My postseason picks might not have the most amazing record this year, but my Spidey Sense has a pretty good record. It was worried about the favorites in the divisional round and worried about the 'dogs on the championship weekend. You don't know this because my Spidey Sense doesn't send out an alert, but it's basically undefeated so far this season. And right now it's screaming something about the Rams pulling off an upset.

Despite that, I'm still taking the Patriots

No one said I was smart or willing to listen to my brain, guys. The biggest red flag I've got going is Wade Phillips. I think he's a difference maker from a defensive standpoint, a guy who can scheme up stuff to stop Tom Brady and the Patriots offense. He's seen these guys before in plenty of spots, including the 2015 AFC Championship Game when Von Miller and Co. tortured Brady.

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One of the big differences here is the way the Rams want to induce pressure on the Patriots quarterback. Dante Fowler's had success and can be a problem off the edge, but the bigger concern for the Patriots is Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh, who are a terrifying duo on the inside of the Rams defensive line. 

Yiiiiiiiiiikes. 

Fortunately for the Patriots, they have the requisite weapons to mitigate the pressure that Donald and Suh can put on Brady. For starters, there's the offensive line, which is probably just now getting its due in terms of production up front. David Andrews, Shaq Mason and Joe Thuney are a dynamic trio of interior offensive linemen. The Patriots will probably plan to use Rob Gronkowski plenty as a sixth offensive lineman -- there's not going to be a ton of time for Gronk to stretch the field on seam routes in this one (although I suspect we'll see at least one shot down the field to the old man just yet).

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James White has the ability to neutralize a pass rush out of the backfield because of how quickly Brady can get him the ball in the passing game. And there's always one more way to snuff out a pass rush: run at it. 

What if the Patriots take the aggression of Donald and Suh and just run Sony Michel at them, maneuvering the defensive line with the run game and forcing them to adjust? I think it's possible that happens, especially early on, in a situation where Phillips would be forced to adjust his attack on the fly. 

I'm also a little worried about Jared Goff. He's a 25-year-old quarterback playing in the biggest game of his career in just his fourth playoff game and just the second playoff game not at home. He came out cold against the Saints and needed time to adjust. Even if it was largely the noise of the Superdome, there's still going to be a lot of Patriots fans in Mercedes-Benz on Sunday. 

There's also the matter of going up against Belichick, which is not something young quarterbacks do well. QBs under the age of 25 are a career 15-75 against Belichick since 2001. He owns young quarterbacks. I don't believe for a second that Goff, even if he ends up having a nice statistical game, will go "Full Foles" and completely light up the Patriots defense for a full four quarters.

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Since the merger, just nine quarterbacks 25 years or younger have started a Super Bowl. Those quarterbacks are 4-5 in those games and in recent years -- since 2001, starting with this young fella named Tom Brady -- are actually 3-1 in these Super Bowls. 

But the teams involved stand out to me. The Patriots beat the Rams with an incredible defensive approach in 2001. The same could be said for the Steelers taking care of the Seahawks in Detroit (Jerome Bettis anyone?) and the Seahawks snuffing out the Broncos and Peyton Manning in New York. Those last two were elite-level defenses (Pittsburgh was No. 3 in DVOA that season, while the Seahawks were tops). Even the 49ers had a top-three defense when Colin Kaepernick lost to Joe Flacco and the Ravens

In other words, it's very helpful to have a top-shelf defense to fall back on when starting a young quarterback on the Super Bowl stage. The Rams defense has a Hall of Fame coordinator and a ton of talent, but they were 19th in DVOA this season.

Sean McVay isn't a budding superstar coach because he's already a superstar. We might look back on this and say "of course he outsmarted Belichick with two weeks to prepare" but that feels like an unlikely scenario. 

I think the Patriots win a close one. I've seen it too many times to bet against them.

Patriots 31-Rams 28