ATLANTA – The Patriots and Rams took part in the annual media night circus to kick off Super Bowl week Monday night in Atlanta.
Players and coaches from both teams fielded questions on anything and everything, ranging from Super Bowl-related topics to a litany of unrelated subjects.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady reflected on the journey that brought his team back to the Super Bowl for the third straight year.
“I really feel like this team came together when we needed to,” Brady said. “We came together as a group of men that gave everything they could for this one goal to get to this game. The book hasn’t ended, we have one chapter left, and hopefully we can make it a great chapter.”
The greatest of all time? Rams running back C.J. Anderson says there’s no question that honor belongs to Brady.
The greatest in Sunday’s Super Bowl LIII? Anderson says that could be a different answer.
“I’ve always looked up to Tom,” Anderson said at Monday’s media night at State Farm Arena. “He’s always been inspiring and how he continues to prove people wrong. To be a late-round pick guy at 199, I’ve always respected what he does. He’s the best at what he does. Obviously he’s the GOAT of our game.”
Bad news for the Rams? Maybe not. Anderson also likes his guy, young Jared Goff.
“He’s the best quarterback of all time,” Anderson said of Brady. “I’m not going to say he’s the best quarterback for Super Bowl 53. We’ve got a young guy over there who can throw the ball around pretty good, now.”
Goff ranked fourth in the league with 4,688 yards passing — three spots ahead of Brady. Goff threw 32 touchdown passes, three more than Brady.
Bill Belichick, donned in a suit instead of his customary hooded sweatshirt, said he isn’t going to let the spectacle of Super Bowl week distract from his quest for a sixth Lombardi trophy as head coach of the Patriots.
“I don’t think this team spends a lot of time worried about what everybody else thinks. We know what we feel like we have to do, we have a lot of confidence in each other, we work hard and try to get things done,” said Belichick.
For Belichick, Sunday will represent his ninth Super Bowl appearance as head coach of the Patriots and his 12th overall as a coach in the NFL.
Belichick has been mostly coy about his relationship with Rams coach Sean McVay, saying only that he had met him and that he had a lot of respect for the job the 33-year-old, first-time head coach has done in Los Angeles.
But according to McVay, he and the coach of five-time Super Bowl champion Patriots have become texting buddies — sort of.
McVay says he received a congratulatory text from Belichick after the Rams’ 38-31 victory over the Vikings back on Sept. 27.
“For him to take the time to say congratulations with all the things he’s got going on, it means a lot,” McVay said at Monday’s media night at State Farm Arena.
The coaches met for the first time when the Patriots held a joint practice with the Redskins in 2014. McVay was in his first season as the Redskins’ offensive coordinator at the time.
If Los Angeles beats New England on Sunday, McVay will become the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl. Belichick can become the oldest to win one at age 66.
Content from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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