Super Bowl 52

VS

New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles

U.S. Bank Stadium

Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Sunday, February 4th, 2018

6:30pm ET

 Jan.31st, 2018: We are currently four days away from Super Bowl 52. Everybody cannot wait for the action to start. Before considering the Super Bowl though, let's take a look back at the 2017 season and how we got to this point in time. With so many injuries to players like Odell Beckham Jr., Aaron Rodgers, Deshaun Watson, Julian Edelman and J.J. Watt, it stifled the advancement of all these teams and prevented them from going into the playoffs.

Speaking of the playoffs, this year with teams like Dallas, Seattle, Green Bay, Baltimore, Las Angeles Chargers and Denver - at least two years ago when they were Super Bowl winners - not making the playoffs; it brought light to new teams and gave them a shot in the playoffs. Four teams made the playoffs this year, that hadn’t made it in a long time, such as the: Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Las Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings.

  Also, some teams had amazing years that came out of nowhere like the Philadelphia Eagles who went 13-3, clinching 1st place in the NFC East division with the help of the injury-plagued New York Giants roster and Zeke’s six-game suspension from the Dallas Cowboys midway through the season and also clinching 1st seed in the NFC conference. This gave the Eagles a bye and led them to a last-minute defensive stop to upset the Falcons. A first seed upsetting a six seed. Yes, that is what indeed happened. This brought the Eagles to the NFC Conference Championship Game against the Vikings, who also had another surprising year, going 13-3 to win their division, the NFC North with the help of their third-string quarterback Case Keenum who backed up the injured Sam Bradford, who replaced the Vikings’ starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. Keenum went 11-3 in his 14 starts, excluding a win when he got into the game after Bradford went down with an injury. Keenum also lead his team to a miraculous win over New Orleans at home in the divisional round on a last minute 61-yard touchdown pass to WR Stefon Diggs, called the Minneapolis Miracle, before they got hammered by the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Conference Championship Game in all aspects of the game.

But, you can’t forget about the Chiefs. They started the year great at 5-0, lost the next 5 of 6 games, and won their division with a record of 10-6. They made the playoffs in a  fourth seed wildcard appearance at home to a fifth seed Tennessee. The Chiefs dominated in the first half of that contest leading 21-3 at the half. The Chiefs’ record of losing 5 straight home playoff games looked as good as over. The pinnacle or the turning point of the game was when Chiefs’ TE Travis Kelce left the game with a mild to severe concussion at the end of the second quarter. In the second half, Marcus Mariota and the Titans scored 19 straight points including Mariota throwing a touchdown to himself, a Derrick Henry rush and a passing touchdown from 16 yards out. Two of the three touchdowns the extra point was missed; only one of three extra point attempts were good. The Titans allowed the Chiefs to score zero points in the second half and have a total of only 103 yards from scrimmage. A last-minute fumble recovery for a touchdown for the Chiefs was no good as Derrick Henry, the Titans RB was down by contact before fumbling the football. The Titans completed the comeback for a dramatic win and the Chiefs home losing streak in the playoffs is extended to six games. However, the Titans got mauled 35-7 by the Patriots in the divisional round. Things will only get worse for the Chiefs as they just traded their starting quarterback, Alex Smith to the Redskins and now their starter is Patrick Mahomes, who has played in one NFL game, in week 17 of this season in which the Chiefs beat the Broncos 27-24 on a last minute field goal. How will that go?

 Another team that made the playoffs after an okay season was the Buffalo Bills. Especially after starting Nathan Peterman - who threw 5 interceptions and only 66 yards and not a single touchdown - in week 11 against the Chargers instead of Tyrod Taylor, their starter, making the playoffs was incredible. The Bills got a little bit of help from a week 17 Cincinnati Bengals win over the Baltimore Ravens, to keep the Ravens out of the postseason and to get the Bills in. The Bills’ 18-year playoff drought was officially over. However, on the road in Jacksonville, against the Jaguars, the Bills couldn’t get anything going offensively, allowed too many sacks and turned the ball over at costly times in the game including a last-second interception from Taylor to Ramsey to clinch a 10-3 Jaguars win. See you next year, Bills.

  There was another surprising season, which came from the Jacksonville Jaguars. They went 10-6 and finished 1st in the AFC South division. With an elite defence and secondary due to players like Jalen Ramsey, AJ Bouye, Malik Jackson and Calais Campbell and a mediocre offence, the Jags got their first taste of playoff contention in 10 years. They scraped up a 10-3 win over the Bills in the wild card round and then dominated the Steelers in Pittsburgh offensively and defensively, despite the tight score. Another wasted year of the Steelers’ offence. They are running out of time to win a championship with Roethlisberger on the verge of retirement and Bell wanting to leave Pittsburgh if he is franchised tagged again. In the AFC Conference Championship Game, the Jaguars managed to hold the dominant offensive Patriots to 10 points in 3 quarters. After 3 quarters, the Jags led 17-10 on the road against New England, dominating them on both sides of the ball. However, thanks to Brady and Amendola, the Patriots pulled off another playoff fourth-quarter comeback to upset the Jags and advance to the Super Bowl.

