SOOPER DOOPER.....Bowl time!

[DaBurglar]

Ok football fans (both casual and serious) we have the makings of another CLASSIC football confrontation for this upcoming super bowl.Once again, my New England PAtriots are there with Tom Terrific making an unprecedented  SIXTH super bowl start......mind boggling to say the least.Up against my PAtriots are arguably the best defensive squad since at least the 2000 BAltimore team, with comparisons even to 1985 Chicago Bear's steamroller.   The 1985 Bears may have been more brutish, but Seattle is just so FAST and Dynamic.The key to the game though will not be strength versus strength (i.e.  Seattle's Defense  versus Tom Brady and Gronkowski and the PAtriot Offense);    The key will be how Seattle's Offense does with New England's "Bend but dont break" defense.But the REAL difference is in the coaching.....Bill Bellichick IS NOW the undisputed greatest coach in NFL history, and no one is better at coming up with THE best game plan each week for each specific opponent......the guy is a total savant at doing this.     Pete carroll  is energetic and a fireball, but his best day at strategy is equal to a half hearted bellchick effort.ANyway, I expect my PAts to extend this 14 year-and counting dynasty they are riding with another lombardi trophy......what do you think?Oh, and here is a real interesting article:  If my PAtriots wil, Vegas is set to take a HUGE bath!   http://finance.yahoo.com/news/las-vegas ... 00891.html

[Tedlark]

A dynasty team is one that WINS the big games and doesn't go 3-4.

I will grant you that they are arguably the best team in the last 15 years but in my opinion this does not make them a dynasty.

Belichick would not garner my vote for undisputed greatest coach in NFL history either.
   Edited to add: I just read that ESPN is reporting that 11 of the 12 game balls supplied by New England in the conference championship game were underinflated by 2 lbs. each? Hummm.....

[chattycattty]

Did not realize New England was only 3-4 in the super bowl. They just seem like a better team than that. After watching last weeks games and seeing Seattle's miracle finish and NE's blowout I do not know what to expect in the SB. If I had to bet I would probably take Seattle. I do not see Russell Wilson having 2 bad games in a row. And even if he does he must be riding high the way he finished out the game against Green Bay. And Tom Brady will have to play with properly inflated footballs.

[Rayser]

DaBuglar, I think the only thing undisputed about Belichek, is that he cheats. Now if you think being a cheater is a quality you like in "The undisputed greatest coach in NFL history", you can have that title with an asterisk behind it. That is not for me.

[MPD001]

   I will grant you that they are arguably the best team in the last 15 years but in my opinion this does not make them a dynasty.

Belichick would not garner my vote for undisputed greatest coach in NFL history either.
   Edited to add: I just read that ESPN is reporting that 11 of the 12 game balls supplied by New England in the conference championship game were underinflated by 2 lbs. each? Hummm.....
Didn't both teams play with the same balls? I don't care if they were whiffle balls, a 45-7 drumming by the Pats was pretty good.

[OTABILL]

Last time the Pats played in the Super Bowl in Arizona, they lost to the Giants because of a miracle catch. As Ted noted, they have been the most consistent team in the NFL the past decade or so. As for greatest coach, I disagree. If you look at winning percentage, and championships won, I would take Vince Lombardi. He had a regular season winning percentage of 73.8% (96–34–6), and 90% (9–1) in the postseason (5 NFL Championships, 6 Conference Titles, in 9 seasons with the Packers.) The year before he became the Packer's coach, the team went 1 and 10 with a tie. He then coached the Redskins for 1 season, going 7 and 5 with a tie, the skins first winning record in 14 years. He passed away the following September. Had he lived, I am sure he would have had further success.

[Tedlark]

If a team practices all week with underinflated footballs and then plays a game using underinflated footballs against a team that HASN'T practiced all week with underinflated footballs; there may be an advantage, don't you think?

[edog743]

Those footballs were reinflated at halftime then at the end of the game sent to an independant lab where all the balls were back to 2 lbs under inflated. They not only let the air out once they did it twice. Like a great man said if you are not cheating you are not trying.

[DaBurglar]

well if you hate the patriots and belichick you will find SOME reason to deny their greatness, just like tedlark finds a reason, ANY reason, to disagree with whatever I write.....big whup.ANd for all you quiz kids out there who think that the patriots are NOT a "Dynasty" because they are "only" 3-4 all time in super bowls, get a clue:The Dynasty as I define it spans 2001 thru this year 2015......the are 3 and 2 in the five super bowls they played in that span, the other two losses happened in 1985 and in 1997, and had nothing to do with the current team or staff or players etc.    Unreal........And as someone already noted the two losses in this undisputed Dynasty period happened in 2007 and 2011, with the 2007 loss to the NY giants (17-14) happening simply because they had an absolute freakish miracle fourth down and 10 play whereby the NY Giants wide receiver (David tyree) caught the ball on top of his head and it SOMEHOW did not come undone when he hit the ground.    Total LUCK.....and irregardless, that 2007 Patriots team was the ONLY team in NFL history to go 16-0 in the regular season, and was within 1 minute and 34 seconds (and a BS lucky catch) from the single greatest (and perfect) season ever.   Even still that year cements itself as part of this DYNASTY I am talking about.  And likewise the 2011 super bowl NEw England lost 21-17 to the same NY Giants, there was Also a miraculous catch on the winning Giants drive .... it was NOT as ridiculous as the 2007 freak catch but still totally lucky.It is the consistency, year in and year out whereby the PAtriots have been in the THICK of things, with new players and with the salary cap, this is an incredible achievement.    This is one of the reasons Belichick has no peer any longer.........the 2008 season (the year after going 16-0), Tom Brady goes down in the first quarter of the first game with a devastating knee injury, gone for the year.  In steps totally unheralded and inexperienced MAtt cassel and SOMEHOW, SOMEHOW the PAts go 11-5 that year!    And yet despite going 11-5, they did NOT even make the playoffs that year (one of only two teams ever to win 11 games and NOT make the postseason.)NOPE, this Dynasty I am talking about is NOT simply about winning three super bowls in a 4 or 5 year span......this is about 14 years and counting of unparalleled success in the age of the Salary cap (which was intended to do, among other things, ensure PARITY in the league and PREVENT the exact type of sheer dominance the PAtriots have been able to pull off.)    NO one else, no other team, during these last 14-15 years comes close anymore.

[olds442jetaway]

ESPN has a good on line article on all of this. Each team has its own balls. There will be a lot more to follow I'm sure.