Upstate Sports Zone Super Bowl LI Predictions
It is finally Super Bowl Sunday! Time for the guys at Upstate to make their picks!
Jake Martino:
Pick: Atlanta Falcons
Score: 28-17
Reason: Listen up everyone because I am about to go off on the Patriots. Well first of all, if the the Patriots win, then everyone knows the reason why, they CHEATED. Matt Ryan is 1,000,000 times better than Tom Brady. With me I believe in young studs rather than old duds. And Tom Brady is a clear dud. Atlanta has the versatility to go to Jones, Coleman, Sanu and many more. “11”. Just only the number of different receivers Matt Ryan has thrown to this year for a touchdown. My reasoning for the Patriots only scoring 17 points is due to the fact that Atlanta has one of the greatest defenses in the league. Like Jared said, first to 30, but I think MVP Matty Ice and the Falcons will get to at least 28.
Jared McCabe
Pick: Atlanta Falcons
Score: 37-34
Reason: I think the first team to 30 points wins the game. I think the game will be back and forth because the Falcons offense has many weapons and Tom Brady can spread the ball around against a “decent” Falcons defense. The key for the Falcons to win is they need to get to Brady, hit him early and often, if they do that they have a great chance of winning. What they can’t do is all out blitz Brady because he’s great at picking blitzes up and it would go downhill early for the Falcons. My only big concern for the Falcons is can that young secondary play good enough to stop Brady. If they can, Atlanta would be in great shape to upset the Patriots. In the end I believe Atlanta will just edge out the Patriots and win 37-34.
Camdyn Ames:
Pick: Atlanta Falcons
Score: 45-42
Reason: I think the Falcons Offense will be too much for the tough New England defense and The Falcons will shock the pats 45-42. Julio Jones will have a great game, but Matt Ryan will win Super Bowl 51 MVP.
Austin Walsh:
Pick: Atlanta Falcons
Score: 32-28
Reason: I chose the Atlanta Falcons to win Super Bowl 51 because of their offense. Matt Ryan leads his team with an MVP season. He has playmakers like Julio Jones and Devonte Freeman. I believe Jones will cause a problem for the Pats’ secondary. The Patriots are a great team with a solid defense to try and stop Atlanta’s offense, but the Falcons will persevere and come out on top in the long run. Both teams have outstanding quarterbacks to lead the team and it will be a great matchup between the two stars. Overall Super Bowl 51 will be a game to watch, and it will be one of the best Super Bowls in NFL history.
Andrew Martin:
Pick: Falcons
Score: 34-24
Reason: The Falcons have literally shown that they can be an elite team this year. Their extraordinary offense with Matt Ryan and Julio Jones is on the same caliber as Tom Brady and Julian Edelman. Their shut-down defense has been outstanding as well. I think that this year is the year for the soaring Falcons.
Caden Balint
Pick: Falcons
Score: 34-31
Reason: The reason I think this because both of these teams have a stellar offense, with the Patriots having Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman and others. While the Falcons have a offense led by MVP Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Devonta Freeman and others. Now if we go into the regular season stats, the Falcons have a higher scoring offense, scoring 33.8 points a game, while the Patriots have only 27.6 points a game. I also think that whoever leads at halftime, will take home the Super Bowl trophy.
Kaleb Aschenbrenner:
Pick: Patriots
Score: 28-17
Reason: This pick shouldn't be much of a surprise. What's the old saying again? Offense wins games, defense wins championships. This is the classic offense vs. defense matchup. Just last year, we had the Broncos lockdown defensive go up against the high scoring Panthers offense and we all saw how that worked out. The Falcons defense has shown weakness in the passing game (they were ranked 28th in the league for pass defense during the regular season) they have shown improvements during the postseason. However, with Tom Brady leading the charge for this Pats offense, it's hard for me to pick against him.