  So, the Super Bowl matchup is set. The Eagles versus the Patriots. Despite being first seed in the NFC, the Eagles have been underdogs the whole playoffs and they sure are in this game against a veteran Patriots squad. However, the Eagles have accepted this role and are okay with being underdogs. They believe their talented defence and their offence under their backup QB Nick Foles can put up a fight, even beat the Patriots.

In an interview with Bill Belichick, Patriots head coach said that the Eagles: “Do everything well,” also adding:
“They’re very good on all three phases of the game. They are very good on defence, very explosive on offence,
great special teams unit, they’re well coached, tough, and they are very good in close games.” He ended off by
saying: “The Eagles are a tremendous football team, but our team has met and overcome challenges all year
long and I expect our team to go out there and play our best game Sunday night and do all we can to stop the
Eagles.” That shows the grit and determination the Patriots have. But just know, the Eagles have it too.

Gronkowski, Patriots TE, left the AFC Conference Championship game with a concussion, and no word has
been released on his condition, but he was back at practice last Friday, Saturday and Sunday taking limited reps,
so he is expected to be cleared to play in the Super Bowl, as he missed last year with an injury.

  “The key to beat Brady, especially in the playoffs is to get to Brady”, Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller
told ESPN news reporters. “Everyone knows that but we can do it, and that is why we beat them three times,
twice in the playoffs, once in 2013 and twice in 2015. Apply pressure to Brady, disrupt his rhythm. It will cause
him grief. As good as a quarterback he is, no-one can keep constantly getting hit and expect to throw 400 yards.”

The Eagles have a great defence, including defensive tackles like Fletcher Cox, defensive ends like Chris Long and linebackers like Nigel Bradham and Mychal Kendricks who have been great at pressuring and sacking quarterbacks and collapsing the pocket by overpowering the opponent’s offensive line with their defensive line all season long. They also have an excellent secondary with players like Jalen Mills, Patrick Robinson, Rodney Mcleod and Malcolm Jenkins who aren’t afraid to get physical and make as many clutch defensive plays as their dominant offence throws touchdowns and tricks teams with their plays, in particular, their run-pass option (RPO), which they have used so often to dominate everyone this season. With two plays available, a run and/or a pass and two good quarterbacks who can quickly make decisions based on the defensive coverage of their opponent in Carson Wentz and Nick Foles, the Eagles will have a chance to be successful and win Super Bowl 52 and be successful and be granted with the ability to win in the future. The defence must be dominant and they must pressure and sack Brady at least five times and force turnovers either by intercepting Brady or causing fumbles. That is another thing the Eagles have been consistent with all year.  How will they do that? By blitzing Brady.

The Patriots are known to have an explosive offence despite missing players like Edelman. Because they have
other wide receivers like Brandin Cooks who plays like a veteran, four running backs in: James White, Mike
Gillislee, Dion Lewis and Rex Burkhead who run the ball in excellent fashion with ease and are also good slot
receivers in the backfield and have an excellent quarterback in Tom Brady who can make stuff happen with his
excellent skills. Whether you hate him or not, you can’t deny the fact that he is an excellent quarterback and one
of the best ever to play the position. But can the Patriots’ offence matchup against an Eagles’ defence. Also, it’s
worth noting that the Patriots are known for finding what their opponents do best and taking it away from them,
so does that mean the Patriots offence will wear down the Eagles defence? It’s possible but not a guarantee.

The Eagles offence has been explosive all season with Carson Wentz until his injury in a week 14 win over the Los Angeles Rams, yet not so much in the regular season with Nick Foles. However, in the playoffs, Foles had really turned his offensive production around having an alright game against the Falcons throwing for 263 yards, completing 23/30 of his passes for no touchdowns.  Then in the next game against the Vikings, Foles was balling. He looked like his old 2013 self. He completed 26/33 passes, throwing for 352 yards and three touchdowns with a quarterback rating of 141.4, the third highest of any quarterback in a conference championship game in NFL history. He was incredible. Foles looks ready to play the Patriots in Super Bowl 52 after last week’s outstanding performance against the Vikings. He has a lot of momentum going into the Super Bowl. Despite Wentz isn’t going to be playing in the Super Bowl, he will still help mentor and give advice to Foles and his performance in the 2017 NFL season with 33 touchdowns, seven interceptions, 3,296 passing yards and a quarterback rating of 101.9 through 13 games before his ACL injury makes him a threat even as a coach in Super Bowl 52. Not to mention, the explosive wide receivers in Nelson Agholor and Alshon Jeffery who both had incredible seasons this year, after mediocre campaigns last year and the dynamic group of running backs like Jay Ajayi, acquired at the trade deadline from Miami, LeGarrette Blount, Corey Clement and Wendell Smallwood, who also is a threat returning punts and kickoffs. This offence makes a pretty talented team, of aggressive, go-getters who consistently make big plays, especially on 3rd and 4th down. And, the three tight ends on the Eagles: Zach Ertz, Tre Burton and Brent Celek are a big part in the receiving game and the blocking game with the offensive line to give Wentz or Foles lots of time to throw the ball or acting as fullbacks and blocking for the running backs.

