Minutes after the Atlanta Falcons finished breaking down the highly respected Green Bay Packers Sunday, the New England Patriots began their dissection of Steeler Nation, busting out the Pittsburgh Steelers to close out the NFL’s championships. The two games, NFC and AFC, determine who plays in each season’s Super Bowl, this year being held Feb. 5 in Houston.
“We’ll see if we can write the perfect ending,” said Patriot quarterback Tom Brady,” going for his fifth Bowl ring with this team.
Although the Steelers had high expectations and a nine-game win streak, their scoring output never matched any level of their enthusiasm. The Patriots doubled up their total points on the Pittsburgh Steelers, 36-17, as they did to the Houston Texans, 34-16 in the divisional playoff round the week before.
New England, the No. 1 seed, sporting a 14-2 regular season record, the league’s best this year, averages 35 points in playoff scoring in two games, only giving up 16.5—15.6 during the season. Their two regular season losses were to the Buffalo Bills in Week 4, the last game of quarterback Tom Brady’s four game suspension, and to the Seattle Seahawks, a post season qualifier, 31-24 (one touchdown) coming off a bye in Week 10.
Atlanta, 11-5 this season, averages 40 points in scoring, 10 higher than the Pats, but have given up an average of 20.5 to the opposition, four more than New England. They both had byes at the start of the post season, the wild card games, as well as home field advantage.
During the regular season, New England played three teams that qualified for the playoffs. Atlanta played four. Neither team, New England or Atlanta, played each other.
New England will be playing in their seventh Super Bowl under head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. They’ve won four. The Pats’ franchise has made nine appearances overall.
To prevent the Falcons from hoisting up that Vince Lombardi trophy on Feb. 5, the second appearance for this franchise in the biggest game, the Patriots can’t allow Falcons’ quarterback Matt Ryan to throw four touchdown passes as he did against Green Bay.
They can’t get off to a fast start.
Ryan likes to play the pocket. New England’s front line will have to make him uncomfortable, disrupt the pass, stop the run. Keep him out of the pocket. Keep him running, scrambling for his life. New England has to constantly attack Ryan the way Jadeveon Clowney banged Brady time after time in their divisional game against the Texans.
New England’s defense can shut down all of the initial conversations about Ryan’s ascension into the Hall of Fame, annoying talk about someone who has yet to solidify, compile big game statistics.
Both Ryan, 31, and Brady, 39, are ranked one and two this season. Brady’s suspension, the final outcome of Deflategate, the allegation that Brady tampered with footballs used in the AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts in January 2015, kept him out of his team’s first four games. Despite that, he still had a Total QBR of 83 percent in a shorted season, 3 percent less than Ryan.
Total QBR measures a quarterback’s performance, incorporating all of their contributions to winning, and how they affect the game with passes, rushes, turnovers and penalties.
Drafted in 2008, the third pick of the first round, Ryan is a leading MVP candidate. This selection is the furthest that he’s ever been during a post season. The tandem of Ryan and his main receiver, Julio Jones, an Odell Beckham type, but without the distractions, are a successful combination. New England will dedicate meeting time just to plan for Jones.
Brady, drafted in 2000 in the sixth round, the 199th pick, has already compiled his big game statistics. Despite his politics, he’s secured his place in the Hall of Fame, and just needs one more win to outdo Terry Bradshaw (Steelers) and Joe Montana (San Francisco 49ers) for the most Super Bowl wins. He gets that chance for the seventh time on Feb. 5.