With 32 teams in the NFL, it’s somewhat surprising that the best team from each conference has advanced to the Super Bowl. And I know that sounds crazy, but a lot of times, the best teams get eliminated by a fringe team that got hot at the right time. But that being said, as good as the Falcons are, do they really have a shot at beating the Patriots?

Let’s be honest here, the Patriots have been the most dominant team in the league since the early 2000’s. They have been to the Super Bowl six times in that span with their only two losses coming from the same New York Giants team. Well, not the exact same Giants team, but both were built around defense. And if we know anything about the Patriots, it’s that you have to beat them with defense. You have to put pressure on Tom Brady. It doesn’t really matter how good your offense is because Brady can match anyone in a shootout. If you recall he took down the greatest show on turf, and that was before he was the great player he is today.

However, the Patriots did only beat those Rams by a field goal at the end of the game, so if anything, we can take that as a sign that the Falcons will be able to hang around with the Pats. What’s disconcerting for the Falcons, however, is their defense. While the Patriots defense is always top of the league, the Falcons defense this year rated in the bottom half of the league. not exactly a good starting point. What the Falcons do have going for them, however, is Julio Jones.

Bill Belichick’s defensive plan is basically take away the opponent’s best weapon. And despite the limited number of household names on their defense, they have been able to do this very well. However, Julio Jones is a freak of nature, the likes of which these no name players have ever seen. They are going to have to commit a lot of resources to Jones in order to shut him down, and even that might not be enough. Jones is the best receiver in the league and he can flat out just go up and get the ball, no matter who is covering him. So more than likely you will see him being double teamed all night, possibly even triple teamed. So, that leaves the Patriots shorthanded somewhere right? But where?

The Falcons also have two very good running backs at their disposal. They are going to get their yards on the ground, but the Patriots have a good run defense so they won’t get too far. Perhaps they will let the running backs matchup against the linebackers in the pass game. It would make sense since those linebackers won’t have much help with the Julio Jones double teams.

But even if they can get the offense rolling against the Patriots, they still have to find a way to stop a Patriot’s offense that threw only 2 interceptions all season. It should be easy to just say the Patriots will win this game. It's almost always an easy pick, however, this pick has me doubting the Patriots just slightly. That being said, I will pick the Patriots to win this game.

What tips the scales in their favor is that the Falcons offensive coordinators playbook went “missing” for about an hour during the press conferences before it was returned by a “reporter” who “mistakenly picked up the wrong bag.” This just two weeks after the fire alarm was pulled at the Steelers hotel before their matchup against the Patriots.

Good luck to the Falcons, but if it seems like the Patriots know what you’re running on offense, it might be because they actually do know.