Science

Super Bowl 53: Complete Preview and Winner for Patriots vs. Rams

A swarm of 38 football experts predicts the winner for the 2019 Super Bowl -- plus predictions for the commercials!

by Tae Andrews
Austin McAfee/Icon Sportswire

Dread it. Run from it. But destiny still arrives this evening when the New England Patriots take on the St. Louis Los Angeles Rams in Atlanta during Super Bowl LIII. With known cheater quarterback Tom Brady under center, the Patriots have now made it to the Super Bowl in nine of his 18 seasons, winning five to date. Can the Rams stop Brady and the Patriots from collecting their sixth Infinity Stone Super Bowl ring?

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady talks to members of the media during a team press conference for Super Bowl LIII at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta on January 30, 2019, in Atlanta.

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Afraid not. When tonight’s Super Bowl kicks off, Brady – individually – will have made more Super Bowl appearances than every other team in the NFL throughout their history. Yes, that statistic is every bit as depressing as it sounds. The most the Internet can do is mock his ridiculously large sideline coats.

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick smiles as he is interviewed during the New England Patriots Super Bowl LIII Press Conference on January 29, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta.

Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire

Tonight’s coaching matchup also pits joyless curmudgeon Bill Belichick against the precocious Sean McVay (please, please let this be a changing of the guard). Belichick, who is literally twice McVay’s age, befriended the Boy Wonder and exchanged texts with him throughout the course of the season. We can only hope some of Belichick’s winning ways will rub off on his heir apparent, who has led Los Angeles to the pinnacle of the sport in just his second season at the helm and will be the youngest coach in Super Bowl history. (On a side note, we salute McVay’s personal get-back coach, who has the task of restraining the animated wunderkind if he strays too far afield in a fit of pique. We can only hope that this personal-restraint assistant listens to Luda while performing his duties).

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff (16) answers questions during the Los Angeles Rams press conference on January 31, 2019 at the Atlanta Marriott Buckhead in Atlanta.

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If there is any reason to hope that the Rams can spare us the sight of the Patriots hoisting the Lombardi Trophy once again, it starts and ends with Los Angeles’ defensive line, which employs both Aaron Donald (in all likelihood the best defensive player in the NFL) and the hulking Ndamukong Suh. The problem is that New England’s offensive line is one of the best Brady has had throughout his career, and he gets the ball out so damn fast — approximately 2.5 seconds from snap to throw. You cannot defeat that which you cannot even hit. Either way, the winner of this matchup — the Rams’ defensive line vs. the Patriots’ line — will likely determine the outcome of tonight’s game.

To make matters even worse, Rams’ cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman gave New England plenty of bulletin-board material for motivation, claiming that age had “definitely taken a toll” on Brady and that he was not the same quarterback he once was. Sigh. No one offered Robey-Coleman a penny for his thoughts, but he gave them anyway, and now the team that thrives off of siege mentality and perceived slights both great and small has even more fuel for the fire. Gulp. Robey-Coleman should keep his mouth shut and just be glad to be here after the officials missed his blatant pass interference in the NFC Championship Game, which helped push the Rams past the more deserving Saints.

Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley (30) runs for a gain during the NFC Divisional Football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Los Angeles Rams on January 12, 2019 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

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So to recap: the Patriots have one of the best coaches of all time, and probably the great quarterback to ever play the game. The Rams have a millennial (albeit a very talented one) coaching their team, and this guy under center. And as dastardly as the Patriots have been throughout their remarkable run, Rams’ owner Stan Kroenke also has karmic skeletons in his closet, having uprooted the team from St. Louis and transplanted them to the City of Angels. Yikes.

Stan Kroenke, owner of the Rams.

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We fervently hope this isn’t the outcome, but fear it will be. Perhaps it’s just destiny, as much as we hate to admit it: Patriots 27, Rams 24. How does a swarm of football experts predict this biggest game of the year on the American sports calendar?

To predict the winner of the 2019 Super Bowl, Unanimous A.I. used what’s known as swarm intelligence. A “swarm” of 38 NFL enthusiasts worked together as a hive mind to make their prediction, and as you can see in the animation below, each participant controlled a golden magnet and used it to drag the puck toward the result they thought was the most likely outcome. This is where it gets interesting: As a user sees the puck move toward a particular decision, it triggers a psychological response. They might readjust their thinking as the group builds toward a consensus. It’s an artificial intelligence, produced by human brains, working together as a swarm.

Below are a few predictions for the 2019 Super Bowl:

How many yards will Tom Brady throw during the 2019 Super Bowl?

Unanimous AI

How many completions will Tom Brady throw in the 2019 Super Bowl?

Unanimous AI

Who wins against the spread in the 2019 Super Bowl?

Unanimous AI

Who wins the 2019 Super Bowl, straight-up?

Unanimous AI

Below is the full list of predictions for the 2019 Super Bowl from the swarm of Unanimous AI experts:

Unanimous AI

Which TV Spots Will “Win” the 2019 Super Bowl?

Unanimous AI also some 45 advertising professionals (who asked to remain anonymous) to predict which Super Bowl commercial will “win” the big game. They predicted the “buzz” and “amplification,” among other categories for each of eight predicted TV spots. “Ultimately, the swarm of marketing experts determined that the Pringles ‘Sad Device’ ad would be second only to the Doritos collaboration between Chance the Rapper and the Back Street Boys,” Joe Rosenbaum, of Unanimous AI, tells Inverse.

Here’s how the swarm of ad industry pros predict which Super Bowl commercial will bring the most value to its company:

Which Super Bowl commercial will "win" the big game?

Unanimous AI

Unanimous A.I. has made some scarily accurate predictions in the past using swarm intelligence, as this article explains. For instance, the swarm picked this year’s Oscar winners with 94 percent accuracy. Here’s Unanimous A.I. founder Louis Rosenberg explaining swarm intelligence at a recent TEDx Talk:

Keep reading: Here’s how Unanimous A.I. predicted the games of the 2018-19 NFL season, leading up to Super Bowl.

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