Super Bowl final score: Patriots beat Rams in lowest-scoring Super Bowl in history

Good evening and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of Super Bowl 53 from Atlanta.

The Los Angeles Rams take on the New England Patriots for the right to call themselves world champions and lift the famous Vince Lombardi Trophy.

It's been a breathtaking season full of thrills and spills as teams have pushed the boundaries of the sport itself from start to finish with this final game promising to be as equally spectacular.

It won't be all about the American football either with Maroon 5 this year's halftime show act.

We'll have all of it for you right here throughout the evening so stick with us. Without further ado, off we go.

Kick-off is still well over four hours away so why not get your teeth into Ed Malyon's bumper preview to start yourself off, yes?

It's been a wild season with the likes of newly-crowned league MVP Patrick Mahomes lighting up the field with performances the like of which we have almost literally never seen before.

But as we head into the year's final game it's still, as it so often has been over the last 20 years, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick that everyone else has to beat.

This is one of the biggest and most-watched sporting events in the world.

But I'm well aware that not everyone knows what the hell is going on so here's a quick explainer for those in the back.

The Super Bowl sees the winner of the American Football Conference (AFC) take on the winner of the National Football Conference (NFC).

This year it's the New England Patriots representing the AFC and the Los Angeles Rams the NFC.

The winner of tonight's game will lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named after the legendary former coach of the Green Bay Packers.

The Los Angeles Rams will attempt to cap a remarkable two-year turnaround under coach Sean McVay with their franchise's first Super Bowl title in 19 years.  

Just three seasons after returning to LA from St. Louis, the Rams are heading into big game led by quarterback Jared Goff, running back Todd Gurley, two-time Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald and McVay.  

The Rams had been through 13 consecutive non-winning seasons and hadn't won a playoff game in 12 years before they hired McVay, who was 30 at the time. The youngest head coach in modern history immediately engineered a seven-game improvement last season.  

He's followed it up by taking them to the Super Bowl for the first time in 17 years. Now 33, McVay would be the youngest coach ever to win a Super Bowl.

No matter what happens in tonight's Super Bowl, Patriots coach Bill Belichick will be on top of the record books one way or another.  

He has already coached in more Super Bowls than any other coach (nine going on 10) and already has more wins than any other coach (five with a chance of six).  

If the Pats lose, Belichick will also find himself sharing space the top of the losers column with his fourth loss. There are some pretty good names there, though: Don Shula, Bud Grant, Marv Levy and Dan Reeves. 

Donald Trump has had his say ahead of today’s big game – of course he has – and says the dangers of the game mean he won’t be encouraging his 12-year-old son Barron to be take up American football.

“I just don’t like the reports that I see coming out having to do with football,” he said on CBS earlier today. “I mean, it’s a dangerous sport and … I thought the equipment would get better, and it has. The helmets have gotten far better but it hasn’t solved the problem.

“So, you know, I hate to say it because I love to watch football. I think the NFL is a great product, but I really think that as far as my son, well I’ve heard NFL players saying they wouldn’t let their sons play football. So. It’s not totally unique, but I would have a hard time with it.”

Tom Brady will become the only person to collect six Super Bowl rings exclusively as a player if the Patriots overcome the Rams tonight.

It was coincidentally with a win against the Rams - who were based in St Louis at the time - at the end of the 2001 season that Brady first got his hands on the Vince Lombardi Trophy as a second-year signal caller.

The 41-year-old has given no indication he is ready to bow out yet and thinks he and the team have evolved over time to become a well-oiled machine.

"I think I'm a better player now than I was in 2001, I don't think I was the best player that I could possibly be at that point.

"I think there's been a lot of work and effort over the years to try to get to where I'm at now.

"It's really about playing at a championship level, I think that takes a different shape every year based on how the team is set up.

"My first few years we relied heavily on the defense to keep the scores low in the games, I did my part when I was called upon.

"As things have changed as our offense has developed and grown and we've become more efficient on offense, our defense has had some incredible years and I would say we are a pretty balanced team now."

Speaking of Tom Brady. All you hear when the GOAT comes up in conversation is numbers. And why not, they’re record-brekaing ones after all.

But only one number matters this week. Zero. The chances, he says, that this game tonight will be his last.

So how does he achieve all of these superhuman feats despite being 41-years-old?

Well, I attempted to dig into just that a little earlier this week.

Sean McVay has transformed the fortunes of the Los Angeles Rams but he thinks he is "not even close to being mentioned in the same breath" as New England Patriots supremo Bill Belichick.

The dynasty the Patriots have achieved over the last 18 years is why McVay is reluctant to compare himself with Belichick, widely regarded as one of the finest coaches in any sport.

Speaking at his final press conference ahead of Sunday's showdown between the two teams in Atlanta, McVay said: "I'm certainly not even close to being mentioned in the same breath as coach Belichick with what he's done.

"The wealth of knowledge and experience that he's pulling from is incredible. He's got an ownership and a mastery on offence, defence and special teams.

"You talk about somebody that understands the nuances of the game, the tactical approaches and how to put together a gameplan that is conducive for his players' skillsets.

"But it's also about playing with all three phases working in unison, not necessarily one separate from the other. He's just done such a great job. Those players believe in him. I think he's invested in building a real authentic rapport and caring about the guys."

Rams running back Todd Gurley is the reigning NFL offensive player of the year and, after piling up 1,251 yards in 17 touchdowns in 14 regular-season games, is a candidate to repeat.

So what happened in the NFC Championship game, when he recorded career lows with only five touches for 13 total yards in the controversial 26-23 win over the New Orleans Saints?

Gurley, who missed the end of the regular season with a knee injury, blamed his own sloppy play for those statistics rather than any lingering effects, and McVay has promised to make him a big part of the game plan for Sunday.

But that may just be talk.

When Gurley was sidelined, the Rams turned to CJ Anderson, and the ex-Broncos running back has allowed the Rams to run a series of formations against which the Patriots are known to struggle. He could be just the man for the job.