The only thing standing between Tom Brady and Hoodie and the title of unquestioned GOAT - Greatest of All Time, is an inexperienced Atlanta Falcons team. Usually, the only thing worse than Drew Brees on the road is Matt Ryan on the road. Of course the Super Bowl is at a neutral site and not in Atlanta. A healthy Julio Jones is an oxymoron as much as the term "Atlanta defense." With all that said, I absolutely love this Falcons team. Matt Ryan is a legitimate MVP candidate. He had the quietest "38 TDs, 9 Ints, almost 5000 yards, and almost 70% completion percentage" season I can ever think of. Part of it is, every grand mother throws for 5000 yards these days. But the major reason for them flying under the radar was, people did not recognize the Falcons or Matty Ice as legitimate contenders this season until Thanksgiving. But the Falcons didn't care and they kept on winning. Julio stayed relatively healthy and was unstoppable as always. Their RB tandem is a real force and both Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman can play the thunder or the lightning role with decent effectiveness. Their defense has improved through the season and can do some things well. They are a great team and a very deserving NFC champion.
Sure, Aaron Rodgers would be have a been a comforting name to bet on if we wanted to slow down the Hoodie-Tommy juggernaut. But then again, who except Eli Manning has ever slowed down those two. Falcons and Matt Ryan are the best challenge to this version of the Pats right here, right now. For people who tend to look at history with some reverence, the thought of the present day Pats challenging the best ever is a tough pill to swallow, especially if you are a left coast fan with connections to the Niners dynasty, Bill Walsh, and Joe Montana. Brady and Hoodie have a legitimate argument for best ever already since they have been to 7 Super Bowls in the parity era. But winning the 5th will remove all doubts. Hard to accept for folks like me who view these Pats through the prism of tuck-rule, spy-gate, and deflate-gate. But you have to give the devil it's due. These guy are good. Actually, they are great. And they are the best ever. No disrespect to the Falcons, but the dirty dirty will have trouble finishing this. I am curious to see what things Hoodie takes away from the Falcons offense as he is always known to shutdown the opposition's top option or two. He will do something and bother the versatile and potent Falcons' offense just enough to win this thing. We are just a couple of days away from anointing the best ever in the NFL. Move over Joe Montana, Bill Walsh, and Chuck Noll.
New England Patriots 31- Atlanta Falcons 27
Sure, Aaron Rodgers would be have a been a comforting name to bet on if we wanted to slow down the Hoodie-Tommy juggernaut. But then again, who except Eli Manning has ever slowed down those two. Falcons and Matt Ryan are the best challenge to this version of the Pats right here, right now. For people who tend to look at history with some reverence, the thought of the present day Pats challenging the best ever is a tough pill to swallow, especially if you are a left coast fan with connections to the Niners dynasty, Bill Walsh, and Joe Montana. Brady and Hoodie have a legitimate argument for best ever already since they have been to 7 Super Bowls in the parity era. But winning the 5th will remove all doubts. Hard to accept for folks like me who view these Pats through the prism of tuck-rule, spy-gate, and deflate-gate. But you have to give the devil it's due. These guy are good. Actually, they are great. And they are the best ever. No disrespect to the Falcons, but the dirty dirty will have trouble finishing this. I am curious to see what things Hoodie takes away from the Falcons offense as he is always known to shutdown the opposition's top option or two. He will do something and bother the versatile and potent Falcons' offense just enough to win this thing. We are just a couple of days away from anointing the best ever in the NFL. Move over Joe Montana, Bill Walsh, and Chuck Noll.
New England Patriots 31- Atlanta Falcons 27
3 comments:
I like looking for patterns/parallels in sports and thought I'd point out a couple that I noticed:
1. The Patriots are a lot like the Spurs -- no championships for their franchise until an unheralded coach (Belichick/Popovich) and a young player (Brady/Duncan) came together for an amazing run of success that began in just their second season together and lasted for over a decade. Consistency, excellence, success and culture are terms we've associated with both teams throughout their runs which seemed to transcend time. Duncan/Pop won 5 championships together and Belichick/Brady could do the same with a win tonight.
2. Brady's post-season resume is a lot like Kobe Bryant's. Kobe won 3 championships early in his career (2000, 2001, 2002) and so did Brady (2002, 2004, 2005). Kobe had a long title drought that included two losses in the Finals (2004, 2008) to two of the best defenses ever (Bad Boy Pistons 2.0, Thibodeau's Amoeba-defense Celtics). Brady had a long title drought that included two losses in the Super Bowl (2008, 2012) to two of the best defenses ever (New York Giants both times with nightmare pass rush of Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck, Mathias Kiwanuka and Jason Pierre-Paul who probably haunt Brady to this day). Kobe returned to the promised land late in his career winning 2 more titles (2009, 2010) for a total of 5 titles in 7 trips to the finals. Tom returned to the promised land late in his career winning 1 more title (2015) and could match Kobe if he wins tonight.
Of course, Atlanta could ruin both comparisons by beating New England today but it should be a fun game regardless!
Wow! What a game! Not sure if it played out the way you thought it would but your final score prediction was damn near perfect!!
it definitely didn't follow my script, but the score did end up close to my prediction :-) What a strange game!
No doubt the Spurs and Pats have an unmistakable resemblance. Model franchises for sure.
The other comparison you make between Brady and Kobe is brilliant! I have never thought about that or even heard that comparison being made. Thats spot on! You should start a blog :-)
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