THE moniker GOAT (greatest of all time) perhaps gets bandied about a bit too much nowadays.
But when it comes to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, there are very few people in the NFL that would say it is not deserved.
Sunday night will see the 40-year-old Brady lead the Patriots out on to the field at the Super Bowl for a record eighth time as he tries to win the Vince Lombardi for, what would again be a record, six times.
While Brady is undoubtedly responsible for the supreme execution of the plays on the field, the dominance that the Patriots have enjoyed would probably not have been achieved without the head coach Bill Belichick – himself a worthy candidate for GOAT-like status.
The team tasked with spoiling the Patriot party is the Philadelphia Eagles, who until week 14, felt they had a young quarterback that could match the play of Brady in Carson Wentz.
But he was lost to injury that week and in came Nick Foles.
After a rather shaky few games to start with – causing many to write off the Eagles’ chances – Foles stepped up well in the playoffs beating Atlanta and then shredding Minnesota’s top ranked defence.
And if he was to repeat that performance Sunday night, the Patriots will be in trouble.
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The Eagles’ real strength is their defence which is loaded with talent and is very deep, especially on the defensive line where stars like Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham will be wreaking havoc and making Brady very uncomfortable in the pocket.
The pressure will force Brady to get the ball away quickly and he will look to receivers Danny Amendola, Brandin Cooks and Chris Hogan while also taking advantage of dump offs to his running backs Dion Lewis and James White
But his primary weapon is tight end Rob Gronkowski.
‘Gronk’ is a matchup nightmare for any defence with his rare combination of size, speed and hands and how the Eagles choose to defend him will go a long way to deciding the outcome of the game.
Philadelphia have an impact tight end of their own in Zach Ertz and while not quite the calibre of Gronk, he will be a target for Foles early and often in the passing game.
The Eagles though, would much rather slow the game down and establish their running attack with London-born running back, Jay Ajayi, and ex Patriot, LeGarrette Blount, both of whom ranked highly this season in forcing missed tackles.
Redzonesports.bet have New England as 4.5 point favourites.
But with plenty of matchups in the Eagles’ favour, that line might be more a product of the Patriots’ reputation and I expect the old mantra ‘defense wins championships’ to prevail with Philadelphia leaving Minneapolis as World Champions (as the Americans would say!).
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