ATLANTA — After a low-scoring, defense-dominated first half, the Patriots open the second half of Super Bowl LIII up 3-0 on a 42-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski. As the Pats try to close in on their sixth Super Bowl title, keep up with all the action from Atlanta by following The Journal's team on Twitter:
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ATLANTA — After a low-scoring, defense-dominated first half, the Patriots open the second half of Super Bowl LIII up 3-0 on a 42-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski. As the Pats try to close in on their sixth Super Bowl title, keep up with all the action from Atlanta by following The Journal's team on Twitter:
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Up 3-0 at half
The Patriots lost Super Bowl LII due to their defense. On Sunday, they were hanging on to a slim first-half lead in Super Bowl LIII because of that group.
Tom Brady’s start on Sunday wasn’t very good. The team got into field-goal range on their first two drives, but came away with zero points. By the end of the first quarter, Brady had an interception and a fumble against a tough Los Angeles Rams defense.
The slow start for the offense didn’t carry over to the Patriots defense. That unit forced punts on the Rams' first six drives of the game. Los Angeles went 0 for 6 on third down in the first half. Four of their final five drives ended with three pass breakups (Patrick Chung, John Simon and Jason McCourty) and a sack by Kyle Van Noy.
The defense is the reason why the Patriots head into halftime up, 3-0.
Brady had 160 passing yards and an interception. Julian Edelman led the way with seven receptions for 93 yards and Rob Gronkowski had four catches for 40 yards. Meanwhile the Rams' Jared Goff is 5 for 12 for 52 passing yards.
After losing the coin toss, the Patriots opened the game with the ball. They ran on their first four plays, gaining two first downs. Brady’s first pass of the Super Bowl was intercepted at 12:14 of the first quarter by Rams linebacker Cory Littleton.
It was a blow to what was a solid start. Following a 38-yard kickoff return by Cordarrelle Patterson, the Patriots had good field position and were standing on the Los Angeles 37-yard line when the interception occurred. The Pats defense, however, held the Rams to a three-and-out on the next series.
The next time the Patriots took the field, things looked a little better, but it ended in disappointment. A personal foul call on Nickell Robey-Coleman granted the Patriots a first down when they could’ve been looking at a third-and-18. Brady and the offense pushed over midfield following a Rob Gronkowski 19-yard reception. At 5:39 of the first quarter, however, Stephen Gostkowski missed a 46-yard field-goal attempt wide left and the game remained scoreless.
Things didn’t look much better on New England's third drive of Super Bowl LIII. Following a 25-yard reception by Edelman, the Patriots moved backward when Brady was strip-sacked by John Franklin-Myers at 1:51 of the first quarter.
Brady had plenty of time to throw, but held the ball too long. David Andrews recovered the fumble for the Patriots, but the 9-yard loss was too much to overcome and Ryan Allen punted three plays later.
It took some time, but the Patriots took their lead at 10:29 of the second quarter.
Edelman came up big on this drive as the receiver hauled in a 25-yard reception on third-and-1. That pushed the Patriots into field-goal range and this time Gostkowski connected on the 42-yard attempt.
The Patriots threatened later in the second quarter as Brady and the offense stayed on the field on a fourth-and-1 at the Los Angeles 32, rather than attempting a 49-yard field goal. But Brady’s pass attempt fell incomplete.
Wise makes his return
The Patriots Super Bowl LIII inactive list doesn’t have any surprises.
Inactive for the Patriots are as follows: Stephen Anderson, James Ferentz, Obi Melifonwu, Ufomba Kamalu, Keionta Davis, Derek Rivers and Duke Dawson.
The Patriots championship matchup between with the Rams will include Deatrich Wise in the lineup for the first time this postseason. Wise, a second-year defensive end, returns after being a healthy scratch in the team’s previous two playoff games. This season, Wise finished second on the Patriots in sacks (4.5) and quarterback hits (16).
Danny Shelton also returns to the lineup. The defensive tackle was inactive last week in the AFC Championship. Shelton and Wise take the game-day roster spots of Rivers and Melifonwu, who were active in Kansas City.
Good health
The Patriots come into this day healthy. The only player to miss a practice this week in Atlanta was Dont’a Hightower and that was due to an illness. He was removed off the injury report by the end of the week. The only player limited this week was Malcom Brown (calf) on Wednesday, but he was also removed from the injury report.
This game will be the last for several players on this Patriots team. In terms of to retirement, Rob Gronkowski, Devin McCourty and Jason McCourty could all hang up their cleats following this contest. Tom Brady, however, has said he’ll be back next season.