Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • D2

D2 THE SUNDAY JOURNAL ALBUQUERQUE, FEBRUARY 3, 2019 AFC Champion NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS WON 11, LOST 5 REGULAR SEASON 27 Houston 20 20 at Jacksonville 31 10 at Detroit 26 38 Miami 7 38 Indianapolis 24 43 Kansas City 40 38 at Chicago 31 25 at Buffalo 6 31 Green Bay 17 10 at Tennessee 34 27 at N.Y. Jets 13 24 Minnesota 10 33 at Miami 34 10 at Pittsburgh 17 24 Buffalo 12 38 N.Y. Jets 3 DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS 41 L.A. Chargers 28 AFC CHAMPIONSHIP 37 at Kansas City OT 31 NFC Champion LOS ANGELES RAMS WON 13, LOST 3 REGULAR SEASON 33 at Oakland 13 34 Arizona 0 35 L.A. Chargers 23 38 Minnesota 31 33 at Seattle 31 23 at Denver 20 39 at San Francisco 10 29 Green Bay 27 35 at New Orleans 45 36 Seattle 31 54 Kansas City 51 30 at Detroit 16 6 at Chicago 15 23 Philadelphia 30 31 at Arizona 9 48 San Francisco 32 DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS 30 Dallas 22 NFC CHAMPIONSHIP 26 at New Orleans OT 23 1974 Pats 20, Rams 14 (NE) 1980 Rams 17, Pats 14 (NE) 1983 Pats 21, Rams 7 (LA) 1986 Pats 30, Rams 28 (LA) 1989 Rams 24, Pats 20 (NE) 1992 Rams 14, Pats 0 (LA) 1998 Rams 32, Pats 18 (StL) 2001 Rams 24, Pats 17 (NE) 2002 x-Pats 20, Rams 17 (New Orleans) 2004 Patriots 40, Rams 22 (StL) 2008 Pats 23, Rams 16 (NE) 2012 Pats 45, Rams 7 (London) 2016 Pats 26, Rams 10 (NE) PATRIOTS-RAMS HISTORY Note: Rams franchise in St.

Louis from 1995-2015; x-Super Bowl Patriots lead series 8-5 GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS Has won five Super Bowls, four times as game MVP. He is a master of diagnosing defenses at the line of scrimmage. Will be the oldest to start a Super Bowl. TOM BRADY At 24, Goff is the youngest QB to win the NFC championship. Goff vs.

Brady would seem a mismatch. But Goff and his team just beat Drew Saints. JARED GOFF QUARTERBACK COMPARISON The 17-year age gap between Tom Brady and Jared Goff is the biggest between starting QBs in Super Bowl history. Been- there factor: crucial? scends football. Brady and most of his teammates, in their third straight visit, barely flinch at all the attention, media demands and alterations to the norm they encoun- ter during Super Bowl week although they were taken aback some- what by the cacophony and circus atmosphere of opening night on Monday.

Aside from Aqib Talib, C.J. Anderson, Brandin Cooks and Sam Shields, for the Rams this is uncharted territory. Rams coach Sean McVay tends to dismiss that theory, however. Using quarterback Jared Goff as an example, McVay could have been speaking for his entire squad, which has made a sensational turn- around in his two seasons in charge. an unfazed quarter- McVay says.

think his way to have success and handle adversity the same demonstrates that poise and confidence you want from your Nowhere is the experi- ence matchup more uneven than at QB. At 41, Brady is the oldest quarterback to start a Super Bowl. Goff is 24 and one of the youngest. Well, maybe nowhere is an exaggeration, because Belichick, at 66, could become the oldest coach to win a Super Bowl. He has worked 41 postseason games with 30 victories, most among head coaches in NFL history.

the only head coach with five Super Bowl rings. The past two trips to the big game were tight affairs in which they beat Tennessee and lost to New England. In all of the Patri- eight previous trips in the Brady-Belichick era, the result was in doubt until the final moments. So to expect a romp at Mercedes-Benz Stadium seems foolhardy. would be nice to get one of Patriots receiver Chris Hogan.

the idea is to win, no matter how you do The largest margin in a Patriots Super Bowl under this regime has been the eight points the Eagles beat them by a year ago. ASSOCIATED PRESS ATLANTA For towering tight end Tony Gonzalez, this was a slam dunk. The 6-foot-5 Gonzalez, who turned the cel- ebratory post-TD dunk over the crossbar into an art form, was voted into the Hall of Fame on Saturday. Joining him will be two more first-time nominees, Champ Bailey and Ed Reed, along with another defensive back, Ty Law, and center Kevin Mawae; Law and Mawae were in their third year as finalists. The contributor nominees, Broncos owner Pat Bowlen and Cowboys and NFL executive Gil Brandt each made it, as did senior Johnny Robinson, the defensive back who helped the Chiefs win Super Bowl 4.

