It takes offense to feel like a good win?

[CGI_Ram]

Okay... here's where I am going with that; it's definitely an offense driven league. So...

I had to travel this week for work and bumped into quite a few Patriots fans... consistently they were happy/proud of their win, but each said similar things about the win not being as satisfying.

They didn't feel they played well. Felt fortunate to get the win. Etc.

Anyway, I guess when two teams that usually score a lot - don't score much - its an empty feeling.

Just thought I'd drop that observation from some conversations this week. Even the Patriot fans didn't get the high they wanted (somewhat).

 

[Varg6]

Frankly, it wouldn't shock me if this was, for Pats players and coaches, the most difficult SB for the Pats to win. They would get into a decent rhythm, and then get stopped in their tracks. Wade had an incredible game plan against Tom Brady & co. They got very lucky with Cooks dropping two TDs, and, as always with football, if one or two plays went our way (I keep thinking of the holding penalty when Gurley had a great run) it's a very different game.

 

[IBruce80]

From our side, it was obviously disappointing.

The game was so close.
It was intense as in the defences were playing hard.
As a Rams fan I always thought we could win it up until the last drive and FG attempt.
The game is what I would call a nail biter.
You cant really compare it to the Rams/Chiefs game as that game was incredible.
However, the Super Bowl brought an intensity that maybe most neutral fans didnt experience.
Again, for us, it was a game with a lot of "ifs".
If only we could score a TD.

Those Pats fans need to realise that defence did its job. Very well.
They shut down our running game, and passing game.
They finally bettered our defence.
It pains me to say that.
I dont get how they can say it wasnt as satisfying after holding us to 3 points.

Win big, win ugly, but just win.

I like a defensive game if it's close.

 

[Adi]

Those guys sound like true fans !

I was also recently in mass and everyone at my work meeting loves the superbowl win but said it was boring.

How the F was it boring ?
Your team is in the superbowl !
They take it for advantage because that team has won so many titles .

I will always remember this game and dont care if we lost 3-0 . This is what the new NFL has done , people are easily distracted unless the game is a shoot out . I personally prefer defensive battles

 

[OldSchool]

They feel from how well their defense played that their offense should have played as well. They, and a lot of other people including Rams fans, just disregard how well the defense played for the Rams and think that was an anomaly and not that we actually played well.

 

[FrantikRam]

I once read a Vikings fan talking about their disappointing playoff performances in the years that they could have won a Super Bowl - I don't know much about the teams that lost in the 70s but specifically about the 98 and 2017 teams, and it's something that stuck with me.

1998 - Gary Anderson had been perfect all year and missed a chip shot FG that likely ends the game

2017 - their defense was the best and they got destroyed by Nick Foles

He said losing would be one thing, but losing while the supposed strength of your team doesn't play well tends to make you feel hopeless - this is sort of off-topic because if I'm the Patriots, I don't care how I won that game - had the Rams won 6-3 I would have celebrated as much as if they'd won 38-31 - but I think that's what I'm struggling with. We had a top offense by almost any measurement with an offensive genius at HC - if you went through and ranked every offense in Super Bowl history, ours would have been in the top 20 I think - and yet we produced possibly the worst offensive performance in Super Bowl history.

While a win is a win and a loss is a loss, I definitely would have felt better if we lost this game having scored some points and produced some offense.



Also from a Patriots perspective, when the score was 3-3 and Gurley broke through the hole for a gain of 10+ yards that put us in long FG range, they most likely felt like they were going to lose (win probability would have favored the Rams at that point) - until the flag. If any fan is honest with themselves, it was an awful call in the 4th quarter of a tied Super Bowl.

I'd have been happy that the Rams won, but I'd feel weird about getting such a sketchy call.

 

[LesBaker]

I had to travel this week for work and bumped into quite a few Patriots fans... consistently they were happy/proud of their win, but each said similar things about the win not being as satisfying.

Around here there are several Patriots fans and one of the 3 guys who do an afternoon show on ESPN is from Boston and is a die hard fan.

The overall feeling is they barely got out of there with the W.

They got very lucky with Cooks dropping two TDs

Again with the "dropped" narrative.

STAHP.

 

[Loyal]

It was 3-3 into the 4th quarter. One caught pass in the end zone could have changed everything, including energizing our defense to be even more stingy after the fact. It's mostly a-hole fans' whose teams were not good enough and they are hating the Rams. Fukk them sideways.

 

[thirteen28]

It was 3-3 into the 4th quarter. One caught pass in the end zone could have hanged everything, including energizing our defense to be even more stingy after the fact. It's most a-hole fans' whose teams were not good enough and they are hating the Rams. Fukk them sideways.

... with a splintery 2 x 4 ... doused in Tabasco sauce. Then throw them in a swimming pool full of rabid porcupines.

 

[Varg6]

Around here there are several Patriots fans and one of the 3 guys who do an afternoon show on ESPN is from Boston and is a die hard fan.

The overall feeling is they barely got out of there with the W.



