AS of this writing, Super Bowl was to be played Sunday (Monday in Manila): the National Football Conference’s Atlanta Falcons against the American Football Conference’s New England Patriots.
The Patriots won the exciting game in overtime, 34-28, adding to Tom Brady’s legend and having him deep into the greatest of all time conversation.
Offense vs Defense and defense won, the Patriots held the Falcons’ high-octane offense scoreless in the second half. Bill Belichick won his battle with his former offensive coordinator Dan Quinn but I wouldn’t be surprised if they meet again in next season’s Super Bowl.
Matt Ryan vs Tom Brady, Matt Ryan may have won the regular season Most Valuable Player (MVP) battle, but Tom Brady won when it mattered the most, the Super Bowl war, also winning his fourth Super Bowl MVP trophy.
The main architect of the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, Brady has now surpassed National Football League and Niners legend Joe Montana with five Super Bowl rings. The Patriots defense allowed no Falcon to score a touchdown in the second half, not even a field goal.
Falcons Head Coach Dan Quinn used to be Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick’s offensive coordinator. Belichick’s former defensive and offensive coordinators are now 3-23 against him.
We witnessed a tale of two halves for both teams. Brady performed well under pressure and Ryan seemed to have choked. The Belichick-Brady partnership has now won five Super Bowls for the Patriots organization, similar to the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) San Antonio Spurs collaboration of Spurs Coach Greg Popovich and recently retired Tim Duncan. That team-up spanned 17 seasons and five NBA titles.
Las Vegas odds had the Patriots three points ahead. The Patriots showed why they deserve the title. The game taught me never to bet against Belichick and Brady. Falcons owner Arthur Bank reportedly flew all his employees to the game, which is a long flight and a longer flight now considering what just transpired. Different Patriots caught and received the football when the Patriots made their run. It was 25 unanswered points.
The Patriots will be the team to beat next season, with several teams aiming to knock them off their lofty perch. You have the Atlanta Falcons, whose offensive and defensive line is made up of rookies and sophomores. You have the Seattle Seahawks, as long as they have Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman and Filipino-American Doug Baldwin, they’ll remain formidable.
The Niners will have now ex-Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan manning the sidelines for the San Francisco 49ers next season so expect an improvement on offense from the Niners. Rookie Malcolm Mitchell and former quarterback turned wide receiver Julian Edelman caught and ran most of Brady’s passes and giveaways.
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ACCORDING to UFC President Dana White, we all may have seen the last of former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. White spoke to Rousey a few weeks ago and got the sense that she is done fighting and wants to do something outside of MMA that doesn’t involve fighting.
Rousey suffered a first-round knockout 48 seconds into the fight at the hands of champion Amanda Nunes. Nunes apologized over social media for how she conducted herself weeks after her victory. Nunes also apologized to Rousey and her fans.
Former UFC contender Matt Brown is thinking of retiring and getting into coaching, training and developing other MMA fighters. The 36-year-old has suffered knockout losses in his last two fights, making him think about his future.
Brown says there’s no real hunger in him anymore and when he was fighting Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, he felt like he didn’t want to be in the octagon and just stay in.