are bringing two of the top scoring offenses in the NFL to the Super Bowl.The
reason they’ve both played so well has a lot to do with the big guys playing up
front.Los Angeles had the same offensive line starters for all 16 games and both
playoff contests. Their consistency has been key to everything Rams coach Sean
McVay does with a team that averaged 32.9 points per game
Youth Rob Gronkowski Jerseys , ranked second in the league.A line that has nobody who has ever played in a Super Bowl is being rewarded.“Having that
consistency is big in everything we do,” left tackle Andrew Whitworth said. “We
know each other very well at this point, and that’s something that you can rely
on when you’re in a tight game, when you need to execute at an important time in
the game.”The line has been just as dependable for the Patriots.Tom Brady has
not been sacked in either of New England’s two playoff wins, with defenses
getting only three quarterback hits while chasing an offense that is part of a
team averaging 27.3 points per game, ranked fourth in the NFL.It hasn’t gone
unnoticed by the Patriots’ 41-year-old quarterback.In the days after their AFC
championship game victory over Kansas City, Brady posted a picture on Instagram
of his spotless jersey. He tagged each of his offensive linemen in the post,
writing, “Not even 1 grass stain!”The last time Brady wasn’t sacked through two
playoff games was the 2003 season, when he wasn’t sacked at all during the
Patriots’ three wins
Rob Gronkowski Jerseys Stitched , including their Super Bowl victory over Carolina.“I think they’ve performed incredible all year really,” Brady said. “We
really haven’t had many sacks this year and I think they’ve done such a great
job protecting, and the run game, I think that speaks for itself. That was just
an incredible effort last week and we’re going to need it again because this
group is obviously exceptional at (the defensive line).“The D-line is certainly
a great strength of theirs. We’ll be challenged. All those guys will be
challenged.”The 37-year-old Whitworth is the cornerstone of the Rams’ offensive
turnaround, providing brilliant blocking and steady leadership ever since he
left Cincinnati to join McVay on the West Coast two years ago. He has started
every game except one in the past two seasons — and so have left guard Rodger
Saffold, center John Sullivan and right tackle Rob Havenstein.The Rams’
continuity on the line is remarkable in the modern NFL. Their only change from
2017 to 2018 was made at right guard, where Austin Blythe replaced the suspended
Jamon Brown for the first two games of this season and played so well he never
relinquished the spot.The Rams’ offensive line is a reliable barometer for the
success of their powerful offense. When the linemen are playing well, as they
did through the first 10 weeks of the season, quarterback Jared Goff operates
smoothly behind his protection and Todd Gurley finds gaping holes in their
opponents’ defensive fronts.When the line struggles, as it appeared to do at
Detroit and Chicago in December
Color Rush Damien Harris Jersey , the offense stalls. Goff was pressured 51 times in a four-game stretch late in the regular season after getting pressured
just 78 times in the first 10 games, directly leading to the Rams’ losses to the
Bears and the Philadelphia Eagles.“Everybody knows how much I love those guys,”
Gurley said. “They’re responsible for everything. We’ve got the best line in the
game, in my opinion, and they show it on the field every week.”New England lost
two starters on its offensive line in the offseason when tackles Nate Solder and
Cam Fleming left in free agency. But with Marcus Cannon and Trent Brown taking
their spots, joining center David Andrews and guards Shaq Mason and Joe Thuney,
Brady was sacked 21 times during the regular season, compared with 35 times last
season.New England knows it will take a similar effort against a Rams’ defensive
line that also features All-Pro Aaron Donald, Dante Fowler and Ndamukong
Suh.Andrews said one of the things they are so good at is changing up things,
with Suh sometimes playing nose guard
Youth Damien Harris Jersey , and lining up on the edge other times.“Obviously they’re both dynamic players,” Andrews said. “Aaron Donald is the best defensive
football player in the league, there’s no doubt about that. So it’s going to be
a big challenge. We’re going to have to do a lot of things well.” While the NFL
season came to an end last week with the New England Patriots’ 13-3 victory over
the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl 53, another pro football league began
operations recently: the Alliance of American Football. Founded by Charlie
Ebersol and ex-NFL executive Bill Polian, the league’s eight teams played their
first-ever games over the course of the weekend; kicking off the 10-week regular
season.The four games ended as follows:With the AAF’s first weekend in the
books, let’s take a look at four things we learned.The quality of play was
better than expectedIf you play for one of the eight AAF teams you have — for
one reason or another — been deemed not good enough to appear at the NFL level
at the current time. The product on the field reflected that: it was clearly a
notch below what happened on the last 21 weekends of pro football. That being
said, it still had plenty of entertainment value and adequate enough talent to
further improve its already solid quality (in particular at the quarterback
position).The AAF should be used as a laboratory for NFL rule changesWhile the
league models itself as a complement to the NFL instead of a competitor, it
still has some major differences when it comes to the rules: from not using
kickoffs to teams having to go for two after every touchdown to restricting
defensive creativity, the AAF uses a markedly different rule book than its “big
brother.” However, some of the ideas used are actually rather innovative
especially when it comes to trying to speed up the game or giving insight into
the officiating procedures via having the booth referee wear a microphone. There
is some intriguing potential in the league to use it as a test ground for
potential NFL rule changes.The Patriots connection goes beyond some of the
playersColleague Oliver Thomas outlined here that there are plenty of
ex-Patriots on the eight AAF rosters. However
Womens Damien Harris Jersey , the connection between the world champions and the developmental league goes further than that because of the AAF’s affiliations
system. What does this mean? Basically that each team controls the rights to
players from colleges that are geographically close. This goes beyond the
collegiate level, though, and also applies to NFL teams. Say the Patriots
release a player after training camp and he remains unsigned. In this case, the
AAF affiliate — despite no official connection to New England — holds his right
over the other seven clubs. The Patriots’ team is the Birmingham Iron.The
attendance numbers will decide the league’s futureAs is the case with every
sports league or cooperation, the bottom line will decide its fate. The AAF is
still in the “honeymoon phase” at the moment when it comes to this, but at the
end of the day (or season) finances will play a role and dictate how the league
develops — and the attendance numbers are a big part of this. Will the AAF be
able to grow its average attendance of 20,022 on opening weekend as well as the
viewership of around 3 million on opening day?
