The Super Bowl Thread
- Thread starter tims4wins
- Start date
I want the opposite. I'd like to see the Pats take the ball and sustain a long drive to get points, any points.
Isn't it smart to defer because of the long halftime? I love the idea of the Pats having the ball before the half, then 30 minute wait, then getting the ball to start the second half. At that point the Falcons offense will have been sitting for almost an hour.
Yes I had to turn the volume up and reply it 3-4 times before I could make it out.
Agreed, but it shouldn't matter.
Pressure Ryan, smoke their receivers, and everything else falls into place. See Super Bowl XXXVI.
Just for fun
Pats-Falcons 2001 (Watch the Troy Brown TD)
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000781210/2001-Week-8-Patriots-vs-Falcons-highlights
Pats Falcons 2009
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000781009/2009-Week-3-Falcons-vs-Patriots-highlights
Pats-Falcons 2001 (Watch the Troy Brown TD)
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000781210/2001-Week-8-Patriots-vs-Falcons-highlights
Pats Falcons 2009
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000781009/2009-Week-3-Falcons-vs-Patriots-highlights
2001 game - A fade to (a relatively beefy) Kevin Faulk??? No thanks. (But it worked.)
Terry Glenn didn't get a ring in 2001, but obviously somewhat different circumstances. I'd imagine Collins would get one.
I was at that 2001 game. I thought I had seen Vick. But I forgot how crazy Troy Brown's TD was. I also remember calling my Dad an idiot because he was advocating for Bledsoe's return. I still remind him I had that one right.
Would he even want one? Hard to put a ring on someone who just wants to be free(lancing).
FWIW, there was plenty of pressure on the Falcons in the playoffs - the team's last trip to the playoffs was five seasons ago, and very few Falcons players had been in the playoffs at all before this year. Seattle started the first playoff game with a long touchdown drive...and it had no impact on Atlanta's offense for the rest of the game.
This stuff is idle, overblown speculation.
It occurred to me this morning that as Matt Ryan lived in Boston from 2004-2007, he would have had the opportunity to see the Patriots in person on numerous occasions if he'd wanted to. Entirely as a human interest story (and in no way trying to be analytical), I wonder if anyone has asked Ryan about that this week, and whether he was enough of a football connoisseur as a college kid to watch and study Belichick et al. even then.
Re: "the playbook."
Turns out it was on a password protected ipad. Considering the feds had to bring in some top-secret Israeli firm to crack the San Bernardino iphone after a few months, I'm guessing the playbook is safe for 30 mins in Houston.
Turns out it was on a password protected ipad. Considering the feds had to bring in some top-secret Israeli firm to crack the San Bernardino iphone after a few months, I'm guessing the playbook is safe for 30 mins in Houston.
They have asked. He did not. First time there was, I believe, the game in 2009.
He and Spikes should start a society or something.
As for "Who gets them?" the league pays for a certain number at a max cost, and then beyond that, the team can do fuck all.
The guy who "minds" the museum at the end of the Fenway tour who's like 900 years old and about to turn to dust has rings.
And he loves them.
Maybe defenses don't put linebackers on the widest receiver anymore, even if he's just a RB split wide. I bet if they put Dion Lewis out there and got a LB covering him, Brady would find a way to work that matchup.
The Celtics had 2 or 3 different levels of rings for their recent title as did the Sox. I know the guy who ran an elevator at Gillette had rings, but also not the same as the Players' ring.
I'm (sincerely) glad you're here as a reality check for our hottest takes.
While we've got you - who are the (non-superstar) impact players on the Falcons whose names we should remember and watch for? Not Ryan / Julio / etc but the equivalent of the Matthew Slater, Rob Ninkovich, James White types - the guys who don't get their own national commercial spots but always seem to be making plays?
Agreed. Can we cool it with that? Last time we got that far ahead of ourselves the corpse of Peyton Manning beat us in the AFCCG.
This is where I get confused. Do they get AFC Championship participant rings or AFC Championship rings?
Good question. On offense, the Falcons are full of depth talent on top of their star names; Patrick DiMarco is one of the best fullbacks in the league, and you probably saw him sneak out of the backfield on the first drive against the Packers for a 31-yard reception. I don't suppose Taylor Gabriel counts as a surprise player at this point, but obviously he's the speed/deep threat to watch out for on top of Julio. Justin Hardy is my sleeper pick to have an offensive impact on Sunday; the fourth-round draft pick from East Carolina in 2015 has great hands and would have a much higher profile on the team already if there wasn't so much receiving depth in front of him.
Defensively, there's less talent, but the unit works as a team. The prominent names are of course Beasley and the big-hitting Keanu Neal and Deion Jones, but a couple of outside names to watch: Ra'Shede Hageman is a big-bodied DT (6'6", 318) who has been coming on of late, notably getting that ankle sack on Rodgers late in the first half of the Packers game - he might be an important run-stopper on Sunday. De'Vondre Campbell was a fourth-round pick at LB from Minnesota who has proven to be something of a steal at LB. And Brian Poole was an undrafted free agent who Dan Quinn helped recruit when he was on the staff at Florida; he hit Rodgers hard a couple of times on corner blitzes in the NFCCG. One other player to keep a particular eye on is Robert Alford, who became the number-one pass defender after Trufant went down; he's talented, but he has a penchant for committing penalties (especially pass interference), and I think his reputation is such that referees aren't inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt on 50-50 calls.
Well, on a wheel route, you are betting that the LB is going to cover the RB out of the backfield, and that is almost always the case. If you line up the RB on the outside, you may or may not have an LB on the RB. Depends on where other receivers are lined up.
Interesting article on QB sneaks.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-patriots-are-even-sneakier-than-you-think/?addata=espn:frontpage
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-patriots-are-even-sneakier-than-you-think/?addata=espn:frontpage
A surprisingly sweet article by Michael Vick in The Players Tribune about his time in Atlanta, and in jail, and now rooting for Atlanta:
http://www.theplayerstribune.com/michael-vick-atlanta-falcons-super-bowl-li/
http://www.theplayerstribune.com/michael-vick-atlanta-falcons-super-bowl-li/
Interesting note there is that the sneak is often a Brady line call based on the gap defenders. If it's not open, he runs the play called.
https://theringer.com/bill-belichick-game-plan-new-england-patriots-super-bowl-li-f25cf7de09e0#.xr2gsclip
Fantastic article from Michael Lombardi regarding the potential Patriots game plan for Sunday.
Fantastic article from Michael Lombardi regarding the potential Patriots game plan for Sunday.
Demand for hotel rooms are down. Ticket prices have dropped. I'm expecting lower than usual ratings. America wanted to see the Cowboys or Rodgers. They got neither. The Falcons aren't a public team and I think many will stay away or tune out to avoid watching the Pats win again.
Apologies if this is posted elsewhere, but @KenTremendous comes out of retirement for a Super Bowl FJM of a Plaschke article:
https://kentremendousblog.tumblr.com/
https://kentremendousblog.tumblr.com/
The ratings are going to be fine. It's hard to travel to the Super Bowl, get lodgings, and tickets. It's also extremely expensive. It's not costly at all to turn on the TV to watch the game.