But, will that be enough to stop a red-hot Patriots defence? In weeks 1-4, the Patriots defence was last in
points-per-game allowed. But from week 5-17, the Patriots defence tightened up thanks to the work of Matt
Patricia, the Patriots defensive coordinator, and many young players who stepped up in the absence of veteran
Patriots defenders like Dont’a Hightower and others. Another addition that likely helped was the addition of
ex-Steelers’ linebacker James Harrison, who in his debut with the Pats in week 16 of the 2017 season in a 37-16
win over the Buffalo Bills, registered more sacks in that one game, with two than in all other games of that
season with the Steelers before being traded to New England, with one. The Pats are a brilliant team with
excellent coaches on all sides of the ball, including their 18-year head coach, Bill Belichick who in his eighth
Super Bowl with the team is looking for his sixth Super Bowl Championship ring, the same as Tom Brady.
Will their defence be enough to contain the Eagles’ offence? We’ll see on Sunday.

In an interview with Eagles’ coach Doug Pederson, yesterday, on Super Bowl 52 media day, he said: “If I make
this all about [the Patriots], we’re in trouble.” Which is why he is instructing his team to focus on themselves,
not the five-time Super Bowl winning New England Patriots team so that the Eagles can have the best possible
chance of winning. Because Brady, Belichick and the Patriots aren’t going to do what the Eagles tell them to do.
They are going to do their own things to try and win the game and that is exactly what the Eagles need to do.
After all, our mental and physical focus is key. He said what will win the Eagles the game is not how much they
can focus on the Patriots, but instead, it is about the Eagles. “It is about what we do and how well we execute those things that will determine if we win the game.” He also adds that the Eagles cannot be intimidated by the Patriots. They must go out there and play this game, the Super Bowl, like any other game. He also promised that he won’t coach with fear - but instead with confidence - against a powerful New England Patriots roster. To continue, Pederson was also asked if the Eagles’ loss in Super Bowl 39 to the Patriots means anything to them today and if it will haunt the team and he and Belichick had the same answer. “No, that game won’t affect us. It happened in the past, it’s over. Right now is the present. We are a different team from back then and the game has advanced since back then. Sure it comes to mind occasionally, and we definitely can learn from the mistakes we made 13 years ago, but it won’t affect us. Guaranteed.” As they say, the past is the past. You shouldn’t dwell on it, instead focus on the present.

Finally, can the Patriots win the Super Bowl this year and make it their sixth Super Bowl since 2001 in eight
appearances? It is likely, as they have the offence, defence, special teams and coaches to do it. However, this
year might be their last chance to do it. Win or lose the Super Bowl this season, the Patriots’ defensive
coordinator Matt Patricia is leaving the Patriots to take a head coaching job in Detroit for the Lions, replacing
Jim Caldwell. Also, the Patriots’ offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is leaving the Patriots to take a head
coaching job in Indianapolis for the Colts, replacing Chuck Pagano. Furthermore, win or lose Patriots’ coach and quarterback Bill Belichick and Tom Brady respectively are both expected to retire from football and the chances of them leaving increase if they win but are still likely if they lose. Also, since the Patriots traded their backup quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers before the trade deadline who went 5-0 in his five games with the 49ers this season, to improve to 7-0 as a starting quarterback; at the end of this year, the Patriots will likely have no head coach, offensive and defensive coordinator, starting quarterback and a backup quarterback, the Patriots dynasty of the 21st century will officially come to an end.

And can the Eagles win? They sure can. They may be the underdogs, compared to the Patriots who are
favourites to win this game, but the Eagles sure do have the offensive, defensive and special team ability to
win the Super Bowl and the intelligence, physicality, determination and excellent coaching on all aspects of
the football sure will help the Eagles to win a championship. A Super Bowl win for the Eagles would be the
first in franchise history, would end the nightmare of losing to the Pats in Super Bowl 39 and would also put
a perfect end to a marvellous season for the whole organization: players and coaches.

Tune in to your local NBC television station or your local sports radio station at 6:30pm ET on Sunday,
February 4th, 2018, to be in time for the kickoff of Super Bowl 52 and tune in at 1:00pm ET for pre-game
coverage including interviews, analysis, predictions and more. Who will win Super Bowl 52? Will it be the
New England Patriots or the Philadelphia Eagles?