Falcons seek to land first Super Bowl with win over Pats
Belichick, Brady at core of Patriots’ remarkable run
HOUSTON (Reuters) – The Atlanta Falcons will try on Sunday to remove their name from the list of teams never to have won a Super Bowl while the New England Patriots seek to rewrite the record book as the National Football League kicks off a new era with a vintage matchup.
Upwards of 180 million Americans and a worldwide television audience are set to tune in for a contest that possesses all the hallmarks of a classic, as Atlanta’s explosive top ranked offense piloted by quarterback Matt Ryan clashes with New England’s number one defense in a Texas showdown for the Vince Lombardi trophy.
The high-flying Falcons averaged 33.8 points per game during the regular season, best in the NFL, as Ryan enjoyed a most valuable player-caliber campaign tossing 38 touchdowns, second only to Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers.
While Ryan’s New England counterpart Tom Brady, as usual, controlled the spotlight it was the Patriots’ defense that paved the road to a record ninth trip to the Super Bowl allowing a league low average of just 15.6 points per game.
“They are a great football team, a team that plays complementary football from offense to defense to special teams,” said Ryan. “Their success has been their longevity and consistency, something all people admire.
“New England has a great defense and watching them on film, their ability to keep people out of the end zone has been unbelievable all year.”
While Ryan is still trying to establish his credentials as an elite quarterback, Brady and coach Bill Belichick have already amassed Hall of Fame resumes.
A win on Sunday would give Brady five Super Bowl rings, breaking a tie with Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw, while Belichick would go to the top of the all-time coaching list, also with five titles, surpassing Pittsburgh Steelers’ Chuck Noll.
Widely considered the NFL’s most hated team, the Patriots, despised as the ‘Evil Empire’ outside of their New England fortress, arrive at the Super Bowl wearing a chip on their collective shoulder.
For New England and their fans this season has been hyped as the Patriots against the world after commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Brady for the first four games for his part in Deflategate, the 2015 scandal over deflated footballs.
“Every year is different,” said Brady. “Every year, every team starts with the same goal. Every teams wants to win it. Every team has hope.
“The fans believe in it, and there’s a lot of promise and hope. At the end of the day, there’s only one team that wins it.
“The fact that I’ve been able to do it before, it just means I’ve been a part of some really great teams, and this team is trying to be one of those really great teams that finishes a job, not one of those teams that comes up short.”
A provocative halftime performance, politics and protests could also feature in Super Bowl 51 as the biggest showdown in American sports moves into its second half-century.
President Donald Trump will kickoff Super Bowl Sunday with a pre-game televised interview and Lady Gaga will grab the halftime spotlight, but the focus will remain on the field where a Patriots dynasty will confront a Falcons franchise desperate to make its mark.
Over the last decade it is a rare year when Boston has not celebrated a sports championship, with the National Basketball Association Celtics getting a parade in 2008, the National Hockey League Bruins in 2011, and Major League Baseball’s Red Sox in 2007 and 2013.
But it is the Patriots who have been the toast of New England as they prepare to play in a seventh Super Bowl since 2002, having won four of them.
Atlanta meanwhile has had little to celebrate.
The city’s NHL team, the Flames, left town and moved to Calgary, while the NBA Hawks have not won a title since moving from St. Louis in 1968. The Atlanta Braves claimed a World Series in 1999 but last season tied for the worst record in the National League.
The Falcons have made only one other trip to the Super Bowl in their 51-year history, losing to the Denver Broncos in 1998.
“I’m really happy for the city of Atlanta,” Ryan said. “I’ve played here for nine years, it’s an unbelievable place to live.”
The New England Patriots are at it again, appearing in their record ninth Super Bowl, and the AFC champions are as excited as ever for another run at National Football League glory.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I’ve had seven chances at. That’s pretty crazy,” quarterback Tom Brady, 39, told reporters.
The franchise’s first two trips to the Big Dance ended in defeat for the Patriots in 1985 and 1996, but it has been a dominant force since the start of the extraordinary, 17-year partnership of head coach Bill Belichick and Brady.
The Patriots have won four of six trips to the Super Bowl during their remarkable run and another win together over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday would give Belichick the most championship titles as a coach and Brady the most among quarterbacks.
“I know that winning the game is a hell of a lot better than losing this game, because I’ve had some of the longest nights of my life after these losses,” said Brady.
Reaching the playoffs in 16 of the 17 years, missing only in 2008 when Brady was injured, is a testament to their long association and their adaptability, former Super Bowl-winning quarterback Phil Simms said on a conference call.
“Think of all the meetings they’ve had. All the plays, situations they go through, and they constantly are changing,” said former New York Giant Simms.
“Bill Belichick has run basically four different offenses since he’s been in New England. They keep parts of it as time goes along.
“The library of plays they have at their disposal is second to none. Not only that, we see it during the game.”
Simms said the Patriots run variations to confuse defenses. “Once they get you thinking on defense, that takes aggression away and a huge advantage goes to the offense.” NEW ENGLAND’S stingy defense hasn’t seen anything like Atlanta’s deep and varied attack. But Tom Brady has been masterful at exploiting the weak links of any defense, and he could find vulnerable spots against a young Falcons group still finding its footing.
Creativity is not restricted to their offense, as Belichick, a former defensive coordinator, has a defense that allowed the fewest points this season.
In the age of the salary cap, maintaining excellence is harder than ever. The Patriots have been cold and calculating about when to shed a highpaid player and uncanny in developing replacements.
Players such as Lawyer Milloy, Ty Law, and Adam Vinatieri in past years have been jettisoned, a fate that fell recently to Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins.
Unheralded players have risen to stardom including Malcolm Butler, who as an undrafted free agent rookie clinched a 28-24 triumph in the Super Bowl two years ago against Seattle with an interception at the goal line with 20 seconds left.
Some detractors say the Patriots’ success is tarnished by the Spygate and Deflategate cheating scandals that cost them fines and number one draft picks, but it is hard to deny them credit for a sensational reign as the NFL’s best. (Reuters)