Gonzalez started in Kansas City and fin- ished in Atlanta, where voters met on the eve of the Super Bowl to select the Class of 2019. Gonzalez, the most prolific pass catcher at his position over a 17-year career, caught 1,325 passes (second in NFL history) for 15,127 yards (sixth) and 111 touchdowns. He was a six-time All-Pro, made 14 Pro Bowls, and his 916 catches with the Chiefs set one of 22 fran- chise records he held upon his retirement. knew I had a good chance, not going to lie about he said. when you hear the knock, your heart As it turns out, Gonzalez the only one who can get good air.

my phone across the Mawae said, of his reaction upon learning he was in. had a higher vertical than at the NFL HONORS: Patrick break- through season earned him the Most Valuable Player award. The Chiefs QB landed a pair of honors at NFL Honors on Saturday night, taking the AP 2018 MVP and Offensive Player of the Year awards. In his second pro season, Mahomes led Kansas City to its first AFC title game since 1993 with some of the most creative and clutch plays the league has seen in years. so he said.

is just the beginning. got a long ways to Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who will play in Super Bowl against New England, took his second straight Defensive Player of the Year award. Donald, the only unanimous All-Pro this season and the first Rams player selected for top defensive honor, joins Lawrence Taylor and J.J. Watt as players to win the award in back-to-back seasons. Matt Nagy, in his first season with the Bears, was voted Coach of the Year.

Nagy is the fifth Chicago coach to win the award, joining team founder George Halas (1963, 1965), Mike Ditka (1985, 1988), Dick Jau- ron (2001) and Lovie Smith (2005). Giants RB Saquon Barkley was the top offensive rookie, while the defensive rookie award went to Indianapolis linebacker Darius Leonard. Philadelphia Eagles DE Chris Long won the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award for com- munity service. know, very Long said. hard to feel deserving with those guys on stage and, obviously, this guy right here on the statue.

a very heavy statue and it makes sense because his legacy is immense. just Gonzalez headlines this Hall of Fame class NFL NOTES BY GEOFF GRAMMER JOURNAL STAFF WRITER Zero. Seven zeros, to be more accurate. As former Eldorado High star Jim Everett parades around Atlanta this Super Bowl weekend as one of the honorary statesmen of Rams Nation (a as he calls it), the all-time leading passer in Rams history holds one number close to his heart. thing that stands out to me about that (1980) state cham- pionship season with Eldorado (High Everett said by telephone on Saturday, the seven shutouts we pitched.

The defensive side was what I remember. won 13 games in a row, but seven of those games, the other team never scored. When you play defense and I was an all-state strong safety that was kind of a prideful Everett, a third-team All-Amer- ica quarterback at Purdue who was the No. 3 overall pick of the Houston Oilers in the 1986 NFL Draft, said there were only two schools Purdue and Stanford that wanted him as a quarter- back after his senior season help- ing to lead coach Jerry state championship Eagles. was a decent Everett recalls.

I was a really good Offered an outside linebacker scholarship by plenty of schools, including Texas and Arizona State, Everett had his heart set on quarterback. While he never made the Super Bowl in his three-team, 12-year NFL career, safe to say he probably made the right choice sticking with quarterback. And it was with the LA Rams that he made most of his noise. His 23,758 passing yards with the team from 1986-1993 remain the most ever for a Rams QB. sure Jared Goff will wipe off the map here after this next Everett said, referring to the current 24-year-old franchise passer who leads the team into Super Bowl against New England.

is) a fabulous quarter- back. I talk with him regularly. just getting better. And that Sean McVay offense, state of the But is Goff ready for the moment? think he Ever- ett said. a cool cat.

nothing that really bothers As for Everett, who worked in asset management for years in California and did some broad- cast work with CBS, having a blast this week in Atlanta being around the Rams franchise. And while he enjoyed a good relation- ship with the franchise during the St. Louis years, too, he hide his excitement about the return to Los Angeles. Everett said. fact that we were 21 years without football in Los Angeles was a pretty big void.

They came back and now have to establish a couple generations of Rams fans (that missed out while they were gone). a challenge. old school fans and now the new Rams fans. And even with the Chargers in town now, we went from zero to 100 miles an hour NFL real Growing up in Albuquerque, where his parents moved from Kansas to help start the special education department at the University of New Mexico in the 1970s, Everett loved the Steelers. That is why, even at 56 years- old, the fanboy in Everett found himself posting a picture on Twit- ter this week at a Super Bowl par- ty of him with one of his boyhood idols, Terry Bradshaw.

have a chance to hang out with Terry, man, Ever- ett said. As for the game itself, Everett predicts: Rams 42, Patriots 31. Ex-Eldorado High standout enjoying ride to Super Bowl JIM EVERETT COURTESY OF JIM EVERETT Jim Everett, left, poses with Terry Bradshaw, a fellow NFL quarter- back who was part of four Pitts- burgh Super Bowl teams. From PAGE D1 SUPER BOWL LIII.