Again with the "dropped" narrative.

STAHP.

Lol what would you call it then? Sure the first one Goff could’ve thrown it sooner; but the second play I’m referring to Goff literally threw a perfect pass to Cooks on 1st down, which would’ve changed the game. Not sure what you’re getting at.

 

[fearsomefour]

It would take a special kind of simple to not appreciate a hard fought defensive win.

 

[LesBaker]

Lol what would you call it then? Sure the first one Goff could’ve thrown it sooner; but the second play I’m referring to Goff literally threw a perfect pass to Cooks on 1st down, which would’ve changed the game. Not sure what you’re getting at.

One was a poor pass. Throwing it sooner may have helped but not if he threw it the same way.

The other was impossible to catch because the defender was holding his arm at his side.

You can find the game online. I've watched both plays a handful of times. If you go look you'll see.

 

[LesBaker]

It would take a special kind of simple to not appreciate a hard fought defensive win.

Most people wanted to see the Patriots lose, by a very large margin. If that game ended at 10-3 Rams, or 13-10 Rams it would be considered a "disaster" of sorts as much as it was for average fans at 13-3. I've heard several people say it was "boring". But fans like us can watch a game like that and understand what's going on and the sheer defensive prowess , intelligence and skill levels on the coaching staffs and players from both teams.

I know a few people that were at SB parties and they have said as many people were in the kitchen as in the living room watching the game.

Had it been a game in the high twenties to high thirties and a Rams win it would have been tagged an "instant classic".

 

[Varg6]

One was a poor pass. Throwing it sooner may have helped but not if he threw it the same way.

The other was impossible to catch because the defender was holding his arm at his side.

You can find the game online. I've watched both plays a handful of times. If you go look you'll see.

I don’t think it was actually as bad as you think it was but I digress. The second one I wouldn’t say was impossible, I think there’s receivers in this league that could’ve made the catch (even with the defender). Regardless, I think you’re right, a DPI could’ve definitely been called. Unfortunately it wasn’t.

I was at the game, I saw it live, and I’ve re-watched the game probably 5 times at this point. At the end of the day we lost, but I think there were some key moments that, had they gone our way (obviously), we would have a very different game that we most likely win.

 

[coconut]

The rules have favored offense so much the past 25 years that great defense is now considered boring.

 

[LesBaker]

The rules have favored offense so much the past 25 years that great defense is now considered boring.

Yet scoring isn't really all that much higher. A few points a game.

It's that the more modern game doesn't use, or rely on, run heavy ball control game plans. It relies on a mix, with pass heavier ball control compared to the past.

Just look at RB's. How often did a RB catch 50 passes a season back in the day? About 3 per game gets a player to that number. That's a common number now.

An offense can control the game with "pitching wedges", so to speak, if they are good at it and can strike for longer plays a handful of times a game.

Plus the likelihood of a big gainer coming from a short pass to a back in the flat is more likely than a back running up the middle or off tackle.

Most, as in almost all, rules have been changed to improve player safety. After that changes have been implemented to make life easier for offenses for sure. Or harder for the defenses to strategically overcome an offense to a degree.

But it isn't like there is some huge scoring bonanza.

 

[Flint]

There hasn’t been much defense played lately so much so that many people don’t recognize it when they see it.
Teams like the Rams and Chiefs are getting guys wide open for tds from anywhere on the field and that’s pretty easy to see and understand, but to understand how the Pats especially were ruining what the rams wanted to do, you had to pay attention and appreciate how smart and well coached they were. It was totally different than wondering who would have the ball last like the Chiefs game, I just hope the team learned something from the experience.

 

[1maGoh]

There hasn’t been much defense played lately so much so that many people don’t recognize it when they see it.
Teams like the Rams and Chiefs are getting guys wide open for tds from anywhere on the field and that’s pretty easy to see and understand, but to understand how the Pats especially were ruining what the rams wanted to do, you had to pay attention and appreciate how smart and well coached they were. It was totally different than wondering who would have the ball last like the Chiefs game, I just hope the team learned something from the experience.

That's what I hear where I'm at. If a team doesn't score it's not because of good defense, it could only be because of bad offense. Even supposedly knowledgeable fans say stupid crap like that to me. People that tell me I know nothing because of how many more football games they watch every week than I do (usually in reference to what is and isn't a foul).

I have no respect for them anymore.

 

[Ram65]

A win is a win is a win especially in the Super Bowl. A 6-3 Rams win would have been fantastic.

 

[Merlin]

Look at what the Pats' offense did prior to playing us. They were rollin tbh. Our defense did a great job, and almost enough to win.

Imagine that Cooks doesn't drop that TD late and we get a 10-10 game. Or if Goff had delivered that pass to a wide open target in the endzone half a second quicker.

What is really interesting is seeing how the Pats fans are rationalizing. They disregard what our defense did, and it's about how they didn't play well. Many Rams faithful and the media did the same thing wrt our own offense. I think it's easy to forget the other team can make plays too.