Eagles this year vs Falcons last year

[VrabelMayeWin]

Head to head a few weeks ago, Philadelphia prevailed 15-10. Atlanta had a chance to win late in the 4th quarter however some incredibly bad play calling led to a win for Philadelphia.

Last year's Falcons were way better than this year's (540 last year to 353 this year in points scored for example).

 

[VectorPrime]

This will be the best overall team the Patriots have faced since the Rams. I highlight the word "overall".

The 2014 Seahawks would dunk all over this Philly team

 

[VrabelMayeWin]

The 2014 Seahawks would dunk all over this Philly team

As would last year's Falcon team.

This is a weaker opponent than the last two. Doesn't mean we'll win but it's clearly the weakest of the three.

 

[Ring 6]

This is the second year in a row in which both #1 seeds in the respective conferences have made the SB.

Atlanta wasn’t a 1 seed. They were 11-5. Dallas was the 1 seed at 13-3.

You have to look at how last week's games played out. The Pats had to grind out a win and play 60 minutes. They know how to come from behind to win and didn't get flustered making mistakes down the stretch to take the lead. The Eagles, on the other hand, was blessed with a game in which everything went right for them. The Vikings laid an egg on both sides of the ball. How will the Eagles play when they are behind? Is their offense a come from behind offense? Defensively, the Eagles aren't as fast as the Jags and some of those screens passes the Pats attempted may work against this defense. The Pat have too many options to shred a defense. The talking heads are pumping up the Eagles to placate the majority of fans who want to see them win. Note they never say the Eagles ARE the better team, but, speak of all the things they have to do to win. They are quantifying how they can win, not that they WILL win.

That’s their job though.

 

[Bubbatrammel]

This is the second year in a row in which both #1 seeds in the respective conferences have made the SB.

You have to look at how last week's games played out. The Pats had to grind out a win and play 60 minutes. They know how to come from behind to win and didn't get flustered making mistakes down the stretch to take the lead. The Eagles, on the other hand, was blessed with a game in which everything went right for them. The Vikings laid an egg on both sides of the ball. How will the Eagles play when they are behind? Is their offense a come from behind offense? Defensively, the Eagles aren't as fast as the Jags and some of those screens passes the Pats attempted may work against this defense. The Pat have too many options to shred a defense. The talking heads are pumping up the Eagles to placate the majority of fans who want to see them win. Note they never say the Eagles ARE the better team, but, speak of all the things they have to do to win. They are quantifying how they can win, not that they WILL win.

The Falcons were the No.2 seed. Dallas was the top team in the NFC last year

There was a streak of three straight years from 2013-2015 though

2013 - Seahawks and Broncos
2014- Seahawks and Patriots
2015 - Panthers and Broncos

 

[mosslost]

(If I wrote something like that, You would have clicked "dislike" or "disagree".)

me? I don't get it

 

[RobertWeathers]

Even though I like and respect the Saints the best draw out of the NFC to me was Philly, but no Wentz played heavily into that. I really like the Patriots in this game , and imo Foles will have to play great and the Patriots gak some to lose.

Philly is good, and with Wentz back they could end up the favorite next season, but to me the advantage at QB, Coach, and experience they have at every level will lead the Patriots to a win.

For Philly to win Foles needs to play the game of his life.

 

[yukon cornelius]

eagles like to shuffle DL in and out and keep the pressure on with depth and fresh bodies......look for pats to go uptempo and counter some of that advantage on a drive by drive basis......i see a lot of classic brady dink and dunk no-huddle to counter that deep philly DL

 

[IndianPat]

Didn't Blount cough up numerous fumbles in the play offs while playing for us. He has not done so yet this year. I think he owes the Pats a fumble or two this year.

 

[Pats2000]

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&sour...CRAB&usg=AOvVaw0JHZHgRHFYIWhNQTMBqZcc&ampcf=1


https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&sour...OjAD&usg=AOvVaw3iqZcaoBYKms_R4cxqUERO&ampcf=1


Furthermore, the Patriots haven't had a pick six in four plus years.

Read that, don't really agree with the guys assessment, kind of a homer article. The eagles secondary isn't as good as the Jags, and the guy didn't take into account the adjustments the defense made through the 2nd half of the year. Defense is playing stellar right now. Jags offense was ranked 5th in points, Pats held them to 6 points under their average. Even with the offense not doing anything for 3 quarters. Eagles have a good team but Pats have the better offense and defense at this point.

 

[supafly]

For Philly to win Foles needs to play the game of his life.

I don’t necessarily agree with this take, particularly after last week’s game which saw some fairly basic reads from Bortles. Yes, he certainly played a good game, but at the same time, the coaching staff put him in a good position to succeed by not asking him to do too much. We could see something similar. I think it will obviously depend on how they defend those run/pass option plays, which are fairly simple, yet can be quite effective.

