New England Patriots. Atlanta Falcons. Many may have predicted a Super Bowl matchup between these two teams as the playoffs commenced, but that won’t detract from the excitement that this game will bring. Many football fans would love to see Dan Quinn deliver a championship to a city that hasn’t experienced the pinnacle since the Atlanta Braves in 1995.
The MVP favorite, Matt Ryan, has had an incredible season, leading an offense that draws striking comparisons to New England’s. And then there’s the Patriots. A team that has won eight straight AFC East titles, and gone to six straight AFC championship games. Fans and foes alike wonder when the empire will meet its demise, but for Bill Belichick and company, it’s all about Atlanta right. In their second Super Bowl appearance in three years, some might feel that a title for Kraft’s team would be almost routine. But that couldn’t be any further from the truth.
What A New England Patriots Super Bowl LI Victory Would Mean
Patriots Provide A Great Blueprint For Success
A victory in Houston would obviously mean a lot for this franchise, but it should mean more to the franchises around them. Why? Because the team is setting a blueprint for how to win football games, and they can’t hide their success any longer. This year, Belichick and the Patriots organization put together another Super Bowl run after losing a first-round draft pick, their starting quarterback being suspended for the first four games, sustaining injuries to both backup quarterbacks, trading their best defensive player, Jamie Collins, to the Cleveland Browns, and bringing their offensive line coach out of retirement.
Patriots Dealt With Adversity
Despite some pretty unique setbacks this season, New England continued to find ways to win. Perhaps one of the fundamental reasons why Brady won’t be receiving the AP MVP award this weekend is because the team did too well without him, going 3-1 in his stead. Regardless of whether or not the duo of Brady and Belichick make history by winning a fifth ring, their season shines light on a system that needs to be emulated by every other franchise in the NFL.
Just last year, the hammer met the head during the Deflategate scandal, which ultimately ended with the 39-year old quarterback taking a four-game suspension to prevent dragging out the 18-month joust with the commissioner any longer. If almost any other organization in the league was faced with their starting signal caller being suspended for four games and no first-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, they would have failed to even make the playoffs. But the boys in red, white and blue from Foxborough went 14-2 in the regular season and earned another trip to the Super Bowl.
Bill Belichick Preaches Team First Mentality
Fans can easily see the source of the team’s success is through coach Belichick’s approach to the game. Throughout his 17-year tenure with the organization, The Hoodie has stressed one major key to all of his players, unselfishness. No man is ever bigger than the team. In an era, where quarterbacks like Kirk Cousins are pushing for big contracts, Brady continues to keep restructuring his contract, keeping only what is best for the team in mind. From the trade of Logan Mankins in 2014, or the unexpected departures of Bryan Stork, Chandler Jones, and most recently Jamie Collins, this theme continues to resurface in the franchise’s dealings. After winning his seventh AFC title, Belichick used the word again, praising the team for its unselfish mentality.
With a victory Sunday night, the Patriots would move into unchartered territory. The New England Patriots are larger than life, and everybody in football knows it.
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