Looks about right. I was thinking Patriots by 4. I don't really expect that to move much.
Superbowl LI - Patriots V Falcons
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Looks about right. I was thinking Patriots by 4. I don't really expect that to move much.
If you would have asked me to say what week and team, I'd guess most of them before I'd say nyj.
iirc, pats had talib when they last played atl and he was pretty much the julio stopper.
To be fair, that was a younger, less-committed player then. He's not that guy anymore. I'm guessing the new coach is the reason, but that's just speculation.
bishbash
Tall Earthquake Finders roam the desert
Patriots heading to Super Bowl to face their biggest rival, and it's not the Falcons
FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts -- The New England Patriots' revenge mission kept right on rolling Sunday night, a sleek and perfectly operated football retribution apparatus that mowed down the Pittsburgh Steelers and came within one win of another ring, another notch on a belt for the ages, and another shot at the team's true rival.
No, not the Atlanta Falcons.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
In dispatching of Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers, 36-17, several things happened at once. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick secured their seventh Super Bowl appearances and notched their places as the greatest quarterback and head coach, respectively, the league has ever seen.
New England showed its utter resilience. Not age (Brady is 39), not suspension (those four game to start the season), not injury (Rob Gronkowski), not ridicule, not even the NFL's commissioner declaring your organization a full-scale bad guy has been able to thwart the Patriots' claim to more than a decade of NFL domination.
And the Patriots, in a city that in the days leading up to the AFC Championship Game oozed with resentment for Goodell and the league office, showed that at least in this case you don't need to seek redemption when you can get revenge instead.
It may be an amusing notion for most of us to watch Brady, Belichick and the Patriots force the NFL commissioner onto a stage with them in Houston. But a few days in Boston -- and a few minutes at Gillette Stadium -- show it's a deadly-serious mission here.
In bars and restaurants across Boston, Patriots fans talked openly about wanting Goodell to have to show up and deal with the Patriots in person, an unavoidable collision now that they're on their way to Super Bowl LI. Outside the stadium before Sunday's game, Boston accents made extra rich with a beer or two turned tailgating into the art of badmouthing the commissioner. One man's shirt, which got a rowdy applause, summed up the tenor and tone of this town and its beloved football team: "Goodell is a Douche."
Classy, no.
But it spoke to the zeitgeist, and to a Patriots organization that those close to it will tell you is gleefully ready to take their reprisals on the road to Houston and the man who will be forced onto the podium with them if they can beat the Atlanta Falcons in two weeks' time.
There's more at play, of course. No quarterback has ever led a team to five Super Bowl wins, and Brady accomplishing that should shoot him past NFL greatest-of-all-time talk and move into the sphere of where he rates among all athletes in all sports over time. And a championship, of course, is its own remarkable reward.
Yet none of that was the focus when Robert Kraft, New England's owner, spoke to the crowd just after the win. He didn't mince words. His message from the dais on the field during the presentation of the Lamar Hunt Trophy was quite clearly directed at Goodell.
"For a number of reasons," he told the crowd, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "all of you in this stadium understand how big this win was. But we have to go to Houston and win one more."
While Brady demurred a few moments later and then again with the press, dodging any talk of the man who suspended him for four regular season games, he did his talking on the field.
All of this -- the unavoidable GOAT tag now firmly attached to Brady, the timelessness and wonder of what the Patriots have become, and certainly the revenge -- was encapsulated in Brady's night. He threw for a franchise-postseason-record 384 passing yards, besting his own record from 2014, tossed three touchdowns and posted a 127.5 QB-rating.
It's no coincidence Brady had one of his greatest postseason games ever. All game, the mood at Gillette Stadium bristled with contempt for the league itself and reminded anyone here that there are now two potential prizes at the end of this season: A trophy, and a commissioner who won't be able to hide.
In the third quarter, when the Patriots went up 33-9, former New England quarterback and current broadcaster Scott Zolak flashed on the big screen. He immediately lunged for a yellow sign. Holding it aloft, it read: "Where is Roger?"
