The set-up: The Falcons are in the Super Bowl for just the second time in franchise history (joined the NFL for the 1966 season), while the Pats will be making a record 9th appearance, one more than the Cowboys and Steelers. Dan Quinn is in just his second season as a head coach and owns a 19-13 career record, not including his 2-0 playoff record this season (obviously, his first Super Bowl appearnce. Bill Belichick coached the Browns for five years (just 36-44 and 1-1 in the postseason) but is in his 17th season with the Pats, going 201-71 (.739) in the regular season plus 24-9 in the postseason. This is his 7th Super Bowl appearance (4-2 in first six), an all-time record. Atlanta's Matt Ryan entered the season 1-4 in his postseason career but with wins over the Seahawks and Packers, he has a chance to even that record at 4-4 by winning his first-ever appearance in a Super Bowl. Meanwhile, Tom Brady joins his head coach by making a record 7th Super Bowl appearance (naturally, 4-2 like Belichick) and owns a record 24 playoff wins by a starting QB, against nine losses.

Atlanta: Matt Ryan opened 2016 in the fourth season of a five-year, $103.75 million contract that he received after taking the Falcons to the NFC Championship Game in 2012 but Atlanta was just 18-30 in the first three years of that contract. Well, all Ryan did was pass for 4,944 yards with 38-7 ratio & 117.1 QB rating) the regular season. He then completed 70.7% for 730 yards with a 7-0 ratio & 132.6 QB rating in two playoff wins. Matt Ryan's career year, a terrific RB duo of Freeman & Coleman (both can run, catch and run after the catch), an excellent receiving corps led by Julio Jones, a superb solid offensive line that has had the same linemen start every game and all master-minded by offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. It's created a juggernaut that led the NFL in scoring at 33.8 PPG and finished second with 415.8 YPG. Then came playoff wins which ended the seasons of former Super Bowl-winning QBs Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers, as Ryan led Atlanta to 36 and 44 points! However, we all know the defense has had its problems, ranking 27th in points allowed (25.4 PPG), 25th in yards allowed (371.2 YPG), were 26th in third-down defense and last in red-zone defense during the regular seaon.

New England: Tom Brady sat out the season's first four games (you may have heard why) but returned to throw for 3,554 yards in just 12 games, completing 67.4 percent with 28 TDs and two INTs (112.2 QB rating). Most of that came without Gronk but with Brady, it just never seems to matter who his receivers are. Houston held the Pats to 98 yards rushing (yards on 3.6 YPC) in New England's first playoff game plus was able to force Brady into just 18 completions in 38 attempts while intercepting him twice (Brady had been picked off just twice in 432 regular season attempts). Houston also recovered a New England fumble but the Pats still managed to score 34 points and cover an outrageously high pointspread. Brady made sure the Pats' AFC title game against the Steelers was not going to be a nail-biter. He completed 32 of 42 for 384 yards (a franchise record for the postseason) with three TDs and no INTs (127.5 QB rating). The unheralded Hogan caught nine for 180 yards (two TDs) and Edelman had eight catches for 118 yards (one TD).

The pick: For all the talk about New England's offense, the Patriots permitted a league-low 15.6 PPG in the regular season, as the Pats held six of their last seven opponents to 17 points or less. Then came the playoffs, holding Houston to 16 points and Pittsburgh to 17. However, Holding teh Falcons in check is quite another story, as this is teh best offense the NFL has seen since teh 2007 Pats. As for the Pats, Brady wants badly to be there when Goodell hands over the Lombardi Trophy and just how will Atlanta's suspect defense slow down the Pats? The Over is a 10* play.