This is why I hate T.J. Ward

[Th3Birdman]

You know what? With all the talk of a down year, this is still a true statement that, at least to me, has not been discussed enough. It's almost as though NE doesn't deserve credit, while ATL deserves all the credit for the accomplishment. How many times in just the past five years (before this year) have the two teams that many would argue were the two best that season actually made it to the Dance?

• 2011(NE vs NYG) - Some would argue that neither team should have been there.

• 2012 (BAL vs SF) - Baltimore finished 8-8 and looked putrid for most of that season.

• 2013 (DEN vs SEA) - Yeah, I guess I must admit.

• 2014 (NE vs SEA) - Definitely the two best and the game lived up to it.

• 2015 (DEN vs CAR) - Laughable. My own conspiracy theory of Manning's sendoff gift aside, DEN was not the best team in the AFC. And though I'm willing to concede Carolina lost a few good pieces, I hardly think the few they lost is why they were awful this season. I think this season was just a truer representation and last season was a fluke. We'll see in time, I suppose.

So that's 2 out of 5? That's terrible. So I say let's just enjoy what should (and hopefully will be) a freakin' awesome Super Bowl between two teams that actually have a lot of the same strengths and weaknesses in many aspects of the game.

I'm going to be honest with you and tell you that I feel like Dallas was the best the NFC had to offer this year.

Dallas would have mopped the floor with Atlanta. They pulled a choke job against Green Bay that is still hard to believe (but not really... it is Dallas we're talking about), but that was still the most complete team out of that conference. Dallas would have run the ball all over Atlanta's putrid defense and they have no answer for Dez, Beasley or Whitten in their secondary.

As far as I'm concerned, Atlanta seriously dodged a bullet that would have been a kill shot.

 

[Satchboogie3]

This will be the best offense your team has seen since your first Super Bowl win (and I would argue it's the best they've ever played against).

No.

Just off the top of my head, '04 Colts twice, Broncos twice in '13 (you know, the highest scoring offense ever). 3-1 record. Anyways, the Pats faced plenty of 30ppg offenses over the years. Atlanta is really good, but let's pretend that they are unstoppable. Top 7 offenses of all time: 94-18, 2 superbowl appearances, 0 superbowl wins.

People keep saying "the Pats can't stop Atlanta's offense", but they don't have to stop the offense! They only need to score at least 1 more point. The fact is that NE's offense is just as good, but NE is better across the board in every other category.

The logic is not strong with most fans.

 

[Adam Seward]

Rams (16 years ago, btw) had Bruce, Holt, and Faulk. That was about it. The Bills K-Gun offense was over 25 years ago. Not a single player from either defense is still playing for BB.

Tough physical defense coupled with a coaching staff bred to identify individual strengths and taking them away, preaching assignment and execution. Green Bay was giving your wideouts free releases and backs coming out of the back field untouched. Something so simple will have been a major emphasis.

I hope for the Falcons sake, Macks injury has been overstated. This team will feast on disguised inside pressure, it's been a staple for a long time. The Falcons run among the most play action plays in the NFL. If your Oline can't create holes against our two gapping run defense, good luck getting anything out of play action.

I am just saying, don't be surprised if you only score 13 to 17 up until there is about 4 mins left.

LOL
Bolded for emphasis.

The have a swagger to them, a quiet confidence, like they know they can beat anybody, and this moment isn't too big for them.

I'm sure Belichick will inform our team that Freeman proclaimed he can't be stopped, they can do whatever they want on offense, etc.. Letterman jackets have been made and forward the players the parade route in Atlanta. Perhaps too confident and not quiet enough?

Swagger lol

 

[Brady_2_Moss]

Reading through this through this thread provoked a couple of thoughts.

1) 07 Pats offense has yet to be matched (and may never be). Atlanta looks good this year, but they are no Moss/Brady era Pats.

2) Atlanta does have some momentum going into this game, but I'm reminded of last year's Panthers. They had momentum and looked unbeatable at one point, however, Denver was not impressed.

3) Our weak schedule and division. I'm guessing Falcons fans don't watch a lot of our games, but I'm sure most members here will attest that most, if not all teams that play the Pats elevate their play to playoff level intensity, especially division foes. For some of those teams, it's their super bowl and they fight tooth and nail. They give their absolute best and usually lose.

My guess is this game will be close until the 3rd. Brady is a notorious slow starter after a bye and I can see the Falcons going up early and then watching that lead dissolve. Blount will grind the clock in the 4th and Brady will win his most important ring. As a fan of the Pats, I hope for the win, but more than anything, I want this one for Brady. I will finish by saying, if Atlanta does pull out a win, I will of course be disappointed, but not as much had it been another team. The Flacons have been working hard on bettering themselves and earned the right to be in this game.

 

[luuked]

The Falcons are the better team in this Super Bowl.

Not this team.

