Super Bowl 2019: Brady Shines As LA, Boston Rivalry Moves Beyond NBA

The New England Patriots made their 11th Super Bowl on the back on Tom Brady’s heroics yet again as they beat the favored Kansas City Chiefs 37-31 in overtime at the Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday night.

Bill Belichick’s team lost out to the Philadelphia Eagles at Super Bowl LII in 2018, but will have a chance to make it six Vince Lombardi trophies when they take on the Los Angeles Rams on Feb. 3 at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.

The phrase “Cometh The Hour, Cometh The Man” perfectly suits Brady after the Patriots quarterback promptly stepped up when it was most required to lead his team to victory. The veteran signal caller, widely regarded as the greatest to ever play the game, will be making his ninth Super Bowl appearance with the hope of collecting his sixth ring.

The Patriots were trailing 21-17 in the fourth quarter when Brady came up with a game-winning drive and he was aided by another veteran, Rob Gronkowski. There is no other player that has had more game-winning drives in the postseason in the Super Bowl era than Brady.

President Donald Trump led the praise for Brady and Belichick after they booked their place in football’s showpiece event. Brady’s wife Gisele Bundchen was among the celebrities who took to Twitter to praise the quarterback, who now has more Super Bowl appearances than every football team except the Patriots.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles-Boston rivalry has a new candidate now apart from it just being in the NBA. The Lakers-Celtics rivalry is one of the oldest and fiercest rivalries in basketball, but one that is borne out of their success in the sport.

The Celtics are the most successful franchise in NBA history with 17 championships, while the Lakers take up the spot just behind their rivals with 16 titles. They have met in the NBA Finals on 12 occasions with the most recent being in 2010 when the latter won in seven games.

While the rivalry between the two cities in the NBA are borne out of their success, the NFL rivalry going into Super Bowl LIII will see sort of a David vs. Goliath battle because of the varying nature of the Patriots and Rams’ records in the NFL in recent years.

The Patriots are going into their 11th Super Bowl game of which they have won five, while the Rams are going into their fourth with their only triumph coming in 1999 against the Tennessee Titans. The last time they made the Super Bowl was in 2001 when they lost to the Patriots 20-17.

The Patriots quarterback and coach – Brady and Belichick – are also on the opposite end of the spectrum when compared to the Rams’ coach and quarterback – Sean McVay and Jared Goff. According to ESPN’s Jake Trotter, McVay was a sophomore in high school when Brady won his first Super Bowl with Belichick.

And when you compare the two signal callers, Brady is a veteran, who made his debut in 2000, while Goff was drafted by the Rams in 2016. According to NFL Research, the two quarterback’s represent the largest age gap between opposing starting QB’s in Super Bowl history. On game day, the age difference will be 17 years and 72 days.