POLL: Who will win Super Bowl LIII?

Every year, dm_4 posts a poll question: Will the Patriots win the Super Bowl? The Patriots beat the Falcons in the 2017 Super Bowl but lost to the Eagles in the 2018 Super Bowl. This year, I'm beating dm_4 to the punch.

Okay, I just finished my glass of punch and now I can post this story from ESPN. Super Bowl LIII takes place February 3, 2019 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

2018 NFL projections: rankings and odds for Super Bowl LIII
ESPN, May 29 2018 5:30 AM PT

Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are back on top -- of ESPN's Football Power Index. Despite losing the Super Bowl to the Nick Foles-led Eagles and despite an off-season filled with questions about stability at the top of the organization, the Patriots remain the best team in the NFL and the favorite to win Super Bowl LIII, according to our FPI projections with 100 days to go until the regular season.

But this isn't a repeat of last season, when we considered the Patriots the runaway top team in the NFL to the point that they had a coin-flip chance to reach the Super Bowl. This time around, New England may still be the best but it is really a part of a three-team tier of the NFL's elite. The other two teams to make up the league's upper crust? The Eagles and Steelers.

Rankings and odds:

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2...ex-projections

ESPN has ranked all the NFL teams based on their chances of winning the Super Bowl. Now MSN has ranked the 32 head coaches. I could have sworn football season is still three months away.

Ranking NFL head coaches heading into the 2018 season

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/...y97jC?li=BBnba

Sports website TBL (The Big Lead) today released their rankings of NFL coaches. Last on the list is the Browns' Hue Jackson, who has a record of 1-31. First on the list is.......hey, I'm no spoiler!

Ranking all 32 NFL head coaches from worst to first

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl...cUao?ocid=AMZN

dm_4 may want to write a nasty letter to the Washington Post after reading these particularly pessimistic Patriots prognostications by Adam Kilgore:

Is the Patriots' dynasty coming to an end? Here's what to watch for this season.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl...Ejtu?ocid=AMZN

Sports news and discussion site YardBarker has an article giving the reasons why each team will win the Super Bowl and why each team will not win the Super Bowl. Pretty clever. No matter who wins, they can say, "Look! We were right!"

Why each team will or will not win the Super Bowl

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl...T7D1?ocid=AMZN

YardBarker -- which would be a good name for a dog -- has published the current odds of each team's likelihood of winning the Super Bowl. The Patriots are 7-1 favorites. The Bears, Bills, Buccaneers, Cardinals, Dolphins and Jets each have odds of 100-1.

Vegas odds to win the Super Bowl

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl...h75o?ocid=AMZN

Today, following the Patriots' 17-10 loss to the Steelers, two reporters wrote highly negative stories about the Patriots. You might say, "So what?" Well, the reporters are from the Boston Globe. Whatever happened to that "Boston strong" attitude?

Is this the end for the Patriots dynasty?

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/p...GEM/story.html

Reality is, the Patriots are simply not a great team

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/p...h3H/story.html

'Tis the season to be jolly.....and also, it seems, to pick on the Patriots.

Josh Gordon departure is latest chapter in a Patriots season going the wrong way

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-the-wrong-way

Patriots clinch AFC East for 10th straight season with win over Bills.


:money::tysign::thumbsup:

Okay, dm, you posted your headline. Now it's my turn to post one:

Brady, Patriots blast Jets to secure first-round bye in playoffs

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl...BKGA?ocid=AMZN

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rewind

Okay, dm, you posted your headline. Now it's my turn to post one:

Brady, Patriots blast Jets to secure first-round bye in playoffs

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl...BKGA?ocid=AMZN

---

Yeah that was a foregone conclusion really...kinda like SIRI dropping .40 after a good earnings report. :)

The Boston Globe's Ben Volin penned an opinion piece proffering a plethora of pessimism about the Patriots' pending pigskin performance. (Say that five times fast!)

Chargers, the most complete team in the AFC, present a big challenge for Patriots

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl...TqPC?ocid=AMZN

I wonder if Boston Globe sports writer Ben Volin is hanging his head in shame today. The Chargers were not the "big challenge" that he thought they would be.

Patriots blow out Chargers to reach 8th straight AFC championship game

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl...bGOO?ocid=AMZN

Don't ever bet against the GOAT at home. Rivers is now 0-8 against the GOAT. Chargers played zone against the GOAT and never made the adjustment to play man coverage. What were the chargers thinking???? Did they think the GOAT never saw zone coverage before? Man o man....the GOAT made them pay big time. The game was over by halftime.

Now KC will be tuff. Much tougher. The noise alone at arrowhead will give us problems. KC's qb is too athletic for our D. My heart says NE....my wallet says KC.

Of course if we lose....all the pundits will start in with the GOAT is done...as they have been wrongly predicting for the last five years. :)

Near the end of a 2013 Patriots-Panthers game, the referee failed to call an infraction that would have given the Patriots a chance to win the game. At the 2015 AFC championship game in which the Patriots beat the Colts 45 to 7, there were allegations that Tom Brady had ordered the footballs to be under-inflated. The referee was one of three officials who checked the air pressure in the footballs and Brady wound up with a four-game suspension and the Patriots were fined $1 million and lost two draft picks. The referee at both those games was Clete Blakeman. Why am I mentioning him now, you ask? Ummm.......

Some Patriots fans are not happy with NFL's choice to referee AFC championship game

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/sp...224574820.html

Bleacher Report has announced its predictions for Sunday's AFC and NFC conference championship games. These so-called "experts" are not infallible -- but they expect the Chiefs to beat the Patriots. They note that "Tom Brady has won only three playoff road games in his NFL career" and "Andy Reid's Chiefs have blown out the Patriots twice in the last five years." The "experts" also predict the Rams will beat the Saints. In two days we will find out.

Bleacher Report's expert NFL conference championship picks and predictions

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ks-predictions

Joe Kevany of Mount Washington understands the mentality of sports fans in Los Angeles. Here is his letter in today's Los Angeles Times:

"Like many Angelenos, I'm bummed that the Chargers did not prevail against the Patriots last Sunday. But at the same time there is a sense of relief that there won't be an all-L.A., Rams vs. Chargers, Super Bowl this year. We could have ended up with two riots."

Jared Goff just became the youngest quarterback to win an NFC playoff game. The Rams kicked a field goal to beat the Saints in overtime, 26-23. The Rams will face the Chiefs or Patriots February 3 in Super Bowl 53. The AFC championship game just got underway. Stay tuned.

In today's AFC championship game, the Patriots led the Chiefs 14-0 at halftime. Unfortunately for the Patriots, they still had to play the second half and the Chiefs led 24-21 halfway through the fourth quarter. Fortunately for the Patriots, they regained the lead, 24-21. Unfortunately for the Patriots, the Chiefs regained the lead, 28-24, with two minutes left in the game.

Fortunately for the Patriots, they got a touchdown and retook the lead with 39 seconds remaining. Unfortunately for the Patriots, the Chiefs tied the score with a field goal with 11 seconds remaining. At the end of regulation: Patriots 31, Chiefs 31. We are going into overtime -- and dm_4 will be biting his knuckles for several more minutes.

Rex Burkhead scored a touchdown and the Patriots won 37-31 and will face the Rams in the Super Bowl. Whew! Can somebody please scrape dm_4 off the floor and get him a glass of water and a cold compress?