Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall says the Falcons have an offensive dynamic that could make life miserable for the Patriots

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February 2, 2017 6:40 PM

When the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons kick off from Houston on Sunday in Super Bowl 51, all eyes will of course be on Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

Matt Ryan

In some ways, the game itself is less interesting than what might happen after the final whistle, if the Patriots manage win their fifth ring and first post-Deflategate title.

What will go down on the podium between Belichick and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell? What if Brady wins the Super Bowl MVP in the same year he was suspended four games? Will he hug Goodell? And hey, how many times over the course of the game will Donald Trump tweet about his very good friends from New England, or call the commish a dope?

But before any of that juicy drama can unfold, indeed in order for it to unfold, Belichick and the Patriots must figure out a way to stop an Atlanta offense that stacks up with some of the best in football history.

This year, the Atlanta offense put up 540 points (505 offensively) during the regular season, which was tied for seventh-most ever. An additional 80 points in the playoffs (in just two playoff games!) puts them at 620, up to fifth in all-time scoring.

Points aren't the only way to measure a good offense, though, and more advanced metrics bolster the case for Atlanta's place in the pantheon of great NFL offenses. From Falcons blog The Falcoholic:

Defensively, Belichick and the Pats are known for taking away their opponent's biggest threat. As former Belichick confidante Michael Lombardi put it this week at The Ringer, "

The problem when it comes to Atlanta, though, is that they are packed to the gills with dominant offensive players. Kyle Shanahan's job as offensive coordinator has likely earned him a head coaching job in San Francisco (he is 37). Matt Ryan is having an MVP season. Julio Jones is the scariest, most physically gifted wide receiver in football, and Mohamad Sanu is no slouch either. And then there are the running backs, Tevin Coleman and Devonta Freeman, a one-two punch of both speed and power — both as rushers and, crucially, pass-catchers out of the backfield.

It's this well-balanced approach makes the defensive task on Sunday so difficult for the Patriots.

Here's how longtime NFL wide receiver and burgeoning football analyst Brandon Marshall explained it:

And then you have a freaking dynamic running game with that two-headed monster, they demand eight men in the box. Pick your poison. Which person do you want to stop? Which phase of the game do you want to stop?"

As Lombardi noted, the most important thing for the Patriots is to stop the run game:

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