Whether you love or loathe the New England Patriots, there’s absolutely no denying we’re witnessing history every time they make it to another Super Bowl.
The foundation for this modern-day dynasty was laid 17 years ago, when a young upstart club played a group of battle-hardened veterans who knew how to win: the St. Louis Rams.
Now, nearly two decades later, the roles are reversed. Brady and Belichick have a handful (literally) of Super Bowl rings while the young Los Angeles Rams are ready to take a run at the title and change the narrative of the game.
This will be No. 9 for the dynastic duo of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Nine. (It’s actually No. 11 for New England as a franchise, but if the Patriots play in the Super Bowl without TB12 and BB, did it even really happen…?) It’s pretty easy to take what these Patriots have done for granted, wish them away to make room for the next good sports story, as we’ve heard this one before. Except we haven’t heard it before. What the Patriots have managed to do has Never. Before. Been. Done.
To appreciate those feats from contests gone by and put this upcoming matchup into perspective, we gathered a bunch of interesting stats for both teams going into Sunday’s big game.
And, yeah, it’s pretty Patriots-heavy … but when you’ve been to that many Super Bowls, can you really blame us?
Super Bowl LIII By The Numbers
0 – Chances Tom Brady retires after the Super Bowl. (Funny enough, that’s also the same likelihood we’ll stop asking.)
“There’s zero [chance],” Brady said in an interview with ESPN’s Jeff Darlington. “I’ve said that for a long time, I feel like I’m asked that a lot and I feel like I repeat the same answer, but no one wants to believe me.”
1 – Number of Super Bowls won by the Rams franchise. That was the 1999 season (Super Bowl XXXIV), back when they were playing in St. Louis in the days of the Greatest Show on Turf. That was also the last time the Super Bowl was played in Atlanta. Interesting.
2 – Number of Super Bowls lost by the Rams franchise, first to the Steelers in 1979 and then again to end the 2001 season … to the Patriots.
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The Patriots dynasty began with a win over the Rams, only fitting it ends with a loss to the Rams
3 – Number of times the Patriots have lost the Super Bowl during the Brady-Belichick days. Eli Manning’s New York Giants foiled them twice (2007 and 2011), and the Nick Foles-led Philadelphia Eagles defeated them last year.
4 – Number of Super Bowl losses by former Buffalo Bills quarterback, Jim Kelly. That’s an NFL record — and one Brady could tie, should the Patriots fall to the Rams this Sunday.
5 – Number of Super Bowls won by the Patriots, all with Brady and Belichick at the helm. New England is tied with the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers for second-most Super Bowl victories in NFL history. In fact, since 2002, the Patriots alone have more titles than all seven New York major sports franchises combined (3), and are tied with other major markets like L.A. and Chicago.
Which team has the record for most Super Bowls? Funny you should ask…
6 – Number of Super Bowls won by the Pittsburgh Steelers, which is the most in NFL history. One more win for the Patriots ties the record.
7 – Number of touchdown passes caught by Patriots receiver James White, making him Brady’s favourite red-zone target this year. Goff’s No. 1 receivers were Cooper Kupp, who went down with an injury in Week 8, and Brandin Cooks — both caught eight touchdown passes this season.
8 – Number of receivers to catch a TD pass this season on both the Rams and Patriots. Both Brady and Goff divvied up their targets this season, making for some pretty diverse offences. This will be fun.
9 – Number of Super Bowl appearances by Brady and Belichick, including this year. That’s a league record for both player and coach categories.
10 – Number of Super Bowl appearances by the Patriots, not including this season, which is a league record. Thanks to two Super Bowl losses prior to the glory days of Brady & Belichick (1986, 1997), their overall franchise record in the Super Bowl is an even 5-5.
13 – Number of different receivers to catch a touchdown pass from Brady in the Super Bowl. Not surprisingly, Gronk has been his favourite big-game target with three TD passes tossed his way. Here’s the full list: David Patten, Deion Branch, David Givens (2), Mike Vrabel (2), Randy Moss, Danny Woodhead, Aaron Hernandez, Brandon LaFell, Rob Gronkowski (3), Danny Amendola (2), Julian Edelman, James White, Chris Hogan. (For those doing the math, that’s a total of 18 TD passes thrown by Brady on the Super Bowl stage.)
17 – Age difference between Brady (41) and Rams quarterback Jared Goff (24). That’s the largest difference in age between starting QBs in Super Bowl history. When Goff hits the field this Sunday, he’ll become the fourth-youngest QB to play in the Super Bowl.
20.5 – Number of sacks dealt by Rams powerhouse (and consensus defensive player of the year) Aaron Donald. Watch out, Brady.
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21 – Number of touchdowns scored by Rams running back Todd Gurley during the 2018 regular season, which leads the league. Of those 21 TDs, 17 were rushing scores.
25 – Number of points separating the Atlanta Falcons and Patriots in the third quarter of Super Bowl LI. New England rallied back from 28-3 to win in overtime, marking the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history.
27 – Number of times tails has come up in the Super Bowl coin toss, compared to 25 times as heads. So, like, pretty much 50/50. Just for fun, we looked into the numbers, courtesy of OddsShark.com:
The number of times the winner of the coin toss has gone on to win the game? 24. So, like, again, pretty much 50/50. Of those winners, 12 called heads and 12 called tails. So, like … surely, you know where this is going.
As for the Patriots and Rams, specifically: The Patriots have won the coin toss just three times — all heads — and lost the game every time. The Rams, meanwhile, are undefeated in coin tosses (three) but have won the game just once. None of this matters, of course, but it’s fun nonetheless.
33 – Age of Rams head coach Sean McVay, making him the youngest HC to lead his team to the Super Bowl. It’s also the difference in age between McVay and Belichick (66), making this the largest age gap between head coaches in a Super Bowl.
39 – Age (and 320 days) of Peyton Manning when he won Super Bowl XL with the Denver Broncos, making him the oldest QB to ever win the big one. Brady became the oldest QB to start a Super Bowl when he played the Eagles last year, at 40 years and 185 days.
42 – Age (plus 11 days) of former Indianapolis Colts kicker Matt Stover, who is the oldest player of any position to have played in the Super Bowl (XLIV). Should Brady return to the big stage next year, he’ll have that record too.
54 – Number of yards Buffalo Bills kicker Steve Christie booted the ball in Super Bowl XXVIII for the longest field goal in Super Bowl history.
55 – Most points scored by one team in a Super Bowl (San Francisco 49ers over Denver Broncos, 55-10, in Super Bowl XXIV).
75 – Number of total points scored in Super Bowl XXIX between the San Francisco 49ers (49 points) and San Diego Chargers (26), making that the highest-scoring Super Bowl in league history. The lowest? 21 (Super Bowl VII, Dolphins vs. Redskins)
