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Forums - Sports Discussion - The NFL Thread 2016: New England Patriots Win Super Bowl LI

 

Who will win Super Bowl LI?

New England Patriots 51 47.66%
 
Kansas City Chiefs 3 2.80%
 
Pittsburgh Steelers 6 5.61%
 
Other (AFC) 3 2.80%
 
Dallas Cowboys 10 9.35%
 
Atlanta Falcons 15 14.02%
 
Seattle Seahawks 5 4.67%
 
Green Bay Packers 5 4.67%
 
Other (NFC) 4 3.74%
 
Scoreboard 5 4.67%
 
Total:107

Congrats, FR!



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Even if Gronk is not coming back in the playoffs they have the best offense in the league. Plus them picking up Michael Floyd for the playoffs was a brilliant move. Brady really should be the MVP his touchdown to interception ration is ridiculously good pus he got the second highest quarterback rating this season if he didn't miss the first four games they probably would have ended up with a 15-1 record.



Chris Hu said:
Even if Gronk is not coming back in the playoffs they have the best offense in the league. Plus them picking up Michael Floyd for the playoffs was a brilliant move. Brady really should be the MVP his touchdown to interception ration is ridiculously good pus he got the second highest quarterback rating this season if he didn't miss the first four games they probably would have ended up with a 15-1 record.

I think cowboys have a better offense simply because they can hog the ball all game long.



RolStoppable said:

In an attempt to spark some discussion, I present to you:

Rol's super-duper power rankings

Here I'll rank the remaining teams based on their overall strength and grade them with a Super Bowl win probability on a scale of 1 to 5. Let's start.

1. New England Patriots

Strengths - Most experienced QB in the league who had one of the best seasons of his impressive career, good receiving corps even without Gronk, RB with the most rushing TDs this season (Blount), an additional versatile RB (Lewis), best scoring defense in the league.

Weaknesses - Just like any other football team, they can have a bad day every now and then. That's about it.

Grade: 5/5

2. Dallas Cowboys

Strengths - Dominant O-line that allows the team to play a ruthless ball control offense with a fantastic rookie RB and a rookie QB who stands composed in the pocket and doesn't commit many mistakes. Also, a good receiving corps.

Weaknesses - The defense is merely solid. Any team that can limit or stop the ground game of Dallas can potentially capitalize on the inexperience of the QB when he's forced to throw more.

Grade: 4/5

3. Atlanta Falcons

Strengths - Matt Ryan played an MVP season, Julio Jones is arguably the best WR in the league, a dangerous RB duo. This is the top-scoring offense in the league.

Weaknesses - The defense isn't particularly strong, so the Falcons have not much of a choice but to score lots of points.

Grade: 4/5

4. Kansas City Chiefs

Strengths - Consistently win the turnover battle with their defense, play mostly conservative quality football on offense. Tyreek Hill provides a huge boost to big play potential which is something the Chiefs lacked in previous seasons.

Weaknesses - The defense allows a lot of yards, so if it doesn't generate turnovers, it probably won't look good for the Chiefs who aren't really built to keep up in shootouts.

Grade: 4/5

5. Pittsburgh Steelers

Strengths - QB who already won two Super Bowls, Antonio Brown, Le'veon Bell. This is a high-powered offense, and it's backed up by a very solid defense.

Weaknesses - The Steelers, probably moreso than any other team in the league, have a knack for playing way below their potential. See their games against the Eagles and Dolphins in the regular season.

Grade: 4/5

6. Green Bay Packers

Strengths - Team is in playoff mode since six weeks. Aaron Rodgers has been playing on a very high level to close out the regular season, leading the league in TD throws. Jordy Nelson seems to be fully back, the other receivers shouldn't be underestimated either.

Weaknesses - The ground attack has no clear No. 1 with snaps being split among many RBs. The secondary is still hampered by injuries, so the Packers can get torched quite easily. This isn't a defense that is going to hold opponents to 20 points or fewer.

Grade: 3/5

7. Seattle Seahawks

Strengths - Still one of the best defenses in the league despite notable injuries. Tend to win games that almost every other team would lose.

Weaknesses - The offense has been very hit and miss, so it's hard to say which Seahawks will show up on any given day.

Grade: 3/5

8. New York Giants

Strengths - Very good defense that has improved over the course of the season. Odell Beckham Jr. can wreck defenses even on slant routes, so it doesn't really matter how bad his QB plays. Also, the New York Giants have defied the odds before.

