What if Saints played Patriots in Super Bowl 53? Watch our LIVE Madden simulation
 

One common thought after Super Bowl 53 was that the New Orleans Saints would have put up more points than the Los Angeles Rams did against the New England Patriots.

In that game, the Rams managed to score only a field goal in the 13-3 loss that gave the Patriots a sixth Super Bowl win.

The Saints have career passing yards leader Drew Brees at quarterback, and when the offense was at its best during the season, it commonly put up 30 and sometimes 40 points. The Rams also had a lot of success during the season, but against the Patriots, quarterback Jared Goff looked lost.

https://i.nola.com/resizer/dXgX3J6_f...DK2BZLYLWE.jpg

After the game, Rams coach Sean McVay admitted to feeling like he was out-coached.

Bill Belichick will have that effect on opponents.

Unfortunately, there’s no telling how the Saints and the offensive-minded Sean Payton would have fared against these Patriots.

Perhaps the best we can offer is by putting the two teams on the field in an EA Sports Madden 19 simulation, which we’ll stream live on our New Orleans Saints on NOLA.com Facebook page.

Kickoff is set for 10 a.m. Thursday (Feb. 7).

FB link to video

NOLA

So Goodell rigged the simulation too?

Re: What if Saints played Patriots in Super Bowl 53? Watch our LIVE Madden simulation
 

Re: What if Saints played Patriots in Super Bowl 53? Watch our LIVE Madden simulation
 

Is that supposed to make me feel better, or worse?

Re: What if Saints played Patriots in Super Bowl 53? Watch our LIVE Madden simulation
 

The Super Bowl was played?

Re: What if Saints played Patriots in Super Bowl 53? Watch our LIVE Madden simulation
 

I know.... it was rigged too. :(

Re: What if Saints played Patriots in Super Bowl 53? Watch our LIVE Madden simulation
 

Doubt we would've won against the Patriots.

Something went wrong with our offense back with the Cowboys game and we never fixed the problem. They showed the blueprint for stopping our offense - slow down or completely shut down Kamara and Thomas, then it's a show of Brees trying to pick you apart with a cast of no-name receivers. Teams knew they had nothing to worry about with Tommy Lee Lewis, Kirkwood and Dan Arnold.

I don't think we had a single game all year where we had 31+ points without Kamara or MT having a big game. Both of them drove our offense. Go back and watch highlights from earlier in the year and it's usually Kamara running and Brees throwing to Thomas. When Pro-Football-Reference released their AV numbers of the year, Thomas was the highest ranked wide receiver of 2018 and he was the highest rated player of the Saints (Both Thomas and Kamara had a higher AV than Brees). This offense depended so much on Thomas and Kamara, cause they didn't have any other weapons. This was put on full display when Dallas held us to 10 points.

The offense just broke down after Thanksgiving and was never the same again. They struggled with Tampa, Carolina and Pittsburgh to end the year. We seem to forget that they very nearly blew it vs the Eagles in the playoffs. Despite dominating them in yards and our defense holding Philly to below 90 yards for 3 quarters, the offense screwed around all game and could barely put 20 points on the board, giving Philly one last shot at winning.

We also were struggling against the Rams despite the non-call screwing us. We couldn't close the door that day on a team we had previously had a 13 and 10 point lead against.

The defense was the true MVP of this team in the final month and a half. They straight up won games for us when our offense couldn't do anything. Go back to that Tampa Bay game and we were getting our butts kicked until the blocked punt shifted all the momentum. Same thing with the Carolina game, they only allowed a single TD in that game while our offense struggled. They also bailed us out against Pittsburgh and later against the Eagles in the playoffs.

Sorry, but I don't believe we would've beat the Patriots. Judging by how the offense collapsed late in the season and knowing Bill Belichick and how he game-plans, I'm pretty sure he would've took Kamara and MT out of the game like everyone else had been doing in the last month and forced Brees to pick them apart without his main two weapons. I completely believe the offense would've struggled against NE's defense and I get this conclusion based off how badly they struggled in the past month and a half. No doubt Brees would've put more than 3 points on the board and we would've had some successful drives, but I don't think we would've dropped 30 on them.

I think we would've needed a strong defensive match up against the Patriots offense, most likely it would be similar to the Rams' game plan. I don't think the Patriots would've ran the ball well against us like they did vs the Rams, but it's no telling what problems Edleman and Gronk would've given us in the secondary. Hogan was also a non-factor in the SB and we have no idea if he would've went off on us. If you look into the advanced stats, Tom Brady has had some of his greatest games against zone defenses and his highest QB rating is against the zone. Dennis Allen's scheme is a zone and I'm sure Brady would've found his receivers in it.

