The Super Bowl was Super Bowled on Sunday night, and naturally the Detroit Lions weren’t in it. There was fervent hope that maybe they might come in as a surprise contender, maybe cash in that suitcase with the surprise contract to turn this match into a three-way deathmatch. No such luck. But the Lions did play a part, in spirit, in the defeat of the Los Angeles Rams—at least, according to Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.
On ESPN’s NFL Primetime, Belichick discussed how the Week 13 matchup between the Rams and Lions helped to build a blueprint to stop Los Angeles’ high-flying offense:
We felt like if we could make them drive it, make them earn it, similar to what the Lions did.