The crowed went crazy, chanting a few moments later, "Roger! Roger! Roger!"
There can be no mistake: The Patriots are coming for Goodell, not Atlanta. The Falcons are merely in their way.
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/p...-their-biggest-rival-and-its-not-the-falcons/
FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts -- The New England Patriots' revenge mission kept right on rolling Sunday night, a sleek and perfectly operated football retribution apparatus that mowed down the Pittsburgh Steelers and came within one win of another ring, another notch on a belt for the ages, and another shot at the team's true rival.
No, not the Atlanta Falcons.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
In dispatching of Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers, 36-17, several things happened at once. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick secured their seventh Super Bowl appearances and notched their places as the greatest quarterback and head coach, respectively, the league has ever seen.
New England showed its utter resilience. Not age (Brady is 39), not suspension (those four game to start the season), not injury (Rob Gronkowski), not ridicule, not even the NFL's commissioner declaring your organization a full-scale bad guy has been able to thwart the Patriots' claim to more than a decade of NFL domination.
And the Patriots, in a city that in the days leading up to the AFC Championship Game oozed with resentment for Goodell and the league office, showed that at least in this case you don't need to seek redemption when you can get revenge instead.
It may be an amusing notion for most of us to watch Brady, Belichick and the Patriots force the NFL commissioner onto a stage with them in Houston. But a few days in Boston -- and a few minutes at Gillette Stadium -- show it's a deadly-serious mission here.
In bars and restaurants across Boston, Patriots fans talked openly about wanting Goodell to have to show up and deal with the Patriots in person, an unavoidable collision now that they're on their way to Super Bowl LI. Outside the stadium before Sunday's game, Boston accents made extra rich with a beer or two turned tailgating into the art of badmouthing the commissioner. One man's shirt, which got a rowdy applause, summed up the tenor and tone of this town and its beloved football team: "Goodell is a Douche."
Classy, no.
But it spoke to the zeitgeist, and to a Patriots organization that those close to it will tell you is gleefully ready to take their reprisals on the road to Houston and the man who will be forced onto the podium with them if they can beat the Atlanta Falcons in two weeks' time.
There's more at play, of course. No quarterback has ever led a team to five Super Bowl wins, and Brady accomplishing that should shoot him past NFL greatest-of-all-time talk and move into the sphere of where he rates among all athletes in all sports over time. And a championship, of course, is its own remarkable reward.
Yet none of that was the focus when Robert Kraft, New England's owner, spoke to the crowd just after the win. He didn't mince words. His message from the dais on the field during the presentation of the Lamar Hunt Trophy was quite clearly directed at Goodell.
"For a number of reasons," he told the crowd, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "all of you in this stadium understand how big this win was. But we have to go to Houston and win one more."
While Brady demurred a few moments later and then again with the press, dodging any talk of the man who suspended him for four regular season games, he did his talking on the field.
All of this -- the unavoidable GOAT tag now firmly attached to Brady, the timelessness and wonder of what the Patriots have become, and certainly the revenge -- was encapsulated in Brady's night. He threw for a franchise-postseason-record 384 passing yards, besting his own record from 2014, tossed three touchdowns and posted a 127.5 QB-rating.
It's no coincidence Brady had one of his greatest postseason games ever. All game, the mood at Gillette Stadium bristled with contempt for the league itself and reminded anyone here that there are now two potential prizes at the end of this season: A trophy, and a commissioner who won't be able to hide.
In the third quarter, when the Patriots went up 33-9, former New England quarterback and current broadcaster Scott Zolak flashed on the big screen. He immediately lunged for a yellow sign. Holding it aloft, it read: "Where is Roger?"
The crowed went crazy, chanting a few moments later, "Roger! Roger! Roger!"
There can be no mistake: The Patriots are coming for Goodell, not Atlanta. The Falcons are merely in their way.
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/p...-their-biggest-rival-and-its-not-the-falcons/
OMG Marty..."I'm gonna bake myself a cake and write, "You're awesome" on it.
