After a two week wait, Super Bowl Sunday is finally almost here. It will be the New England Patriots going for their 5th Super Bowl in 15 years, against the Atlanta Falcons going for their 1st Super Bowl in franchise history. The Falcons will bring in their number one ranked offense and MVP front-runner Matt Ryan into the game. The Patriots come in 14-2 with Tom Brady playing great football, throwing for 28 touchdowns this season and just 2 interceptions.
Matt Ryan and Tom Brady will play big roles in deciding this game. Ryan and Brady will most likely both finish in the top three of the MVP race, which will be announced on Saturday. But they won’t be the biggest keys for either team in this game. For the Falcons, it will be Vic Beasley. Beasley had 15.5 sacks this year, which lead the NFL. It’s no secret that if you want to beat the Patriots you have to get to Tom Brady. You don’t even need to sack, just hitting him and knocking him to the ground will do the job. Beasley has the ability to get to any quarterback, and he will have to get to Brady on Sunday.
As for the Patriots, Malcolm Butler will be a huge player for them. The secondary as a whole will have to have a good game, but Butler will have the task of going one on one with Julio Jones, one of the best wide receivers in the game. However, Butler won’t be on an island with Jones all of the time. The Patriots will play zone at times and will also use double teams to guard Jones. But when Butler is alone on Jones, it will be a huge task. Butler is going to have to hold his own when he is going up against Jones.
The over/under in this game is 59. Both offenses are good but the defenses aren’t bad either. While scoring will happen, it would be mildly surprising if the over hit in this game. Ryan has had a great year, but with two weeks to prepare expect Belichick to come up with a game plan to limit Ryan and the Falcons offense. On the other side, the Falcons defense has improved a lot over the second half of the season but are in for a tough task against Tom Brady and the Patriots. The playoffs haven’t been great, but expect a close game on Sunday.
Prediction: Patriots 27 Falcons 23