Super Bowl LIII Picks

By the Football Garbage Time Staff

If you followed last year, you won over 60% of your picks, and we aim to do even better this year.

And if you’ve been following us, you know that we here at Football Garbage Time have gone head to head against Wally, Will and Ray at Urban Sports Scene on our NFL Picks for the last 3 seasons.  Why?  Because they’re awesome competitors, they KNOW their sports, and, heck, they’re just good guys!  But this year we’ll had their picks up right HERE each and every week, and we’ve come to final game of the season!  Who will win it all?

Let’s take a look:

Super Bowl LIII 

Ha Kung Wong’s Pick

New England Patriots

Final Score: Patriots 31 – Rams 30

Ha Kung’s Thoughts:

Last year I ended up with a 62% record for the season, so that’s three years in a row with over a 60% pick rate.  I struck out in the Conference Championships, but still am at 173-91 (65.5%), which guarantees that I win our pool and keep you ahead of Ryan…again.

I ended the season 17 for 19 on Locks of the Week and 10 for 18 for Upsets of the Week.

Check out my thoughts on why I chose the Patriots over the Rams as well as my Prop Bet Picks in this week’s Football Garbage Time Podcast!

Thanks for following along!  Hope I won you some bets this year!  Don’t forget to come back next year where I’ll provide you with a fifth straight year of winning picks!

Joanne Kong’s Pick

Los Angeles Rams

Final Score: Patriots 35 – Rams 38

Joanne’s Thoughts:

The last time these two teams faced each other on the field was in week 13 in 2016 at Gillette Stadium.  The quarterbacks, Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and rookie Jared Goff.  It was Goff’s 3rd start of his rookie season, against the seasoned veteran, Tom Brady, resulting in a 10-26 loss to the Patriots.  Let’s face it, the Patriots are hard to beat at Gillette Stadium.  Two seasons later, these two teams face each other once again, this time in the Super Bowl on neutral ground, Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

In all honesty, nobody, beside Patriots fans, want to see the New England Patriots yet again in another Super Bowl.  Although watching them lose, like in Super Bowl 52 against the Philadelphia Eagles, is sweet as peach pie.  But, I digress.

Goff is no longer a rookie, bring his team to 13-3 in the regular 2018 season. Not to mention, the LA Rams are under a new head coach since their last encounter, Sean McVay, who’s turned this team into a Cinderella Story.

These two quarterbacks are equally matched if you look at their statistics:

YARDS TD INTERCEPTIONS QBR
TOM BRADY 4,355 29 11 70.6
JARED GOFF 4,688 32 12 66.0

Both these teams will need to rely on their run game.  With the LA Rams having one of the worst rushing defenses, the run game will be essential to help Brady out of a bind, as it has so many times this season.  The Patriots rookie running back, Sony Michel, and the run game, has been an invaluable asset to the Patriots this season with Michel having 931 rushing yards and 6 rushing touchdowns; James White having 425 rushing yards and 5 rushing touchdowns (and 7 receiving touchdowns); and James Develin having 4 touchdowns.

With a question mark looming over Todd Gurley’s health, Rams fans will be nervously watching injury reports.  The LA Rams star running back will need to play if they want a chance at beating this veteran team.  Gurley, who leads the league in rushing touchdowns this season (17) has been a force with 1,251 rushing yards, 580 receiving yards and 4 receiving touchdowns.  With the addition of CJ Anderson, who’s subbed admirably for Gurley in his absence and provided a solid complement after Gurley’s return, the Rams might be too much for the Patriots defense to handle on the ground.

Although the Patriots allow an average of 246.4 passing yards per game, they’re stingy in the red zone, meaning the Rams will more than likely need to rely on their run game near the endzone against this Patriots defense, who have a ranked 19th against the rush per DVOA.

Expect a high scoring game with these two teams taking the field for Super Bowl 53.  With an over/under at 56.5:

LA Rams Win:

38-35

Ryan Whitfield’s Pick

New England Patriots

Final Score: Patriots 31 – Rams 17

Ryan’s Thoughts:

Check out Ryan’s thoughts on why he chose the Patriots over the Rams as well as his Prop Bet Picks in this week’s Football Garbage Time Podcast!

Follow him on Twitter – @RyanWhitfieldNE

Scott King’s Pick

New England Patriots

Final Score: Patriots 35 – Rams 28

Scott’s Thoughts:

Here we go, it’s almost game time.  The Patriots return to the SB once again, this time against a familiar foe.  The TB12 legend began against the Rams, how fitting we are here now.  Brady and the hoodie have built a sports dynasty like nine other.   This should be an interesting game, I don’t expect a blow out.  The Patriots will likely look good early by confusing the rams offense and brady will make some quick strikes and drive to some early touchdowns.   In the end the Rams should make it close but I think the legend continues to grow.

Patriots pull it out 35-28.

Wally’s Pick

Los Angeles Rams

Ray’s Pick

New England Patriots

Final Score: Patriots 38 – Rams 31

George’s Pick

New England Patriots

Final Score: Patriots 31 – Rams 17

George’s Thoughts:

New England vs. L.A. Rams: Could it happen again. Could another innovative second-year coach knock over Bill Belichick and upset the Patriots again? Could Tom Brady be outplayed by a quarterback of significantly less pedigree? Will the younger, faster, flashier Rams complete a remarkable turnaround from the toxic dump of the Jeff Fisher era?

No. And it’s the coaching matchup that puts me there. Sean McVay is lucky to be here because his poor coaching in the NFC title game was trumped by an even worse coaching job by Sean Payton and incompetent refereeing.  Payton only gave his fabulous running combo 17 carries last week. Do you think Belichick will make the same mistake? No chance.

And that’s the other big difference for the Patriots from last year. Sony Michel on the ground gives New England balance they’ve needed. Early in the season when Michel was hurt the way to beat the Patriots was to stop Gronk. No Gronk, no Brady. Not anymore. In the AFC title game Michel got 19 (!!!) carries in the first half. And to me the team that wins will be the team that runs the ball to control the clock. And the Patriots will do that. Meanwhile Sean McVay might figure out another way to give Todd Gurley four carries and 20 totes toal for Gurley and C.J. Anderson. In the end, who do you trust. Bill Belichick.

New England 31-17

Conference Championship Results

Current Standings

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