ROFL
http://itiswhatitis.weei.com/sports...uper-bowl-motherexpletive-meet-me-in-houston/
ROFL
http://itiswhatitis.weei.com/sports...uper-bowl-motherexpletive-meet-me-in-houston/
JD10367
Well-known member
There will be a lot of talk about the Atlanta offense. But the gap between the two offenses is way smaller than the defenses. In the regular season, Atlanta was 2nd in O yards and 1st in PPG, and the Pats were 4th in both. Not too bad. But on D, the Pats led the league in PPG while only 5 teams gave up more PPG than Atlanta. Hmmm... where have we seen a potent offense fall short? Oh yeah... our 18-1 year. I'm calling it early: Patriots 27, Falcons 23.
305patriotfan
Well-known member
The Falcons are the home team, it's the NFC's turn. So I guess we'll be in the whites again.
And by the way, we always beat animals in the Superbowls. Rams, Panthers, Eagles and Seahawks.
So we are the road team? This is so good since we are 8-0 on the road this year. Road Warriors
305patriotfan
Well-known member
Bro based on that article. I'm looking at 31-20
anderson
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Atlanta's offense is very very good. If it were only a matter of taking away Julio, I wouldn't be particularly concerned. But they have a lot of strings to play.
Still think we come out on top, though.
Still think we come out on top, though.
Mazz22
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.
I was just listening to some of the talking heads and apparently the Falcons play a cover 3 just like Seattle. Of course they don't have any players close to Sherman, Kam or Thomas so I feel like Brady should be able to rip them apart. I am confident our defense can at least slow the Falcons down enough for us to win.
shirtsleeve
what's takin?
These teams are mirrors on offense. Far too many weapons to focus on just one or two. Cold as ice QB's and solid offensive lines. Both defenses are playing stout. This is going to be a game of who makes the less mistakes. That I believe will be the Patriots slim advantage, due to experience in the SB.
If the team perhaps prevails, I hope the first words out of Kraft's mouth when handed the trophy are " don't kiss this trophy guys, you know where its been!"
If the team perhaps prevails, I hope the first words out of Kraft's mouth when handed the trophy are " don't kiss this trophy guys, you know where its been!"
JD10367
Well-known member
I can put lipstick on a pig, it doesn't make it a beauty queen. This is defensive PPG allowed. Ranking of playoff teams? Patriots #1, Giants #2, Seahawks #3, Cowboys #5, Chiefs #7, Steelers #10, Texans #11, Lions #13, Dolphins #18, Raiders #20, Packers #21... Falcons #27.
Mazz22
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.
Six times the number one scoring offense has met the number one scoring defense in the Super Bowl. 5 of the 6 times the number one scoring defense team has won. The only exception was the Niners over the Broncos in '89. Of course the Niners had a pretty good defense that year too. This bodes well for the Pats. The most recent time it happened was when the Hawks played the Broncos in '13.
Mikie is the biggest post count whore by far.
http://www.patriotsplanet.com/BB/misc.php?do=topposters
JD10367
Well-known member
FYP. And I can't believe I'm still #8. I've posted here about 10 times a year for the past five years. Wow, I was really on here all the time at first, LOL.
mooseontheloose
See, moose love the Pats too!
Atlanta still gave up 22 to a Packers offense doing all it could to lose the game.
Pats can score for sure. Limiting big plays and winning turnovers will be huge.
Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk
Pats can score for sure. Limiting big plays and winning turnovers will be huge.
Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk
You found a life.
Checked my ticket account, no Super Bowl tickets for me for the 8th time in 8 tries. The Pats were generous enough to provide me with a link to an NFL sponsored travel site with ticket packages beginning at $4500, not including flight. Integrity
Mazz22
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.
Atlanta's offense also fumbled the ball twice and the Packers both times let it slip through their fingers and GB corners had their hands on a few passes as well and dropped them. Our defense will get chances to turn the ball over on them. I am confident of this.