Weaknesses - Eli Manning is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; he can throw a beautiful long pass and two plays later toss a screen pass in front of the feet of his receiver. The ground attack has been bad and inconsistent for most of the season, so the offense has struggled to put points on the board too many times to consider this team a serious Super Bowl contender.

Grade: 3/5 (just barely)

9. Detroit Lions

Strengths - Comeback King Matthew Stafford. Solid defense.

Weaknesses - Running the ball has been a problem, but Zenner has given the team some hope. Have trailed in the fourth quarter of almost every game this season, so the Lions are prone to dig themselves a hole.

Grade: 2/5

10. Oakland Raiders

Strengths - Three good RBs, good receiving corps, good defense.

Weaknesses - The QB situation has become a mess. Carr is out, his backup McGloin suffered a shoulder injury in week 17. It doesn't matter how talented this team is on other positions when there is such a serious risk that the offense will be one-dimensional. Even the crappy Broncos run defense could take full advantage of the Raiders' bad luck with Carr's injury.

Grade: 2/5

11. Miami Dolphins

Strengths - Solid RB, a solid backup QB and solid defense.

Weaknesses - The team on the whole feels too mediocre to be a serious contender, as can be deduced from its strengths. There's just nothing really threatening about the Dolphins.

Grade: 1/5

12. Houston Texans

Strengths - Good defense.

Weaknesses - The QB situation is abysmal. Savage might not clear the concussion protocol, so Osweiler will probably play. He got benched for a reason. Savage wasn't much better either. RB Miller had to sit out last week. Basically, the defense is supposed to do the offense's job: Score some damn points.

Grade: 1/5

Look forward to next week, especially because it's guaranteed that at least one hopeless team will still be discussed. (The Raiders play against the Texans.)

Patriots weakness is to put pressure on brady. He has been known to go three and out all the time when the pressure is on him.



Snoopy said:

Patriots weakness is to put pressure on brady. He has been known to go three and out all the time when the pressure is on him.

Well, there's another part to that equation. It's not enough to simply pressure Brady; Buffalo, Baltimore, and Miami consistently blitzed and got shredded. If you try to blitz Brady, he'll just dump it off to an underneath crossing route that is now either going uncovered or is being man to man covered by a linebacker as a result of the blitz. You have to be able to consistently put pressure on Brady by rushing 3 or 4 guys at most. 

The AFC Championship Game last year is arguably the prime example of this. Denver only blitzed three times all game, yet Brady was pressured on nearly a third of his dropbacks. This allows the defense to keep enough people in coverage to prevent the crossing routes from getting open quickly, which forces Brady to hang onto the ball longer. If you send any more than 3 or 4 people, you're not going to have enough people in coverage to stop guys like Edelman, Amendonla, Hogan, Lewis, and now Floyd from getting open in 2-3 seconds. 2-3 seconds is very rarely going to be enough to get to Brady.

You need either an extremely good defensive line (like 2015 Denver and 2007/2011 Giants), or an extremely good secondary (like 2013/14 Seattle). If Justin Houston comes back in time for a potential AFCG rematch, then KC could fit into that category, but the only other playoff teams I would throw in there would be the Giants and the Seahawks. Which isn't to say that New England is unbeatable unless they run into one of those three teams, but other teams are going to need to put up some serious points to win. And, in all fairness, there are plenty of teams capable of that as well (Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Dallas, Atlanta...even Miami looked good until that red zone turnover).



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MTZehvor said:
Snoopy said:

Patriots weakness is to put pressure on brady. He has been known to go three and out all the time when the pressure is on him.

Well, there's another part to that equation. It's not enough to simply pressure Brady; Buffalo, Baltimore, and Miami consistently blitzed and got shredded. If you try to blitz Brady, he'll just dump it off to an underneath crossing route that is now either going uncovered or is being man to man covered by a linebacker as a result of the blitz. You have to be able to consistently put pressure on Brady by rushing 3 or 4 guys at most. 

The AFC Championship Game last year is arguably the prime example of this. Denver only blitzed three times all game, yet Brady was pressured on nearly a third of his dropbacks. This allows the defense to keep enough people in coverage to prevent the crossing routes from getting open quickly, which forces Brady to hang onto the ball longer. If you send any more than 3 or 4 people, you're not going to have enough people in coverage to stop guys like Edelman, Amendonla, Hogan, Lewis, and now Floyd from getting open in 2-3 seconds. 2-3 seconds is very rarely going to be enough to get to Brady.

