The Super Bowl Today Crew Talks Quarterback, Coaching Matchups For Super Bowl LIII
(CBS LA/CBS Local) -- We're just four days out from kickoff in Super Bowl LIII, between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams, and the discussion around the game has begun to migrate towards the actual matchup. There is plenty to dissect on the field, but one of the most interesting and talked-about aspects revolves around the age and experience gap between the two head coaches and quarterbacks.
How much of that will actually matter comes Sunday remains to be seen, but, as NFL on CBS studio analyst Boomer Esiason said on a conference call Tuesday, both quarterbacks come into this game with a ton of confidence, having stared down difficult road environments in their respective championship games.
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"I would tell you that both of these guys on the road last week, winning championship games in those environments," said Esiason, via conference call Tuesday. "They both had really good games and are big reasons why their teams are in this game. It's hard to really differentiate between the two, other than to say that hopefully nobody throws an interception and nobody throws the game away to the opponents."
Esiason went on to say that he expects both to put up good numbers in this game, because he believes it will be on the higher-scoring side. His fellow analyst on The Super Bowl Today, Phil Simms, agreed with that assessment, but did go one step further on Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, squashing any thoughts that he may be a bit more physically slower this year, saying that he has really rounded into form.
"You can tell he must have been hurt during the year, because the last three games he has played, he has physically thrown the football as well as he has all year, maybe better than he did all year long," said Simms.
On the coaching front, Bill Belichick (66) is double the age of his counterpart Sean McVay (33), and has 33 years of NFL coaching experience to McVay's five. However, there's one area that the pair has proven to be eerily similar, their willingness to delve deep into the bag of tricks in big games.
Stream the Patriots-Rams in Super Bowl LIII on CBSSports.com.
"I think both of these coaches have proven their ability to be very aggressive in coaching," said The Super Bowl Today analyst Bill Cowher. "You saw the fake punt last week that propelled the Rams in their win. We all know Bill Belichick will not hold anything back. That is what makes both of these coaches so special is the fact that they are very aggressive in their thinking, and I think they have proven that over the years. They are able to adapt to adjust, and that makes for a great chess match between the young coach and the old one."
For more of the guys' insights into the game, you can catch them, along with fellow analyst Nate Burleson, host James Brown and guest analysts Von Miller and Russell Wilson on The Super Bowl Today, beginning Sunday, February 3rd at 2 p.m. Eastern Time.
