Tag: Atlanta

No Experience Required?

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super-bowl-li-patriots-patch-590x590On The 300s Podcast this week, we discussed whether or not previous Super Bowl experience would be a benefit for the Patriots heading into their Super Bowl LI matchup with the Atlanta Falcons. At first thought, I assumed previous Super Bowl experience would be a huge advantage for the Patriots.

The week leading up the Super Bowl is a gongshow. Media Day Opening Night is a just the beginning of a week full of distractions, and who blocks out distractions better than the Patriots? But Michael Salfino had an interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal on Friday, basically picking my assumption apart, piece by piece.

New England has 17 more players with Super Bowl experience (21) than the Falcons. In the last 40 Super Bowls, a team has held this advantage over its opponent 38 times. These teams are 16-22 in those games…

An edge at the game’s most important position didn’t matter either. Teams have had a QB with prior Super Bowl experience 19 times versus a team like the Falcons and Matt Ryan with none and are 9-10.

I stand corrected. Upon further reflection, this holds up pretty well over the last 15 years. Just off the top of my head, experience didn’t help the 2001 Rams, the 2007 Patriots, the 2009 Colts, the 2010 Steelers or the 2013 Broncos in the big game. It seems like Super Bowl veterans are just as liable to put up clunkers (Peyton Manning 2013) as Super Bowl first-timers (Cam Newton 2015).

The Super Bowl is such a colossal event that maybe no matter how many times you’ve been, each trip is its own adventure. We’ll see what events unfold this week, but I’m no longer under the impression that Brady’s six previous Super Bowl appearances give him the edge over Matt Ryan. I’d still take Brady over Ryan if I had my pick at QB but maybe Ryan and Atlanta’s blissful Super Bowl ignorance isn’t a shortcoming after all. Looking at the history of this game, maybe having no baggage is an advantage.

Episode 003 of The 300s Podcast: Countdown to Super Bowl 51, the First Annual NBA Jam Tournament and the Hunt for Big Mac Sauce

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In episode 003 of The 300s Podcast we touch on our Super Bowl 51 Preview, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick going for GOAT status, Introducing the First Annual 300’s NBA Jam Tournament and the Hunt for McDonald’s Big Mac Sauce:

No. 1 Offense vs No. 1 Defense? “I’ll take the No. 1 defense every time.”…”Is Atlanta a crappy sports city? They’ve lost two hockey teams.”…”How about Bartolo Colon? He started the same year as Turner Field. Dude outlasted a ballpark.”…”You know how many Super Bowls Bill Parcells won after Belichick left? Zero.” …”To get the fifth ring with this supporting cast of castoffs is even more impressive”….”NBA Jam – If we have 8 guys and 7 games, maybe 6 of them end in a buzzer beater. Down by 12? Don’t worry you’re gonna hit 6 shots in a row”…”There is no reason to have any kind of post game in NBA Jam. LeBron you are nothing more than a decoy”….”These are mouth breathers. Go to McDonalds and just ask for Big Mac Sauce, it’s free.”

Tom Brady Gets Beat Out for AP NFL First Team All Pro. Drive for Five Continues

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ESPN – “The Associated Press 2016 NFL All-Pro Team is showing off the league’s new wave of stars… Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is a first-time selection. Ryan edged out New England’s Tom Brady, who was suspended for four games to start the season.”

Gotta love ESPN. No matter the context or the circumstances, they will throw in a dig. “Matt Ryan edges out Tom Brady for First Team All-Pro, who was suspended, remember?” Regardless of the fact that they perpetuated the bullshit that got Brady suspended in the first place, which essentially caused him to miss out on 1st team and likely his 3rd MVP award.

Brady simply ran out of time. He was playing like the best QB in the league for 12 weeks, but when voters look and see that Matt Ryan has 38 TD passes to Brady’s 28, that’s basically it. Never mind the fact that Brady had the greatest TD to Interception Ratio in LEAGUE HISTORY (28-2). Or the fact that he was the driving force behind a 14-2 team (7 game winning streak) that just clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC and looks like a lock to make the Super Bowl.

Brady was valuable. Probably the most valuable. But volume is what killed Brady here. I’ll tell you what though, TB12 and I will take a 5th Lombardi Trophy over a 3rd MVP Award every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

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The Drive for Five continues…

P.S. – Matt Slater was the lone Patriots representative on the AP NFL First-Team All Pro, which was his first so congrats to him. The Pats also had Second-Team reps in Brady, Cannon (Dante Scarnecchia is the O-Lineman whisperer), Butler, McCourty, Hightower and Ebner. You think Belichick might put that last one in his trophy case? Took a college RUGBY player and turned him into Second-Team All-Pro in the NFL. Incredible.

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