The Greatest Bowl of Them All: Super Bowl LI

Due to work and general laziness this post is coming only a day before the big game. As a result I’ll just skip most of what is sure to be already said on every site and sports channel in America. That said I’ll pull a clickbait move and leave my prediction at the end of the article. Just like everybody else does.

Now the Patriots sport one of the best defenses in the NFL, while the Falcons are known for their high flying offense. I remember when I picked the Broncos over the Seahawks, only to regret that choice when Seattle used their defense to slam the door on Denver and limit Peyton Manning’s opportunities. Keeping this in mind I have to go with the more experienced and favored team: the New England Patriots. Tom Brady doesn’t have Gronk this time but he does have a great rushing attack built to keep opposing squads on the field. In fact LeGarrette Blount might be one of the best running backs the Pats have ever had, and will be more leaned on than people realize come tomorrow night. That said the Falcons counter with Devonta Freeman, who is underrated mostly due to his size; they might focus more on the run game if the Pats cover Julio Jones really well.

My X factors for this game are pretty obvious: Chris Hogan and Dion Lewis for the Patriots and Trevor Coleman and Mohamed Sanu for the Falcons. I don’t really think either team’s tight ends will figure heavily in this contest, although Martellus Bennett has done fairly well for the Patriots and was a good pickup in the off season. As for defense, well I don’t know how much of that we will see, as both teams are capable of putting up 30 points easily. However I think that the Falcons will suffer from some early game nerves and that Matt Ryan will have to dig the team out of a hole midway through. My final game score is Patriots 28, Falcons 23. I might be skipping the halftime show and I also wonder if we will see any play as mystifying as the Seahawks not running it with Marshawn Lynch. Hopefully this game isn’t as awful as last year’s contest.