Patriots, Rams advance to Super Bowl

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The New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams went against the script and upset the Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints respectively to advance to SuperBowl XIII. JUANDRE JOUBERT reports.

For the second year running, both championship games pitted the top seeds from both conferences against each other. This year the two underdogs came out on top as the Patriots and Rams set up a rematch of Super Bowl XXXVI (36).

Coincidentally, that day in 2002 was the day the Patriots dynasty was born.

In the first match of Championship Sunday, the Saints hosted the Rams at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The Saints flew out of the gates and opened up a 13-point lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Rams rallied back to make it 13-10 at half-time.

The teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter as the Saints led by three going into the fourth.

Greg Zuerlein tied the scores with a 20-yard field goal.

With 2:02 to go on the clock, Brees connected with a 43-yard pass play that got them to Rams’ 12-yard line. With the Rams having only two time-outs, the Saints were expected to run down the clock and hit the field goal for the win.

Controversy ensued as the Saints opted for a pass at 3rd-10. Rams corner-back Nickell Robey-Coleman committed a blatant interference penalty with a helmet-to-helmet hit on Tommylee Lewis well before the pass arrived.

The referees could have penalised the Rams for two different penalties, but the flag never came. The Saints got the field goal, but with a lot of time left, the Rams responded with one of their own as the game went into overtime.

The Saints got the ball first in overtime, but Brees threw an interception. That was all the Rams needed. Zuerlein kicked the longest field goal in NFL post-season history (57 yards) to send the Rams to Atlanta.


At Arrowhead Stadium it was Tom Brady vs Patrick Mahomes. The probable MVP against the best quarterback to ever play the game.

The Pats defence held Mahomes scoreless in the first half while Brady and the Patriots scored two TDs to take a 14-0 lead into the break.

Mahomes finally got the Chiefs on the board with a TD pass to Travis Kelce. The Pats led 17-7 going into the fourth quarter after a Gostkowski field goal late in the third.

The Chiefs offence kicked into gear as Mahomes threw two touchdowns in eight minutes to give the home side a 21-17 lead with just over seven minutes to play.

The Patriots regained the lead through a Sony Michel touchdown, but the Chiefs responded through Williams who ran in his third TD of the quarter.

Trailing 28-24, Brady got the ball back with just over 1:58 left on the clock. The Patriots were helped by an offside call on linebacker Dee Ford that negated an interception which would have clinched a KC victory. Brady got them into scoring position, and Rex Burkhead did the rest as the Patriots took 31-28 with just over 30 seconds left on the clock.

Mahomes made some clutch plays to get the Chiefs into field-goal range, then Butker sent the game into overtime with a successful kick.

The Patriots won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball.

Brady converted on third down thrice with passes to Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski. The last one got them into the red zone.

A run up the middle from Burkhead got them another first down at the five-yard line. Two plays later Burkhead rushed in for the game-winning touchdown to send the Patriots to their ninth Super Bowl in franchise history.


Championship Sunday did not disappoint. It was the first time NFL history that both Championship games went into overtime.

On to Atlanta, where the New England Patriots will take on the Los Angeles Rams at the Mercedes Benz Stadium, the home of the Falcons.

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