Super Bowl 51: Can Atlanta Save Us?
By Ben Renner
Super Bowl 51 is almost here. Now that we’ve had a few weeks to lick our wounds as Seahawks fans and capitulate NFC supremacy to the Atlanta Falcons, we now need them to spare us from watching Tom Brady hoist yet another Lombardi Trophy. Can they do it?
The Patriots, of course, opened as three-point favorites over the Falcons in Super Bowl 51. Every Super Bowl the Patriotic Super Team of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have been involved in was decided by four points or less. Four of those games were decided by a field goal.
If Super Bowl 51 is close and high scoring, as oddsmakers predict with the highest over/under ever for a Super Bowl at 58.5, it will be the most entertaining game of the entire NFL postseason, possibly excluding the Packers-Cowboys Divisional matchup.
But beyond most NFL fans’ desire for a close, high-scoring, entertaining game we can drink to, what we’d really enjoy is the Patriots losing in one fashion or another. (I’d sure enjoy a beatdown of Super Bowl 48 proportions, but I think that’s asking too much). So, as we all sort through our wardrobes to find something black and red we can wear in solidarity with our adopted team that defeated the Seahawks in the Divisional Round, let’s examine how exactly the Falcons can make our collective dreams come true in Super Bowl 51:
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To Beat a Genius…
I argue this point to my friends and family constantly, and I’ve made this point in this space before, but I’ll say it again: Bill Belichick is a defensive wizard. Credit to New England defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, who put together the top-scoring defense in the league despite losing star linebackers Jamie Collins and Chandler Jones. But it’s Belichick who installed his defensive philosophies in New England, and they keep working no matter who they have on that side of the ball.
Give Belichick, Patricia, and the Patriots’ vast spy network two weeks to prepare for an offense and it’s likely that offense will be hamstrung without their favorite concepts and weapons. If the Falcons have hope in Super Bowl 51, it’s because of Kyle Shanahan, Matt Ryan, and the legion of dynamic offensive players Atlanta features.
The Falcons averaged four and a half more points than the next highest-scoring team in the NFL, NFC South rival New Orleans. Their 33.8 points per game in the regular season was almost a full touchdown more than what New England averaged (the Patriots were third in the league in scoring). If any offense can make Belichick and Patricia sweat, it’s the Falcons.
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…Be Perfect in Every Aspect of the Game
Atlanta has to use its offensive weapons to keep the Patriots off their game. Brady will undoubtedly pick apart the Falcons’ defense. Even if they have a plan to get pressure using as few blitzers as possible and let NFL sack leader Vic Beasley loose, Brady and Belichick have a plan to attack the suspect Atlanta D.
If the Falcons want to win this game, they’ll have to dance with who brung ’em. They have been a dynamic offense throughout the season, utilizing more playmakers than any other team while racking up more points than any other team. Even a Belichickian defense will have problems accounting for Julio Jones, Taylor Gabriel, Mohamed Sanu, Devonta Freeman, Tevin Coleman, and Matt Ryan in Super Bowl 51.
The Patriots have lived by the ‘bend but don’t break’ philosophy on defense this year. They surrendered the eighth-fewest yards in the NFL on defense, but only gave up 250 points, that’s 15.6 points per game in the regular season. The closer you get to their end zone, the more difficult it is to score touchdowns. That’s how they’ve adapted, and it’s brilliant. They run schemes designed to stop opponents in the red zone.
The Falcons will have to be perfect on offense to score touchdowns on the Patriots in Super Bowl 51. They’ll need all the play designs that Shanahan has in his pocket to win. If they put up sevens and not threes, they’ll have a chance. Controlling the ball and keeping Tom Brady and his assortment of white receivers (for a Boston-area team–interesting) off the field will be integral, of course, but breaking through the Pats’ defense is how Atlanta gets Rodger Goodell off the hook of handing the trophy to Brady.
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The Falcons are an offensive team that has to figure out the best scoring defense in the league to take the Lombardi Trophy. On Sunday, we’re all Falcons fans rooting for that to happen.