Something else that really hurt us in the playoffs was losing Sheldon Rankins. We had zero sacks in the playoffs. We got some pressure here and there, but it wasn't the same without Rankins. I'd feel a bit better about a match up with the Patriots if he were there.

24-17 Patriots win is what I believe would've happened.

Re: What if Saints played Patriots in Super Bowl 53? Watch our LIVE Madden simulation
 

I think had Saints played Patriots it would of looked alot like Dallas over again but I firmly believe our defense would of held Brady in check much like the Rams did most of the game, but the Saints would of did more damage than Goff, I think it would of been a toss up honestly, something like 16-13 or 17-14 type game.

Re: What if Saints played Patriots in Super Bowl 53? Watch our LIVE Madden simulation
 

Yeah, I can see it going like the Dallas game. I am 100% sure our offense would've struggled to do much and would've no doubt scored less than 20 points. They struggled in every game for the rest of the year starting with Dallas. That's the one thing the non-call against the Rams makes us all overlook - Brees did not play well in that game and something was definitely off with our offense. I thought they played badly vs the Eagles and I was worried about the offense going into the NFC title game due to how they still looked like the same slumping unit they were for the end of the year.

Over the course of Brady's career, he's had most of his best games against zone defenses, which is the scheme Dennis Allen runs. I think Brady would've had more success against us than the Rams. Wade Phillips has some experience against Brady and confusing him.

The Patriots defense was criminally underrated all year. They actually ranked in the top 20 on yards for most of the year and finished the season in the top 10 in points. Their secondary gradually improved as the year went on. No one wanted to give them credit, instead rehashing the same stupid rants about "The AFC East is so bad! The only reason they're good is the AFC East!". People were picking the garbage Texans to beat them in the playoffs. I laughed my ass off when I seen people picking the Chargers to beat them and then the same people acting so surprised that NE dropped the hammer and wiped the floor with them.

No doubt in my mind the Pats would've given us massive issues in the SB.

Re: What if Saints played Patriots in Super Bowl 53? Watch our LIVE Madden simulation
 

3 points I want to make about this

Re: What if Saints played Patriots in Super Bowl 53? Watch our LIVE Madden simulation
 

Pats defense have their moments but they been consistent at the right time compared to last year where they started to really get bad in the playoffs which Philly took advantage of it, Philly caught them at the right time and on the flip. Patriots caught Rams at right time, but honestly many teams did including the Saints who should of been in that game in the first place.

Re: What if Saints played Patriots in Super Bowl 53? Watch our LIVE Madden simulation
 

That Pats team that lost the SB to Philly in 2017 had one of their worst defenses in the Bill B era. And yet despite this, it took Nick Foles playing way over his ceiling to beat them and they needed over 40 points.

NE made some key mistakes in that game with the special teams play (leaving 4 points off the board) and Cooks stupidly trying to jump over that guy on the 4th and inches run play (he could've just avoided that guy and got the first down. Will never figure out what the hell Cooks was thinking trying to jump over that guy). IMO if they get the missed field goal and Cooks gets that first down, it's a completely different ball game.

They made drastic improvements on defense this year compared to 2017. On the flip side, they lost some of their offensive power. Brady is 41 years old and looked his age for a good portion of the year. The Pats offense kinda reverted back to their old selves from the early 2000's this year by running the ball heavily. Sony Michel is a stud and they were smart to rest him late in the season, saving him for the playoffs.

The more I think about it, our defense would've matched up well with the Pats in the SB. They wouldn't have been able to run the ball. It would've come down to the question of slowing down Edleman and Gronk. Brady's history against zone defenses would come into play too, but it all depends on if he shows up or not. IMO he had many bad throws in the SB that cost the Pats' drives when they could've been scoring on the Rams.

The biggest question though in a Saints/Pats match up for me remains with our offense that never got out of their slump at the end of the year. I believe Bill B would've followed Dallas' blueprint by taking away MT and Kamara, forcing yet another game with our offense struggling to get anything going with the other receivers. I think we get up to 17 points though. We would struggle, but no way Brees plays awful like Goff did.

Goff looked clueless like a deer starring in headlights in that game. It reminded me of how terrible Cam Newton played in SB 50 or Rex Grossman against the Colts and yet, both of those QBs still managed to put more than 3 points on the board.

Re: What if Saints played Patriots in Super Bowl 53? Watch our LIVE Madden simulation
 

Goff heavily relied on a run game, many teams especially at the end of the year knew if they stopped Gurley that Goff would struggle to win it on his own, factor in the absence of Cooper Kupp and Goff looked lost once he went down. Only team that never tried to or poorly failed at trying to implement the strategy was Dallas, which is a team that tends to play Jeckyl and Hyde. I think this season Rams handed a SB berth is about as good as its going to get for them, I think that team starts falling apart and I think McVay is going to become another guy that people is going to realize looks good because Jeff Fisher built him a team and the FO has him a coaching staff.