 

[luuked]

No.

Just off the top of my head, '04 Colts twice, Broncos twice in '13 (you know, the highest scoring offense ever). 3-1 record. Anyways, the Pats faced plenty of 30ppg offenses over the years. Atlanta is really good, but let's pretend that they are unstoppable. Top 7 offenses of all time: 94-18, 2 superbowl appearances, 0 superbowl wins.

People keep saying "the Pats can't stop Atlanta's offense", but they don't have to stop the offense! They only need to score at least 1 more point. The fact is that NE's offense is just as good, but NE is better across the board in every other category.

The logic is not strong with most fans.

I can't upvote this enough. The thing that Falcons fans are most delusional about is how much better their offense is in relative terms..

 

[rochrist]

Yeah I know you're one of those posters that think that Bill should get more credit than Brady, but you should know that I've argued against that notion since I joined this site.

'Nothing' in my definition means not having sustained successes, or making serious noise in the playoffs consistently, i.e., a flash in the pan (read: Carolina Panthers), which is exactly what that Cleveland team was. It sounds a little harsh, but the point I'm trying to make is that Bill wasn't a threat to win the whole thing when he was with Cleveland as the head honcho. Once he got Brady, everything changed and now we consider him the best HC of all time (rightfully so). When he didn't have Brady (2008) we missed the playoffs.

Don't compare me to Felger or else I have to compare you to Max Kellerman

Edit: I feel like I should go a bit more in depth so as to not appear as if I'm making light of your criticism.

The Patriots have had great players over our 17 year run as the best team in the NFL. There is no doubt about that. But we are also the team that has done more with less, moreso than any other team, wouldn't you agree? OK then, the point is that if our success had more to do with Bill, why is it that same mentality and culture could not be replicated there in Cleveland? There are various variables that probably should be taken into account but on the whole, I'd say NE has done more with less than Cleveland has, under the same coach.

I don't mean to discredit coach. When I said nothing I meant he needed Brady to realize his potential. I hope I'm making myself clear.

Nobody will ever know if he was going to have sustained success in Cleveland because Art Modell blew the whole thing up.

And you might consider how many teams would have ever even given Brady a shot, or stuck with him.

Anyway, this wasn't about who had more to do with the Pats success, its about continually saying BB did 'nothing' in Cleveland when he took that dumpster fire to the playoffs and beat a Bill Parcells coached team there.

 

[PatsBoy12]

I'm going to be honest with you and tell you that I feel like Dallas was the best the NFC had to offer this year.

Dallas would have mopped the floor with Atlanta. They pulled a choke job against Green Bay that is still hard to believe (but not really... it is Dallas we're talking about), but that was still the most complete team out of that conference. Dallas would have run the ball all over Atlanta's putrid defense and they have no answer for Dez, Beasley or Whitten in their secondary.

As far as I'm concerned, Atlanta seriously dodged a bullet that would have been a kill shot.

You may be right. It's hard to argue with two losses and throw away. They ran the ball well and Prescott threw it well. But I'm not sure if what happened vs GB was a come job. GB controlled that game mostly, though DAL legitimately mounted a strong performance to come back in that one. I don't know if DAL's defense had near the talent to contend with West ATL would throw at them though. I think our defense is better and I think we'll have a hard time with them. SEA had a hard time and they, too, are better than DAL. Hard to say.

But, like I said, it'd be hard to argue much more. You could be right. DAL did play extremely well all the way. If they were the best in the NFC, then that's an even worse ratio for the NFL. I wonder what those opposed to the poll system in college would say about that. Lol

 

[Rivered082]

This is ******** of the highest caliber.

The reason it appears that we have not been challenged is because our defense has shut opposing offenses down. Seattle was an anomaly of a game and they shouldn't have even won; if the ref correctly called holding on the game's last play in the endzone against Cam Chancellor, the Pats would have been 15-1 this year.

Also Landry Jones had identical stats to Ben (29/47, 1 TD, 1 INT, 280 yards to Ben's 31/47, 1 TD, 1 INT, 300 yards) in the games we played them and they scored essentially the same points (16 in game 1, 17 in game 2). So knock it off, the Steelers were the same team as they were in the playoffs. We actually beat them by much more WITH Ben.

The rest of your post is mindless, media sponges homer drivel that has no basis on this game.

You are going to lose. Handedly.

You're just in denial. It's ok. Check this out Super Bowl LI - Fantasy Index

 

[Rivered082]

Ok. Iam not trying to troll you but just for my knowledge can you break down falcons's 5 losses how those happened if all what you said above is true ?

The first game against the Bucs was just your typical first game. We started a bunch of young guys, and the defense kept extending drives with stupid penalties that led to points for the Bucs. They actually played really well prior to the penalties. It was a strange game.

