Super Bowl 51 Prediction!!

[ausbacker]

@Off The Grid, I trust and respect your opinions tremendously. Let's hope this is another one of your "left field" opinions which is vindicated once again.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

I will go with my prediction which i made 2 weeks ago and sticking to it...I think the difference in this game is simply experience over everything,while many of these Patriots have never been in a SB before,the key players to decide this game will be the reason the Patriots win #5

Patriots 33 Falcons 21

 

[BTTA]

Brother OTG, you nailed it! 31-0!!

Yes, they spotted the Birds 25 points, to make it interesting and dramatic, but ultimately it was a blowout just as you predicted. Congrats.

Now you can have a week to celebrate before getting to work on your 2017 draft reports.

I presume nothing of The Future, Ladies & Laddies...But this is how I see things...

I'll get straight to it: I believe that there's a very strong Chance that we're about to witness a Blow Out.

Call me Crazy, but I predicted one 3 Years ago. I, and I alone, predicted, on the Record, that the 3 Point UnderDog SeaHawks would destroy the high-flying Broncos..and the SeaHawks annihilated them!!

The Falcons, too, are 3 Point UnderDogs...But for them I do not foresee a similar outcome.

Quite the opposite, in fact.

I'm hearing and reading all sorts of different accounts of what the results have been, historically, when the #1 Offense has met the #1 Defense in the Super Bowl. First off, please allow me to clarify that "#1 Defense" has always only meant one thing: The Defense that gave up the least Points. Only an Idiot believes that Yards Points.

And the Record, since the Merger of the Leagues in 1970, is that the #1 Offense has met the #1 Defense exactly 5 Times... and that the results have been that the #1 Defense has prevailed, 4 times out of 5.

That just begins to tell the Story, though.

The one Time that the #1 Defense failed was in 1989, when the Broncos's #1 Defense got shellacked, 55-10, by the #1 Miners Offense...and the #3 Miners Defense. And that's the thing: In 1989, the NFC was still dominant over the AFC. The Miners's Defense had earned its #3 Rating against PowerHouses like the Giants, RedSkins, Eagles, Bears, Saints, Vikings, and Rams...a Murderer's Row of prolific Team that would've run roughshod over AFC Defenses.

Ranking duly noted, but the Miners fielded the better Defense, that day. And it showed.

What I'd like to know...Is how many Times the #1 Offense has gone up against the #1 Defense...while also fielding the #27 Defense going up against the #3 Offense?? For that, Ladies & Laddies, is what the Falcons are about to do.

I'm not looking at such a narrow Scope, of course.

But we are looking at Great Offense + Great Defense Versus Great Offense + Awful Defense.

The 1984 Fish actually fielded a good Defense going into the Super Bowl, which happens to be on that list of 5 that I linked above, and which fielded Joe Montana's Miners versus Dan Marino's Fish ~ the #1 Defense + #2 Offense Versus the #7 Defense + #1 Offense...and although the Fish were supposed to be phenomenal and although Marino had just set a TouchDown Record and was supposed to revolutionize the Game...the Miners demolished them, 38-16.

Perhaps more compelling examples of what I'm trying to say are provided for by Super Bowls where Teams with Top 10 Offenses and Defenses went against Teams with Top 10 Offenses...but rather mediocre Defenses.

I humbly offer you 3 such examples:

1986

Giants ~ #8 Offense + #2 Defense
Broncos ~ #6 Offense + #15 Defense

Giants ~ 39
Broncos ~ 20

1992

CowBoys ~ #2 Offense + #5 Defense
Beefalo ~ #3 Offense + #14 Defense

CowBoys ~ 52
Beefalo ~ 17

And of course...

2013

SeaHawks ~ #9 Offense + #1 Defense
Broncos ~ #1 Offense + #22 Defense

SeaHawks ~ 43
Broncos ~ 8

That's an average Margin of Victory of 30 Points, Ladies & Laddies. And it wasn't luck.

When you can stop the other Team, but the other Team can't stop you...you have a recipe for a Slaughter.

And, for what it's worth: I came up with this Score before I researched those:

2016

Patriots ~ #3 Offense + #1 Defense
Falcons ~ #1 Offense + #27 Defense

Patriots ~ 45
Falcons ~ 17

So Let It Be Written.

* By the way: Bovada ~ who is not paying me to mention this but ought to!! ~ pays off 9-1 if you lay 21.5 Points.

Just sayin!!

 

[Off The Grid]

...But I'll get over it.

 

[Nikolai]

...But I'll get over it.

Well, I said 37-17

BUT

Take the Pick 6 away and it's at least 37-21...crazy when you think about it. Our D DID indeed hold them well below the point average, and our O hung 31 points on them in less than a quarter and a half.

 

[WaterfallJumper]

I'd like to point out that aside from the anomaly of the poor first half, we went 31 - 7 over the last 35 minutes of the game. @Off The Grid pretty much nailed it, other then the unfortunate turnovers.