did not mean out for the Eagles. They got past the NFC North champs of Chicago in a 16-15 win. They took a very quick exit after that with a close loss to the Saints.

A classic usual is the New England Patriots who haven’t missed the playoffs since 2008 and have also had only missed the playoffs twice since 2001. With their win over the Chargers and Chiefs, teams that both have very high caliber offenses and MVP caliber QBs in Phillip Rivers and Muppet man himself Patrick Mahomes, they have proven for certain that they are legit. Evidently, all you really need is Tom Brady.

However, now that the AFC and NFC championships are over it all comes down to who shows up at the super bowl. Veteran Tom Brady has nine super bowl appearances, more than any player in NFL history. He has been here before, whether its come from behind wins, all game dominant or even defeat. Brady’s first super bowl happened to be versus the Rams as well. This dynasty has been run by the Belichick and Brady duo which is the scariest to face in the NFL. Especially with the Rams’ 24-year old Jared Goff in his first ever super bowl and just his third season.

The NFC champion Los Angeles Rams are all in this year and have never been more confident. Led by charismatic 33-year old Sean McVay, the Rams slipped past the expected super bowl champ Saints with two clutch field goals. All year long they seemed poised to be an off and on team, but leave it to Goff to prove everyone wrong.

Straight up, Los Angeles seems like the better team. But the good news is this super bowl is poised to be a close one because of one factor: Tom Brady doesn’t care at all what you think. He’s just here to crush your team’s dreams and reign in the glory of infinite super bowl rings.

As an Arizona fan, I’m torn. Every team in the NFC West is a team I want to lose at all times possible. The Rams definitely fall into this category. On the other side, variety in championships is something that I covet. I mean who wants Alabama every single year?

   In this matchup, though I’m forced to ride with the team I hate more, the Los Angeles Rams. Despite, my hatred for the organization they are a very hard team to hate. Their offense puts up points like nobody’s business and they are simply the Golden State Warriors of the NFL: Hard to hate but fun to watch. On both sides of the ball, their strength is pretty unmatched by any other team in the league and for this reason, I think they will find a way to power past the experience of the Patriots.

So when the confetti is set to fall on the night of February 3rd look for Ryan Gosling impersonator-turned QB Jared Goff to be hoisting the Lombardi trophy.