The Big Betting news of the weekend is that the 2019 Super Bowl 53 is going to be a battle between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams.
And New England fans will be proud to note that the New Jersey sportsbooks have installed the Patriots as the Bowl favorites
This after the two 2019 AFC and NFC conference underdogs stunned NFL fans on Sunday with their upset victories
Yes, that’s right. The Patriots beat the Kansas City Chiefs 37-31 in the AFC final and the Rams edged the New Orleans Saints 26-23 in the NFC final.
For the Patriots, the victory puts them into the Super Bowl for an NFL record 9th time and for the third year in a row.
In 2017 they won the Super Bowl. Last year they won the AFC Championship, made the Bowl final, but didn’t win.
Meantime for the Rams, this win will take them through to their first Super Bowl since moving back from Las Vegas to LA in 2001.
Somewhat ironically it will also be their first Bowl appearance since their historic defeat to the Patriots in Super Bowl 36.
On Thursday, heading into the two finals, FanDuel, the current NJ sportsbook market leader, had the Saints as their AFC money line favorites at -178 as against the +154 of the Rams and the Chiefs as the NFC favorites at -156 as against +136 for the Patriots.
In both cases, they were proven wrong
All season there has been talk, that the Patriots and their super-star quarterback-coach combo of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick were on the decline and that the Patriots would not make the Super Bowl again this year.
Their detractors were wrong. After a sluggish start, they’ve finished the season flying so high, they have once more been installed as the Super Bowl favorites.
On Monday FanDuel had them as money line favorites at -124 to the Rams +110 and 888sport at -134 to +110.
Brady bunch and fate contain Mahomes as Patriots win
Patrick Mahomes, the man expected to be NFL football’s next MVP, crafted a stirring comeback for the Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday’s AFC final.
But after steering his men to the field goal that equaled the scores and forced the game to go into extra time, he was never again able to get his hands on the ball after the extra-time coin toss gave the ball to the Patriots to start play.
Brady made sure of that. He never lost the ball as he threw a series of faultless, over-the-middle passes while deftly slipping away from some furious sack attacks
The Kansas City defense forced three separate third-and-10 plays but each time the canny Brady found an answer.
On the first third-and-10, he found Julian Edelman with an over the middle pass of 20 yards. Two incompletions later Brady once more found Edelman, this time for a 15-yard gain.
Then on a third-and-10 from the 30-yard-line, Brady whipped away a slick sideline strike to tight end Rob Gronkowski and another 15 yarder was made.
Finally, after three Rex Burkhead runs it was a touchdown. Patriots and New England had made the Super Bowl once again.
This tense, tight final must have been frustrating for young starter, Mahomes.
After a tough first half when he was restricted to passing for just 65 yards while being sacked three times, he did manage to get Chiefs firing in the fourth quarter when he led three touchdown drives, the last edging the Chiefs into the lead.
Brady spoiled the Chiefs party to put them back in front, but Mahomes wasn’t finished. He got the ball into field-goal range only 31 seconds from the final whistle.
In the end, however, his standout season was brought to a shuddering halt by the toss of a coin that left him benched and helpless as the ageless 42-year-old Brady tore apart the Chiefs defense and won another vital, high-pressure game.
Zuerlein boots the LA Rams to NFC victory
If ever an NFL kicker has played a major role in a championship game, it was Greg Zuerlein in the early Conference final on Sunday
The 31-year-old Nebraska-born player known as ‘Greg the Leg’ went big and long as he fired off four great goals in spearheaded the Rams to their narrow 26-23 victory over the hitherto Super Bowls favorites, the Saints, in the NFC final.
Zuerlein’s heroics were capped off by a master-class kick from all of 57 yards late in the game that was to seal the victory for Los Angeles.
It was the longest game-winner in NFL playoff history, though not the longest of his career. In 2015 he nailed a 61-yarder in a game against the Minnesota Vikings.
In a tight game where Rams quarterback Jared Goff made just one touchdown pass and the Saints Drew Brees two, Zuerlein also booted field goals from 36, 24 and 48 yards, the last of these being the one that forced the game into overtime.
“I really wasn’t thinking much,” Zuerlein was quoted as saying by the NFL website.
“I just looked up and saw it was going straight. And I was happy. I knew it was going to be long enough because I knew I hit it pretty well power-wise. I just didn’t want it to tail off one way or the next. Luckily it stayed true.”
Refusing to take all the credit for the Rams triumph, Zuerlein added: “I think it just shows, that as an organization as a whole, we never give up on each other, ”
“We’re a close-knit group. Whether we’re going through some adversities or success, we don’t let it change us. We just keep on keeping on.”
