This is it. The game we’ve all been waiting for since last February. The Super Bowl is finally here again!
On one side is the legendary team, coach, and quarterback. Together, they have appeared in six Super Bowls and won four of them. They’re tying records. They’re breaking records. They’re creating categories for new record-keeping. It’s one of the greatest dynasties of any sport.
On the other side, there are the newcomers. They’re a team that missed the playoffs for the past three seasons. They’ve never won a Super Bowl. They have a head coach in only his second year. Their quarterback is making his first Super Bowl appearance after nine seasons.
It’s a tale of two very different franchises, two coaches in vastly different points in their career, and two quarterbacks with significantly different resumes.
But they’ll all be in the same place on Sunday. They’ll all be playing for the same prize. The records won’t matter. The resumes won’t matter. Their goals will be the same...
They will be fighting to become Super Bowl LI champions.
New England Patriots vs. Atlanta Falcons
NRG Stadium – Houston, Texas
At first, I wasn’t sure that the Atlanta Falcons would provide much of a challenge to the two AFC championship teams – the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Patriots. But after seeing their offense once again dominate, my feelings have slightly changed.
They have a lot of weapons on offense. Nobody can really deny that. Matt Ryan has proven to be an excellent quarterback and really put everything together this season. Julio Jones has been dominant as a receiver. Mohamed Sanu and Taylor Gabriel are great second and third receivers. Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman in the backfield are both solid runners and receivers. The Falcon offense can hit you in a variety of ways and Matt Ryan has done a fantastic job of utilizing these skill players all season long.
In their two playoff games so far, the Falcons offense has gained 457.5 yards per game and they’ve scored ten touchdowns. They’re converting 64% of their 3rd downs. They’ve been fairly dominant in time of possession, holding the ball for 33:29 vs. 26:31 for their opponents. And most importantly, they’re +4 in turnover ratio.
The biggest question mark has been their defense. They were ranked 27th in the NFL during the regular season. They give up a lot of yards and points. How well their defense plays will be critical against Tom Brady and the New England offense, which is just as capable as Atlanta’s.
The Patriots, under the leadership of Brady, have been dominant this season as well. At times, they’ve made their dominant performances look easy – even without one of their most productive players and one of Brady’s favorite targets, Rob Gronkowski. Like Matt Ryan, Brady has multiple talented players on offense, with receivers Julian Edelman and Chris Hogan, tight end Martellus Bennett, and running backs LeGarrette Blount and Dion Lewis.
Like the Atlanta offense, the Patriot offense has been pass-heavy so far this post-season. The Patriots are averaging about six yards per play and 404 yards of offense per game. They’ll be keeping the Falcons defense on its toes and will likely be using Blount and the running game more often than they have been in their last two games.
The New England defense could ultimately be the difference-maker in this game. It’s one of the league’s best and the defense did a great job of limiting the output of Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown in the AFC championship game. But an injury to the Steelers’ star running back, Le’Veon Bell, certainly impacted the effectiveness of New England’s strategy.
The Falcons are coming into this game with an offense that is on fire and Julio Jones has had two weeks to let his injured toe heal. If the Patriots are able to limit his output with double-coverage, they’ll still need to cover four other excellent players that have proven that they can gain large chunks of yards and score touchdowns. And Matt Ryan can distribute the ball just as well as Brady can.
This game, while it may be dominated by the outstanding play of the two quarterbacks, will likely come down to whether or not the Patriots can effectively pressure Ryan or mostly eliminate Jones from the equation – without giving up too much space to the Atlanta running backs.
Whatever the outcome, this should be a great Super Bowl to watch, despite my prior misgivings about the Falcons.
Comments and game predictions are welcomed! Who do you think will win the Super Bowl?
My opinion is that the Patriots will win a close one, with the final score being somewhere around 31-27.
Free-For-All Contest
Statistical Categories for Super Bowl LI
There will be five statistical categories for the Super Bowl, listed below. I have provided averages from the current post-season. Some numbers have been rounded for game accuracy.
1. Falcons WR, Julio Jones, Receptions: Post-season average per game is 8.
2. Falcons QB, Matt Ryan, Passing Yards: Post-season average per game is 365.
3. Patriots RB, LeGarrette Blount, Rushing Yards: Post-season average per game is 39.
4. Patriots QB, Tom Brady, Pass Completions: Post-season average per game is 25.
5. Total Combined Touchdowns: Post-season average per game is 9.
How to Play and Win
In a comment on this post, submit your predicted results in the order that they appear above. You can number your selections (1–5) as they are above or not, but if not, I will assume that they are in the correct order and the results will be checked in that order. ONLY ONE COMMENT SUBMISSION PER USER, PER CONTEST.
Once your comment is submitted, I will confirm it after the deadline for entering the contest. The deadline for submission this week is 4:00PM NEW YORK TIME (UTC -5) ON SUNDAY. After submissions are confirmed by me, any new entries or edits to comments will automatically disqualify you from the contest. So make sure that you have accurately submitted your numbers before the deadline.
There will be one winner for each statistic. The winner will be the contestant closest to the actual final statistics from the game. There is no limit to the number of stat categories that you can win. Contestants can potentially win one or all of the categories.
The contest is funded with a minimum pot of 100 STEEM. The total pot distribution will be divided evenly between the five statistical categories. Each category winner will receive 20% of the total pot. In the event of a tie, the pot will be split between the tying contestants for that category.
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Good luck and enjoy the Super Bowl!
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