Falcons have inarguably the best offense in the league, the game will be in a dome where Ryan has to have an advantage, and Pats really don't have a great secondary themselves. Atlanta's opponents averaged just 25 more ypg passing than did New England's, who enjoyed playing Ryan Tanehill, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and whoever threw for Buffalo this year lol as opposed to Drew Brees, Mariota, and Winston. I agree it'll probably be a serious shoot-out and am looking forward to it.
You can only play who whose's on the schedule though. People hold it against them (myself included), but the fact is, the last half of the season they've been pretty damn good. Pittsburgh's offense is legit, even without Bell (Deangelo Williams is probably the best backup in the league), they effectively held them to 9 pts.
I don't think the Pats D is great, but it's definitely better than Atlanta's from what I've seen over the course of the season. They have a number of elite players, Malcom Butler, Devin McCourty, and Donte Hightower, and a bunch of solid vets. I'll usually favor defense vs offense in a Superbowl anyway. jmo though.
As to the Ypg, the Pats play a 'bend but don't break' D--they give up a lot of yds, but are stingy as hell with the goal line. As a fan, it's infuriating to watch, because it seems like they are getting lit up. End of the day, the most important defensive stat in football is pts. This style will be tough to implement against the Falcons, given how big the receivers and the impact of that in the red zone.
I think it will be a shoot out as well. Though every time I do think that, a game becomes 24-21 slugfest. So what do I know?