Re: What if Saints played Patriots in Super Bowl 53? Watch our LIVE Madden simulation
 

Originally Posted by CHA_CHING View Post
That Pats team that lost the SB to Philly in 2017 had one of their worst defenses in the Bill B era. And yet despite this, it took Nick Foles playing way over his ceiling to beat them and they needed over 40 points.

NE made some key mistakes in that game with the special teams play (leaving 4 points off the board) and Cooks stupidly trying to jump over that guy on the 4th and inches run play (he could've just avoided that guy and got the first down. Will never figure out what the hell Cooks was thinking trying to jump over that guy). IMO if they get the missed field goal and Cooks gets that first down, it's a completely different ball game.

They made drastic improvements on defense this year compared to 2017. On the flip side, they lost some of their offensive power. Brady is 41 years old and looked his age for a good portion of the year. The Pats offense kinda reverted back to their old selves from the early 2000's this year by running the ball heavily. Sony Michel is a stud and they were smart to rest him late in the season, saving him for the playoffs.

The more I think about it, our defense would've matched up well with the Pats in the SB. They wouldn't have been able to run the ball. It would've come down to the question of slowing down Edleman and Gronk. Brady's history against zone defenses would come into play too, but it all depends on if he shows up or not. IMO he had many bad throws in the SB that cost the Pats' drives when they could've been scoring on the Rams.

The biggest question though in a Saints/Pats match up for me remains with our offense that never got out of their slump at the end of the year. I believe Bill B would've followed Dallas' blueprint by taking away MT and Kamara, forcing yet another game with our offense struggling to get anything going with the other receivers. I think we get up to 17 points though. We would struggle, but no way Brees plays awful like Goff did.

Goff looked clueless like a deer starring in headlights in that game. It reminded me of how terrible Cam Newton played in SB 50 or Rex Grossman against the Colts and yet, both of those QBs still managed to put more than 3 points on the board.
Goff heavily relied on a run game, many teams especially at the end of the year knew if they stopped Gurley that Goff would struggle to win it on his own, factor in the absence of Cooper Kupp and Goff looked lost once he went down. Only team that never tried to or poorly failed at trying to implement the strategy was Dallas, which is a team that tends to play Jeckyl and Hyde. I think this season Rams handed a SB berth is about as good as its going to get for them, I think that team starts falling apart and I think McVay is going to become another guy that people is going to realize looks good because Jeff Fisher built him a team and the FO has him a coaching staff.

Yeah!

Re: What if Saints played Patriots in Super Bowl 53? Watch our LIVE Madden simulation
 

I agree with you on the running game for Goff.

For the first half of the year, Goff looked like a young Troy Aikman (1991-1994). He had a few dud games like vs Denver, but for the most part, he was in the top 3 of QB numbers, especially with advanced stats. This is why I think a young Aikman is a better comparison than the Kurt Warner comparisons he was getting. Aikman's TD and yardage numbers were never inflated due to Emmitt Smith, much like how Goff could hand the ball off to Gurley, but Akman was right there with the other great QBs of that time span in advanced passing stats.


Like how we declined with Dallas showing the blueprint of how our offense really had no other weapons besides MT and Kamara, something similar happened to the Rams when they went to Chicago.

The Rams I think were exposed due to Goff really being an illiterate QB who can't read defenses. The Bears figured out how to completely throw him off guard by changing their schemes after McVay told him what to change at the LOS and where to throw the ball to. The Pats did this to him as well, hence why he looked like a deer starring in headlights out there.

I thought Goff was a huge bust back in 2016 and I still believe he would be that same bust if not for McVay coaching him like a Madden video game QB. He has to tell him where to throw the ball and what audibles to make.

Goff didn't look that great against us either. Our defense just finally got tired and worn down after holding them down the entire game.

Mark my words - the Rams aren't winning a SB with Goff and I think McVay will take a huge step backwards next year when they go 7-9 or 8-8 at best. I would hate to be a fan of any of the teams who just hired a young coach thinking McVay really is this 'boy genius'.

Re: What if Saints played Patriots in Super Bowl 53? Watch our LIVE Madden simulation
 

Cinci going to find that out with Zac Taylor to. I see McVay as a just another guy much like Gary Kubiak, Barry Switzer, and I think eventually down the line we going to learn that Doug Pederson is going to be like mentioned above and was handed a quality team or coaching staff but has no real ability to ever build or coach a team, ill throw Les Miles into this mix to even though its College.