You need either an extremely good defensive line (like 2015 Denver and 2007/2011 Giants), or an extremely good secondary (like 2013/14 Seattle). If Justin Houston comes back in time for a potential AFCG rematch, then KC could fit into that category, but the only other playoff teams I would throw in there would be the Giants and the Seahawks. Which isn't to say that New England is unbeatable unless they run into one of those three teams, but other teams are going to need to put up some serious points to win. And, in all fairness, there are plenty of teams capable of that as well (Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Dallas, Atlanta...even Miami looked good until that red zone turnover).

Don't underestimate cowboys d-line. They've been putting a lot of preasure on  qbs in recent games. For example, look at what they did to Detroit Lions. They shut Stafford down for two quarters and a half. Cowboys defense is getting hot at the right time, not to mention cowboys can run the ball to keep Patriots offence off the field and give Cowboys enough time to rest their defense. 



Snoopy said:
MTZehvor said:

Well, there's another part to that equation. It's not enough to simply pressure Brady; Buffalo, Baltimore, and Miami consistently blitzed and got shredded. If you try to blitz Brady, he'll just dump it off to an underneath crossing route that is now either going uncovered or is being man to man covered by a linebacker as a result of the blitz. You have to be able to consistently put pressure on Brady by rushing 3 or 4 guys at most. 

The AFC Championship Game last year is arguably the prime example of this. Denver only blitzed three times all game, yet Brady was pressured on nearly a third of his dropbacks. This allows the defense to keep enough people in coverage to prevent the crossing routes from getting open quickly, which forces Brady to hang onto the ball longer. If you send any more than 3 or 4 people, you're not going to have enough people in coverage to stop guys like Edelman, Amendonla, Hogan, Lewis, and now Floyd from getting open in 2-3 seconds. 2-3 seconds is very rarely going to be enough to get to Brady.

You need either an extremely good defensive line (like 2015 Denver and 2007/2011 Giants), or an extremely good secondary (like 2013/14 Seattle). If Justin Houston comes back in time for a potential AFCG rematch, then KC could fit into that category, but the only other playoff teams I would throw in there would be the Giants and the Seahawks. Which isn't to say that New England is unbeatable unless they run into one of those three teams, but other teams are going to need to put up some serious points to win. And, in all fairness, there are plenty of teams capable of that as well (Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Dallas, Atlanta...even Miami looked good until that red zone turnover).

Don't underestimate cowboys d-line. They've been putting a lot of preasure on  qbs in recent games. For example, look at what they did to Detroit Lions. They shut Stafford down for two quarters and a half. Cowboys defense is getting hot at the right time, not to mention cowboys can run the ball to keep Patriots offence off the field and give Cowboys enough time to rest their defense. 

Could very well be; I think New England's offense is...noticeably better than Detroit's, if nothing else, but playoff games often play out much differently in reality than they do on paper. If both teams reach the Super Bowl, I'll look forward to seeing how it plays out. Until then, I suspect there are other teams that we should be concerned with in the meantime.



MTZehvor said:
Snoopy said:

Don't underestimate cowboys d-line. They've been putting a lot of preasure on  qbs in recent games. For example, look at what they did to Detroit Lions. They shut Stafford down for two quarters and a half. Cowboys defense is getting hot at the right time, not to mention cowboys can run the ball to keep Patriots offence off the field and give Cowboys enough time to rest their defense. 

Could very well be; I think New England's offense is...noticeably better than Detroit's, if nothing else, but playoff games often play out much differently in reality than they do on paper. If both teams reach the Super Bowl, I'll look forward to seeing how it plays out. Until then, I suspect there are other teams that we should be concerned with in the meantime.

The biggest team that scares me for cowboys is Falcons. They can run the score up and give our defense no rest and wait until our offense screws up.



There isn't a defense in the playoffs as good as last years Broncos not only should New England have a easy time making it to the Super Bowl they should have a relatively easy time winning it all.



Chris Hu said:
There isn't a defense in the playoffs as good as last years Broncos not only should New England have a easy time making it to the Super Bowl they should have a relatively easy time winning it all.

On paper, possibly. Much the same thing was said the last time the Patriots went 14-2, in 2010, and New England went one and done. The playoffs rarely work out in reality like they theoretically should.