Also, the opposing defense certainly has a voice in the game, too. We recently saw Jay Cutler beat this team, and they’ve struggled before with some mediocre QBs. There could be a couple of big runs and some dinking/dunking, and it could be a game where Foles just has to play well enough not to lose.

 

[TommyD4207]

I don’t think you can discount atlanta’s defense lasy year though. They had some good players.

They gave up almost 600 yards of offense, and the Patriots had the ball for over 40 minutes.

I don't think we have to pretend that a defense that played well for a half, is any sort of special defense, either.

 

[Todd Bradley]

Even if Foles plays a mistake free, Bortles-like game, the Eagles don’t even have close to the talent the Jags do on defense.

The Jags secondary is elite. Arguably tops in the league.

Meanwhile, the Eagles secondary is undoubtedly the weakest part of their team, sans Foles.

It won’t be a blowout, but Brady is going to pick them apart on Sunday.

 

[TB12TheGoat]

The dynasty will continue to roll in 6 days

 

[RobertWeathers]

I don’t necessarily agree with this take, particularly after last week’s game which saw some fairly basic reads from Bortles. Yes, he certainly played a good game, but at the same time, the coaching staff put him in a good position to succeed by not asking him to do too much. We could see something similar. I think it will obviously depend on how they defend those run/pass option plays, which are fairly simple, yet can be quite effective.

Also, the opposing defense certainly has a voice in the game, too. We recently saw Jay Cutler beat this team, and they’ve struggled before with some mediocre QBs. There could be a couple of big runs and some dinking/dunking, and it could be a game where Foles just has to play well enough not to lose.

Bortles almost played the game of his life. Under that kind of pressure, he made the right reads, was patient and didn't make mistakes.

Foles doesn't need to throw for 500 yds and 5TDs. What he does need to do is the same thing Bortles did only make 2-3 more plays with 2 minutes to go and let's the coaches let him play

 

[mosi]

The playoffs are the playoffs. Everything is different. The 2003 Panthers were considered week but they gave the Pats everything they could handle. The 2007 Giants were statistically not that great - 14th ranked offense and 17th ranked defense by points, and we all remember what they did. Heck the 9-7 2011 Giants had the 25th ranked Defense and beat the Pats (granted without Gronk). I don't think the Pats have ever played up to their full potential in any SB outside of 2001 and maybe 2004. In 2003, the D gave up way too many points against Jake Delhome and a crappy Panthers passing game. In 2007 & 2011, the offense laid a stinker and the D did not not do enough (could say they did what they could in 2011). Even in 2014, the Seattle offense should not have been able to do what they did in the SB, but they did. And in 2016, the Pats team played like crap in the first half but fantastic (but typically patriot like) in the second half. You could make the argument that very few teams play a perfect SB but it does happen - and happened a lot in the 1990's!

 

[SHOWTIME15]

They gave up almost 600 yards of offense, and the Patriots had the ball for over 40 minutes.

I don't think we have to pretend that a defense that played well for a half, is any sort of special defense, either.

I didn’t say they were great. I said they had some decent players.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Atlanta was white hot in the postseason last year. Robert Alford had a two month stretch where he played like a premiere CB, better than anyone the Eagles are throwing out there this year. Jones, Beasley, Neal and Campbell stepped up their games significantly. And in the SB, the Falcons got a bonus performance from Jarrett who killed the Pats on stunts. That team was clicking on all cylinders. Even during the comeback, Brady had to be pinpoint accurate on every throw. This wasn't like the Bills comeback over Houston in 1992 when Houston blew coverage after coverage.

As good as Philly's D is, I can't see them outplaying Atlanta's from SB51 unless key guys in their back 7 step up like Atlanta's did last year.

Regards ,
Chris

 

[goheels22002]

They are both birds up against guys with muskets

 

[PScottman]

You could make the argument that very few teams play a perfect SB but it does happen

A corollary for consideration: with the massive emotional and adrenaline boost of the Super Bowl, is there an impact on the normal Belichick read and react philosophy in regards to opening with more basic defensive principles to gauge the opponent?

Many in the GDT put a ton of emphasis on "fast" starts (regardless of game frankly), which is counter to the defensive principles shown over the past years wherein the defense demonstrates "no big play" alignments especially inside opponent's 20-50 yard line (they will sometimes get aggressive inside the 10 as shown by the number of safeties this team has racked up which are massive momentum changers).

In the "big" game with emotions on overload, the chance for mistakes simply of adrenaline (all it takes is one step too far to open a crease in a running lane for example) are higher early. Therefore even more important to be consistent in staying within the roles of the defense early, keep the play in front of the defense and react to what is shown. As the game gets into the second quarter and that adrenaline high is muted a bit, and the coaches have seen what the opposition gameplan is, then the adaptation can be more easily implemented.