The New England Patriots arrive in Minneapolis, Minnesota with five NFL championships, while their counterpart, the Philadelphia Eagles, will arrive looking for their first.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is looking for his sixth Super Bowl championship and will try and create an encore from last year unbelievable Super Bowl victory. The Patriots came back from a 28-3 points deficit and were able to defeat the Atlanta Falcons in one of the greatest comebacks in modern sports history. The Eagles will have their hands plenty full as Brady is a four-time Super Bowl MVP and will arguably go down as the greatest quarterback of all-time.
The Eagles have had this opportunity two times before after losing to the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XV by a score of 27-10, and losing in Super Bowl XXXIX to the Patriots 24-21. In Super Bowl XXXIX, Brady outdueled Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb throwing for 236 yards and two touchdowns en route to his third Super Bowl victory.
This year’s game will have a bit of a David vs. Goliath feel as many expected the Eagles to already be out of the playoffs even though they’re the NFC’s one seed. Ever since quarterback Carson Wentz went down the Eagles have proved the doubters wrong with big victories over the Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings.
Nick Foles led the charge for the Eagles offense throwing for three touchdowns combined in the two-playoff games and has a phenomenal completion percentage of 75 percent. Foles has played turnover free football and has seemed to make all the right decisions in Doug Peterson’s offense. Eagles quarterback coach John DeFilippo is a big reason for Foles’ success as the Eagles quarterbacks’ coach has done an incredible job with the two Eagles quarterbacks.
The Patriots have two pretty good assistants on their staffs as well in offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia. McDaniels is in line to accept the head coaching position with the Indianapolis Colts after the Super Bowl, and Patricia is expected to do the same with the Detroit Lions.
Big games are often decided by coaches, players, and teams who can handle the big moments, and that’s certainly something the Patriots have. The poise and experience that the Patriots have over the Eagles certainly could be a factor early in the game. In big championships games it isn’t uncommon for a team to come out “tight,” or “nervous,” and that’s something we could very well see from the Eagles. It would be a bit of a surprise if the Patriots started the game like that considering the experience of head coach Bill Belichick and how the team was their just last season.
The current line on the game puts the Patriots as 4.5 points favorites over the Eagles with the moneyline sitting around -200. That would be the lowest moneyline ever given to the Patriots in a championship game, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned in Belichiock and Brady’s time with the Patriots it’s that you never bet against them. The line is sure to fluctuate and can be followed online as well as all the other crazy prop bets that come with the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl is Sunday February 4th, P!nk will sing the National Anthem, Justin Timberlake will do the halftime performance, and the game is set to be televised on NBC at 4:30 MST with Al Michaels and Chris Collinsowrth on the call. Here’s to hoping we get another phenomenal championship game in a year that has been filled with plenty of them.