The next loss was in Seattle. The Falcons were up 24-23 late in the 4th quarter of the game after being shut down in the half. Ryan's fumble inside of the Falcon 20 gave Seattle an easy TD at the beginning of the game. They adjusted at the half, and threw up 21 on them in the 3rd quarter. With 4 minutes left, Matt Ryan was picking their D apart on the way to going up a score while burning some clock. Julio uncharacteristically dropped the ball, popping it into the air to Earl Thomas on the Falcons side of the 50. This led to a FG for Seattle. On the ensuing drive, Matt missed an opportunity to rush for a wide open first down, and threw it to a heavily covered Sanu instead. On the next play, Julio is mugged right in front of one of the refs that will be in the game tomorrow, with no flag. This was Atlanta's 3rd west coast game in 4 weeks, and should have beaten them in their own house.

The next loss was the SD. The Falcons were up really big in this game going into the second half. I'm not sure if they just assumed that the game was over, and quit trying as hard or what, but there was a total lack of effort in the second half on both sides of the ball. They still should have won the game, though. The final drive featured a mugging of Julio for the second week in a row that wasn't called that puts Atlanta into the redzone. This play is followed by one of the strangest things I've seen. The ref stands over the ball preventing the Falcons from getting set and snapping the ball until there was under 5 seconds left on the clock. This resulted in a delay of game that ended up being the difference in our kicker making it through the uprights. In OT, DQ decides to gamble and goes for it on fourth down on their side of the 50. That was a bad decision as SD picked up two first downs and kicked the FG to win it.

The next loss was the Eagles the week before the bye in week 9 or 10. The team looked like the 6 road games out of the first 10 games might have taken a toll on them. I'm not sure what the problem was for them in this game, but they looked pretty bad for the first and only time all year. They couldn't stop the run to save their lives, but somehow were still up 15-13 late in the fourth. Julio decided to have his worst week as a pro, and dropped two passes that would have picked up critical first downs for them. Instead, they ended up punting the ball back to the Eagles, and let them run it down their throats to go ahead for good. This was definitely a one-off. This is one of two games (the first Bucs game being the other) that the Falcons were truly beaten.

The 5th and final loss was all on Matt Ryan. He helped Eric Berry score 8 points, and the special teams gave up a TD on a fake punt. The defense actual held the Chiefs to 13 offensive points, despite allowing an efficient showing by Smith.

Ryan has had 19 TDs since then, 0 INTs, and has had a passer rating over 120 in each game since as well. The average score since then is ATL 39 - OPP 19.

 

[Th3Birdman]

You're just in denial. It's ok. Check this out Super Bowl LI - Fantasy Index

This article is trash and is not reliable.

For example, this quote

The Falcons has played a lot more games against much better competition, including two each against Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Cam Newton, and games against Philip Rivers and Derek Carr.

...is complete ********. It is taking names and not the circumstances into consideration. Since when was playing Cam Newton and the 6-10 Panthers, Philip Rivers and the Chargers, Drew Brees and the 7-9 Saints, a hobbled Packers squad, a hobbled Seahawks team, and an inconsistent Raiders team "much better competition"?

Oh the Chargers are better competition since they beat you right? Except the Dolphins smashed them and they're in our division and we thumped them, twice.

You played the Seahawks so that means you played better competition right? Except we played them too, and they should have never beaten us if the ref properly calls holding in the endzone on Cam Chancellor on the last play of the damn game.

Like I said, miss me with the ********. The Falcons played their trash division for 6 games, and won five, then lost to an AFC team that didn't make the playoffs (Chargers), and lost to an AFC team with worse defense than us, yet held the Steelers to no TDs in the playoffs (Chiefs). We held the Steelers to 9 points in the playoffs until they got a garbage time TD and 2PC when we were celebrating making it back to the Super Bowl.

Knock off the mental gymnastics.

 

[dafoe2016]

The only way they can hold them under 30? The arrogance is unbelievable. This is the number one defense in the league in PPG allowed. I'm sure delusional Broncos fans were saying the same thing before they played Seattle in the Superbowl. Meanwhile, Atlanta's 27th ranked defense has to face one of the best offenses in the game without the benefit of a strong pass rush- the only kind of defense that slows the Pats down. That's what you should be concerned about.

Anyway, I hate Ward because he is arguably the dirtiest punk in football. He plays the game to injure people. I have zero respect for him. I could care less that he's an idiot. The league is full of them. Our own team has them. That's a stupid reason to hate someone. It's no different than being short or being a terrible singer. It's not something people have control over. But he chooses to be a ***** on the field.

 

[captain stone]

TJ Ward is one of a few people - OK, make that one of many people - upon whom I would absolutely love to see grave physical harm come.

 

[mariomega]

Sorry, but I wish a torn ACL for this guy, scumbag piece of crap.

 

[Th3Birdman]

Paging @Rivered082 and @DaveEG to the thread.

25 point comeback.