Well, it’s lastly proper right here. Super Bowl 2022 live stream, Sunday kickoff is hours away. After 21 (!) weeks of video video games and per week off after the conference championships, we are going to watch the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals duke it out for the right to-name themselves champions of the 2021 NFL season.
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As always, we’re proper right here to interrupt the matchup. But first, right here is how one can watch the Super Bowl on Sunday night time.
How to have a look at
(*56*)Date: Sunday, Feb. 13 | (*56*)Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
(*56*)Location: SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, California)
(*56*)TV: NBC | (*56*)Stream: fuboTV (try with out value)
(*56*)Spread: Rams -4, O/U 48.5
When the Rams have the ball
The Los Angeles offense runs by way of Cooper Kupp, who’s practically unattainable to cowl. He’s in the midst of arguably the most effective giant receiver season ever, having adopted up his 145-catch, 1,947-yard, 16-touchdown frequent season with 25 catches for 386 yards and 4 touchdowns by the Rams’ three-game run by way of the NFC.
Kupp aligns more often than not in the slot (63.2% of his routes, in line with Tru Media), which makes Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton most likely probably the most very important gamer on the sphere. You don’t primarily take into account Kupp as a bodily imposing presence, nonetheless, the measurement profit he (6-2, 208 kilos) has on Hilton (5-9, 184 kilos) might come into play proper right here, notably on performing the place Matthew Stafford is eager to throw into guests. Of course, the Bengals play principally zone safety, so Hilton will get help from safeties and linebackers on this challenge. But it is not like completely different teams haven’t tried that each one yr. Kupp merely shreds it anyway.
All the eyes devoted to Kupp should go away copious one-on-one options for Odell Beckham Jr. and Van Jefferson on the pores and skin. As we coated in our X-factors breakdown earlier this week, the way in which in which Jessie Bates III and Von Bell cope with the back-side dig to Beckham might play an infinite perform in this recreation.
Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo has carried out an amazing job designing bespoke safety plans for opponents all by this season, counting on his veteran-laden safety to have the flexibility to cope with all numerous sorts of appears to be. The Bengals over the previous two offseasons broke with customized and actually spent some money on exterior free brokers, and coming away with avid gamers like Bell, Chidobe Awuzie, and Eli Apple on the once more end has helped diversify the safety.
Bengals’ week-by-week safety splits
| (*56*)Opp | (*56*)Week | (*56*)Cov-0 | (*56*)Cov-1 | (*56*)Cov-2 | (*56*)2-Man | (*56*)Cov-3 | (*56*)Cov-4 | (*56*)Cov-6 |
| MIN | 1 | 3.8% | 30.2% | 17.0% | 0.0% | 37.7% | 3.8% | 1.9% |
| CHI | 2 | 3.7% | 18.5% | 22.2% | 0.0% | 37.0% | 3.7% | 7.4% |
| PIT | 3 | 1.6% | 11.3% | 24.2% | 0.0% | 33.9% | 9.7% | 14.5% |
| JAX | 4 | 4.0% | 36.0% | 8.0% | 0.0% | 32.0% | 8.0% | 4.0% |
| GB | 5 | 2.4% | 31.7% | 17.1% | 7.3% | 17.1% | 7.3% | 9.8% |
| DET | 6 | 2.3% | 14.0% | 23.3% | 2.3% | 39.5% | 2.3% | 14.0% |
| BAL | 7 | 8.5% | 12.8% | 14.9% | 0.0% | 36.2% | 19.1% | 8.5% |
| NYJ | 8 | 3.9% | 9.8% | 9.8% | 0.0% | 35.3% | 13.7% | 19.6% |
| CLE | 9 | 4.3% | 43.5% | 4.3% | 0.0% | 21.7% | 8.7% | 0.0% |
| LV | 11 | 0.0% | 10.3% | 20.7% | 0.0% | 37.9% | 10.3% | 13.8% |
| PIT | 12 | 0.0% | 25.0% | 20.5% | 4.5% | 31.8% | 6.8% | 9.1% |
| LAC | 13 | 0.0% | 17.9% | 15.4% | 2.6% | 48.7% | 10.3% | 2.6% |
| SF | 14 | 4.3% | 28.3% | 6.5% | 0.0% | 32.6% | 15.2% | 0.0% |
| DEN | 15 | 2.7% | 37.8% | 21.6% | 0.0% | 27.0% | 0.0% | 8.1% |
| BAL | 16 | 4.9% | 31.7% | 19.5% | 0.0% | 29.3% | 4.9% | 4.9% |
| KC | 17 | 2.9% | 14.3% | 31.4% | 2.9% | 20.0% | 8.6% | 8.6% |
| CLE | 18 | 12.0% | 24.0% | 4.0% | 0.0% | 40.0% | 0.0% | 8.0% |
| LV | WC | 1.8% | 24.6% | 14.0% | 7.0% | 26.3% | 15.8% | 0.0% |
| TEN | DIV | 8.0% | 8.0% | 12.0% | 0.0% | 48.0% | 12.0% | 12.0% |
| KC | LC | 4.7% | 25.6% | 11.6% | 0.0% | 4.7% | 20.9% | 23.3% |
The most important money, though, was spent on the defensive entrance. That’s the place the Bengals landed Trey Hendrickson, as properly as D.J. Reader and Larry Ogunjobi, amongst others. Cincinnati’s potential to get pressured with out blitzing is what has propelled its run by way of the playoffs, and the Bengals may need to do it as soon as extra in the Super Bowl. During the frequent season, the Bengals had the fourth-lowest blitz value in the NFL (22%). In the playoffs, they’ve dialed it once more, far more, sending further rushers solely 17% of the time.
