Difficult to see the Rams winning this game. The Patriots are best at stopping the run (which is what the Rams have been doing well lately). And their defense might not be good enough to slow down a multidimensional New England offense. There's a chance, it seems, that New England moves the ball at will and wins by 10 points or so.

But in Sean McVay, the Rams have one of the NFL's brightest offensive minds, and in Wade Phillips they have one of its most experienced and successful defensive coaches. They won in New Orleans, which few thought would happen, and they've got plenty of talent on both sides of the ball -- including the game's best defender in Aaron Donald. So maybe. More importantly from a fantasy perspective, New England doesn't have a shutdown defense. Even if they lose, the Rams have a good chance of scoring 3 TDs and having some of the better fantasy prospects in this game.

QUARTERBACK: In the regular season, only three quarterbacks threw for more yards than Jared Goff (4,688, which works out to 293 per game), and only five threw more TDs (32). That kind of yardage is probably well beyond him. He wasn’t nearly as prolific for most of his last seven games (including the playoffs): under 220 yards in five of those, and throwing only 7 TDs (more than half, 4, in a game against San Francisco). He wasn’t playing as well, and Sean McVay emphasized the run in a lot of those games, perhaps in part to protect his young quarterback.

On Goff’s behalf, he exceeded expectations at New Orleans, throwing for 297 yards and 1 TD. And the Patriots are typically better defending the run (12th last year) than the pass (21st), while allowing more than four times as many touchdowns on passes (29) as runs (7); also long a staple of this defense. If the Rams score 2-3 TDs, and they should, decent chance all will come on pass plays.

New England wound up surrendering 295 plus passing yards and 3 TDs in each of the last two contests. It’s a little deceptive, given how much Philip Rivers and Patrick Mahomes struggled in the first halves of those contest: a combined 186 passing yards and 1 TD. No one doubts Bill Belichick’s potential to make a young passer like Goff look bad. But final numbers are what matter in fantasy, so we’re thinking Goff probably winds up around 270-280 yards and probably 2 TDs. Shrewder to slot him behind Brady, but decent chance he finishes with similar production.

RUNNING BACK: A little over a month ago Todd Gurley would have been the slam-dunk top player in this game – you know, back when he was averaging 131 total yards and 1.5 TDs per game in his first 14 contests. But he missed the final two games of the season with knee soreness, enabling C.J. Anderson to join the team and carve out a share of the ground game, and then was seemingly benched for large parts of the NFC Championship after dropping two passes early, one for an interception. He touched the ball just 5 times in that game. Many speculated that the knee was a factor but everyone involved denies that.

Gurley has had two weeks to get either his knee or possibly his head straight, and Sean McVay says Gurley will be a big part of the Super Bowl. Gurley’s a much better receiver (and simply more talented) than Anderson, so not much doubt he’ll be featured. But Anderson should also play; he’s been running well and has fresh legs after not playing for most of the season. He was a star in Denver’s Super Bowl 50 win (90 yards and a touchdown), for what it’s worth. New England allowed 113 rushing yards per game during the season (12th) and only 7 TDs on the ground, fewer than anyone but Chicago. They’ve been even better in the playoffs, holding the Chargers and Kansas City to just 60 yards combined (helped by taking two-score leads, of course).

Dallas and New Orleans were even better defending the run; both top-5 during the season. The Rams walloped the Cowboys for 273 yards and 3 TDs on the ground, before being pretty well contained by the Saints (77 and 1). A lot more likely that New England turns in a performance comparable to New Orleans, so we’re going with a modest rushing projection, and odds of scoring don’t look great. But Gurley averaged 4-plus catches and 41 receiving yards during the season, with 4 TDs, while New England allowed 4 TD receptions by running backs in the regular season and 2 by Damien Williams last week. Factoring in receiving production, Gurley is definitely the better bet in this backfield, and the player more likely to have a good game.

WIDE RECEIVER: All three of Brandin Cooks, Robert Woods and Josh Reynolds should play close to full-time; slightly fewer for Reynolds last week, but still on the field for three-quarters of the snaps. Cooks (with New England last year) has been a little better in the two playoff games (11 for 172, compared to 12 for 102 for Woods), but the two posted nearly identical numbers in the regular season. In general, Woods will probably catch more passes, Cooks has more big-play potential. Cooks was knocked out of last year’s Super Bowl early on, and between that and the former team angle he might have some extra motivation, but not a lot of difference between them. New England might focus its efforts on taking one of these guys away, but neither is a Tyreek Hill-like game changer.

After Cooper Kupp went on IR, Reynolds averaged 51 yards in the final six games – not far behind Woods (65 yards per game) or Cooks (58) in those same contests – with 3 TDs. He’s more likely to be left out of things (just 1 catch against Dallas) but went 4 for 74 against the Rams. He might be a better value than the other wideouts, and is less likely to be a focal point of the defense. New England allowed 17 TDs to wide receivers during the season, which is average.

TIGHT END: If Sean McVay wants to catch the Patriots off-guard, maybe he’ll make tight ends Tyler Higbee and Gerald Everett a big part of the game plan. They weren’t during the season, each averaging 18-20 yards per game, with 3 TDs for Everett and 2 for Higbee. The last eight games, with a slightly more expanded role, each averaged 28 yards per game. Higbee (6 for 55, TD) has been more involved in the postseason (Everett has just 2 catches for 50 yards), so we’re putting him highest. The Patriots allowed 8 TDs to the position in the regular season and 3 more in the playoffs, but one was to Travis Kelce (who’s way better) and both of the Chargers scores by tight ends were deep in garbage time. Unlikely that either player is a huge part of the game plan.

KICKER: The lone injury concern for either team heading into this game involves Greg Zuerlein. He suffered a foot injury during the NFC Championship, though it didn’t prevent him from nailing 48- and 57-yard field goals to tie and win the game. It’s something to monitor – he sat out practice last week – but the Rams haven’t expressed any concern about his availability and don’t have another kicker on the roster, so he’s probably fine. The Patriots allowed just 6.8 kicking points per game during the season, slightly fewer than the Rams (7.1) and are a slight favorite, making Zuerlein the lesser of the two options even if the injury is set aside.

DEFENSE: The Rams had the better fantasy group during the season. Both they and the Patriots had 18 interceptions, but the Rams had a lot more sacks (41-30), more fumble recoveries (12-10) and more defensive and special teams touchdowns (5-4), too. On the other hand, they’re facing a Hall of Famer playing in his ninth Super Bowl (and for the third straight season), while no one really knows if the sport’s biggest stage will affect Jared Goff. Just another year for Tom Brady.

During the season, Brady took only 21 sacks, and he hasn’t been sacked in either playoff game, either. His line is playing at an elite level right now. He turned it over 13 times, which is a little more promising, and twice more at Kansas City (should have been 3 interceptions in that one). The Rams aren’t anything special in the return game, and the Patriots haven’t allowed any of those scores the last two seasons anyway.

Rams player projections are below; later today we’ll merge them with the Patriots (posted yesterday) to establish an overall board.

—Andy Richardson