AP photo
Atlanta – That super shootout everyone expected turned into a defensive standoff. The New England Patriots showed they can win that type of championship game, too.
So after Tom Brady led one classic drive to win the Patriots their record-tying sixth Super Bowl, he perfectly summed up the 13-3 victory Sunday over the Los Angeles Rams.
“Finally got a touchdown and the defense played the best game of the year,” Brady said.
In a season in which all sorts of offensive records were set, this Super Bowl rewrote the defensive record book.
“How about our defense? How about our defense?” he said. “They played unbelievable.”
So well that their leader linebacker Dont’a Hightower, joked they had extra incentive.
“I’m tired of hearing about Brady,” he said with a laugh. “I won one today — we all got one. It feels good for us to get it all. Shout out to him getting his, but this is a team game and it feels good to win.”
But the defense still needed vintage Brady for one drive. He threw two perfect passes to Rob Gronkowski to set up rookie Sony Michel’s 2-yard score — the only touchdown in the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever. That put New England up 10-3. A late field goal clinched it 13-3.
No Super Bowl had gone into the fourth quarter without a touchdown. This one did, tied 3-3 — even though these teams had combined to average over 60 points a game.
When the Patriots needed a score, Brady, the oldest winning quarterback in a Super Bowl at 41, completed four straight passes, including a pair covering 47 yards to Gronkowski. The second, on which the star tight end beat two defenders, ended at the Los Angeles 2, the only time either team was inside the 20-yard line. Michel ran off left tackle for his sixth postseason touchdown.
“He knows to trust in me and throw that ball,” Gronkowski said, “and I’m going to grab it.”
Julian Edelman, the outstanding receiver who missed the 2017 season with a knee injury, was the game’s MVP with 10 receptions for 141 yards.