That’s an amazing issue because you truly do not want to blitz Stafford. Like, ever. He achieved 93 of 130 passes for 1,294 yards, 16 touchdowns, and just one interception in the direction of the blitz by the frequent season. That was good for a league-best 139.6 passer rating, and he ranked second in anticipated components added per blitzed dropback, behind solely Patrick Mahomes. (The Bengals notably did not blitz Mahomes pretty typically in the AFC title recreation. It was an infinite a part of their recreation plan.)
Hendrickson and Sam (*56*) dashing off the perimeters in the direction of Andrew Whitworth and Rob Havenstein should be an satisfying matchup to have a look at. Cincinnati’s ends aren’t the twitchy varieties who scream throughout the nook and bend their resolution to the quarterback. They’re extremely efficient, effort-type of rushed who preserve good lane self-discipline and easily keep working and dealing until they get the passer on the underside.
It stays to be seen how the Rams will divvy up their backfield work. For the first time all season, they’re anticipated to have each of Cam Akers, Sony Michel, and Darrell Henderson energetic. Henderson was the bell cow early in the season. Michel took over late in the yr. Akers soaked up practically all the work by the purpose the Rams acquired to the divisional spherical, nonetheless, he wasn’t very environment friendly and ended up splitting work with Michel in the conference title recreation after early-game shoulder hurt. The L.A. offense is normally at its best when it’d marry the run with the play-action passing recreation, and the Bengals have been a bit weak on the underside by the latter portion of the yr. The Rams haven’t run it properly of late, however when they are going to change that proper right here, that’d be an infinite plus.
When the Bengals have the ball
The large give consideration to this aspect of the ball is the matchup in the trenches. As we wrote in our X-factors breakdown:
The three most important avid gamers in this recreation could also be Quinton Spain, Trey Hopkins, and Hakeem Adeniji. That’s the trio that may largely be tasked with dealing with the game-wrecking drive of Aaron Donald on the inside. It’s moreover the single-weakest part of the Bengals offense, which we’ve now seen come into play all by this postseason. Spain and Adeniji ranked 62nd and 57th, respectively, in ESPN’s pass-block win value amongst 63 qualifying guards this season, whereas Hopkins ranked twenty sixth out of 32 qualifying amenities.
Joe Burrow was the most-sacked quarterback in the NFL by the frequent season. Not all of that is on the offensive line, in spite of everything. Burrow was solely pressured on the league’s Sixteenth-highest value, nonetheless his pressures became sacks on the third-highest value in the NFL, behind solely Baker Mayfield and Ben Roethlisberger. But his stress value has spiked a bit by the playoffs, and his value of sacks to emphasize has stayed principally the an identical.
We seen how an inside rush might batter the within of Cincinnati’s offensive line in the divisional spherical, when Jeffery Simmons laid waste to the Bengals’ pass-protection. Burrow was sacked 9 events, with Simmons accumulating three of those takedowns. Simmons is a terrific participant, nonetheless he is not as dangerous as Donald. Donald has a playoffs-high 16 pressures, and has collected a sack, hit, or hurry on 14% of his pass-rush snaps by the postseason. That’s the most effective value amongst inside defenders by a not-insignificant margin.
All of that might be an enormous disadvantage for Cincinnati, and naturally, Donald simply is not the one disadvantage the Rams present upfront. There’s moreover the matter of Von Miller and Leonard Floyd coming throughout the sides. Jonah Williams and Isaiah Prince might have their palms full with that duo. The Bengals don’t normally favor to keep up an excellent end or once more in to help with pass-blocking, largely as a results of Burrow preferring to have as many receivers as doable out on routes. If that’s the tact they take in the Super Bowl, the Bengals’ future might very good expertise how properly he calibrates his internal clock.
Another important question is how the Rams plan to deploy Jalen Ramsey. He has not traditionally shadowed opposing receivers this season, though the Rams have made numerous exceptions for bigger-bodied receivers as a results of No. 2 nook Darius Williams could also be very slight. Ramsey adopted Mike Evans for most of the recreations in the divisional spherical, as an example. Tee Higgins is certainly pretty a bit larger (6-4, 215 kilos) than Ja’Marr Chase (6-1, 200 kilos), nonetheless, the rookie performs larger than his measurement. The good wager is on Ramsey having fun with his star (slot) place on early downs when the Bengals could also be further extra more likely to run the ball, and tangling with whichever wideout the Rams consider the bigger danger when Cincinnati will get into second-and-long or third-down situations.
Opponents have been eager to examine Williams all by the postseason, and the size advantages held by Higgins and Chase, blended with Burrow’s eagerness to throw the ball downfield, might outcome in some deep photos. The weakest house of the Rams safety, though, is normally fast and over the middle. That’s the place Tyler Boyd does most of his work, and the place Joe Mixon might be a danger on study downs.
The building of L.A.’s defensive shell usually works to bait opponents into working the ball further usually than they should. Zac Taylor has confirmed a willingness to do precisely that each one by the season, as a lot as and along with by the AFC title recreation, when the Bengals saved pounding the ball into the highway on early downs for little yardage, then asking Burrow to bail them out later in the sequence. He was able to doing it as a results of the safety found an answer to close his opponent down, nonetheless that’s not primarily a profitable approach. (*56*)Latest Odds: Cincinnati Bengals +4
(*56*)Prediction: Rams 26, Bengals 23