Super Bowl 51: 5 reasons the New England Patriots will win
By Luke Sims
Super Bowl 51 will be a hard-fought battle between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons. Here we lay out why the Patriots will come away victorious.
Putting together a dominant NFL team is difficult. Putting together a dominant NFL team over the span of 10+ years is even more difficult.
Still, that’s exactly what Bill Belichick has done with the New England Patriots, bringing the team to Super Bowl 51 in his 17th season at the helm. It will be his seventh Super Bowl appearance in those 17 seasons. To say the Patriots have been dominant would be an understatement.
And Belichick’s teams have done it all in different ways. From dominant offenses to suffocating defenses, the New England Patriots have proven themselves innovative and adaptable each and every season, never winning less than 10 wins in a season since 2002.
The dominant Patriots take on the (relative) upstart Atlanta Falcons and the crazy-impressive Matt Ryan-led offense. The Patriots will have to do everything in their power to win, but they have a number of things in their favor.
We examine those things here.
1) Experience
No team has as much experience in big games as the New England Patriots. Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady have been to the playoffs every season since 2000 except 2002 (when the Patriots went 9-7) and 2008 (when the Patriots went 11-5 without Brady).
No other team has even sniffed that kind of success, even teams with big win totals over the regular season, like Andy Reid’s Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs over that same period. Belichick and Brady are about as seasoned as a head coach and quarterback duo can be in the NFL.
That experience matters. Playing on the biggest stage in the world during Super Bowl 51 will be an entirely new experience for some players on the Patriots but they have Brady and Belichick to guide them. It will be entirely new for the opposing Atlanta Falcons.
In measuring the experience of the two teams facing off in the Super Bowl, it’s not even close. The Patriots have a major edge over the Falcons here.