If only there were a series of games before the playoffs that you could look back on to see how they played over time…
Pittsburgh was the 7th ranked offense in the NFL this year.
Big Ben just looks old and it showed the entire game. And it’s not a knock on him since he is 35 years old and been playing for 12 years as a mobile QB.
As I recall, Le’veon Bell left in the 1st quarter, tried to come back and managed one more play the rest of the game. D-Will is a solid RB, but he’s no Le’veon. Things sure got easier for the Pats D when he left.
Like most Super Bowls in recent years, it’s not an easy call to make but I’ll go with the Patriots by 3 or 4 points (31-27 or 28-24, maybe).
The Patriots Defense vs the Falcons offense. We know that the Falcons will be the best offense the Patriots have faced, possibly all year long. The Steelers are actually a good barometer game because, like the Falcons, they have a lot of different weapons and a good solid passer. But as good as the Steelers were, they were more mistake prone than the Falcons. I expect the Falcons will score somewhere between 20 and 30 points, which is down from their 30-40 average but fairly impressive against a defense that consistently schemes better than any unit in the league.
The Patriots offense vs. the Falcons defense. This is where the game could get interesting. Brady didn’t have a particularly good game against the Texans and they struggled to get points. When they scored it was on special teams and also because of the way their defense controlled the game. With Atlanta, it’s less likely that the defense will control the game; their job will be to keep Atlanta out of the end zone early and to disrupt the flow of the offense in the 2nd half. The Patriots have a better running game than either Seattle or Green Bay. They also obviously have the best signal caller and play-maker in the game in Brady.
Turnovers, mistakes, big plays…those will be the deciders (as always). I get the feeling that the moment just might be a little too big for the Falcons. However, I also wonder if this isn’t the game in which the Patriots miss Gronkowski at Tight End. I’ll go with the Pats in a close one.
I;m ok with the Pats winning the SB if Brady retires. How long is this fool going to play? He turns 40 this year. I think part of it is because he plays for a winning organization and has a chance to actually get 3 more rings to add to his 4 rings.
If he was with any other team he would have left 2 years ago
When I suck, I’ll retire.
He could be around a bit longer.
Brady’s said that he intends to keep playing for several more years, at least. In 2015, he said that he hoped to play another ten years. Now, he may not have been entirely serious about that, but he does maintain an extreme physical regimen, and he’s still playing at a very high level.
If he was burned out on the game, or felt that he’d accomplished all he could, I could see him retiring if they win next week. But, that doesn’t seem to be the case, and Brady seems to be very motivated by sticking it to the NFL for Deflategate.
Also: if Belichick retired, I could see Brady choosing to leave, as well.
Right, what an idiot, doing what he loves, and is arguably the best in the world at, for a measly $30 million per [del]year[/del] six months.
He probably can play until 50 since he is in a division with the Jets, Bills and Dolphins
Brady’s mother has been seriously ill for the last 18 months and it was part of the reason he decided not to take the Deflategate appeals any further.
I feel bad for Brady’s mother and their family, but using her illness as a an excuse for not continuing to fight a battle he all but lost anyway is really kinda pathetic. I really liked Brady coming out of Michigan and I loved rooting for a 6th round draft pick QB to be mentioned as one of the greatest QB’s of all time, but he has now crushed all the goodwill I had for him.
I have to say I’m surprised. I’ve never run into a Pats fan who didn’t argue Brady’s innocence like a Republican before. And I’ve encountered a LOT of Pats fans.
Hamlet is a Packers fan.
I watched a lot of the Brady interview, and he did not mention anything about dropping the suit due to his mother’s illness. None of the other articles mention it either. He may have referred to it obliquely, saying it’s been a “challenging year” for him and his family, but I have to assume the author of that article made an unwarranted assumption about why he dropped the suit.
I’m going with Falcons in a blowout because of unabashed homerism.
I;m going to a SB party but don’t plan to watch the game because I know the Pats will find a way to win it. So I don’t want to be emotional and get mad when the Falcons lose a 10 point lead and the Pats when their 5th SB ring with Brady.
It’d be tough to tell that from his comments upthread. Er, was that the Steelers march thread?
Maybe if you took your Patriots-hater glasses off, you could see more clearly. 
Not that it really matters, but Brady himself did not say anything like that in his public comments, as far as I can tell. The reporter says he reached out to the “Brady family” and then draws some conclusions.
Also, that site/article is terrible. Ridiculous homerism, lousy reporting.
Good call!