Open Super Bowl LII Discussion

Patriots 27, Eagles 23

I'm ready for some football. These wings are DEFINITELY going to get cold before Sunday night...

I have been feeling like this is a Eagles 38 Pats 31 kind of game, but news reports this week are that the Patriots have all 53 men as full participants in practice, while the Eagles have several noteworthy players out or limited with illness.

If you know something of disease biology... and depending on what this exact illness is... this should frighten the hell out of Eagles fans. Many diseases have a 1-2 day period where someone's caught the bug, but isn't feeling sick yet. So the disease spreads throughout the locker room on that delayed period, and then 3-5 days later everyone's either got it, or is just coming down with it, or is just starting to get over it. That would put the final, intense stretch right around... Super Bowl Sunday.

These are tough guys who will surely play through a little dehydration, soreness, and whatever other lingering effects are present. But, these are relatively evenly matched teams. You can be 1 step late and still beat the Giants or the Browns. Against the Patriots? Not so easy.

It's been a long time since I've been so uninterested in a Super Bowl matchup. I'll probably watch it. But when the most interesting thing about tomorrow's game is the halftime performer (and I'm not a Timberlake fan), I can't say I'll care.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports Nelson Agholor received an IV Saturday morning after feeling sick with " flu-like symptoms."

Rapoport goes on to say Agholor is "feeling better" and should be "fine" for Sunday.

N.E.-16 PHI-14 , Gostkowski-MVP game winning FG.

Eagles good opening drive, but couldn't get into the end zone. Pats first drive looking real good.

Pats settle for FG. 3-3.

On their second kickoff New England earns their first positive Gostkowski Above-touchback Yardage, bringing their total to 1.

Big 36 yard run for Blount.

And the downfield shot to Jeffery for the TD!

Wow pats miss a FG

Cooks KOed

Trick pass to Brady? Nice design, but bad hands. And 4th down incomplete.

Neither team bothering to play defense.

Pats look very sloppy tackling and somewhat in the coaching department. This is an odd, messy game so far...

Very sloppy defense by the eagles.

Gostkowski misses the pat!

Pats have 302 yards until now and they are losing.

Excellent special teams play by Philly, especially blocking for kickoff returns. New England is down to -4 Gostkowski Above-touchback Yardage

I know I’m in the minority, but man do I find these kinds of games to be mind-numbingly boring. Over 600 yards of offense in the first half. Two Super Bowl participants should be able to play better defense than this.

What a TD!

Both teams had a pass to the QB in the playbook? That's crazy!

I don't know why Collinsworth is making such a big deal about going for it on 4th down from the two. That seems like a standard situation to go for a 4th down.

Holy crap, that's some play-calling! Great wrinkle with the fake audible, too.

Phi 4th down excellent play call & execution.

Why is the sideline reporter talking to [and possibly distracting] Pederson and not Belichick? I'd love to hear Belichick put on the spot and contractually forced to talk about something

Incredible 4th down TD! May decide the game.

Halftime thoughts:
Neither defense playing well. Too many big plays. Zero qb sacks by either team. Defenses need to step up in the 2nd half.
Gronk has one catch in first half..will he be targeted more in the 2nd?

Philly defense looks garbage outside the redzone and 3rd down... except maybe on some of the screens/swings. Pats defense breakdown on the RB pass was predictable. Given how badly NE screwed around in the first half, from the missed kicks to the sloppy fourth and third down calls, etc. I think NE is pretty lucky to be only down 10 points.

McD's play-calling was very dubious in the first half. Use Tom Brady as a receiver? The slowest man in the NFL?

The various special teams' failures are bizarre.

Officials are apparently going to let all sorts of grabbing and hitting go on with receivers.

Big difference so far is the Eagles' run game plowing through Pats' front seven.

Biggest question left unaddressed by NBC: where the hell is Malcolm Butler? The last Eagles' TD was set up by Jordan Richards' inability to play in the secondary at a very basic level. Eric Rowe has had his difficulties so far, but Richards would have to play a lot better to reach merely bad.

I have to think the benching is an act of discipline by BB. What did Butler do?

Apparently Butler had the flu earlier this week, though a one-legged Butler would be better than the Jordan Richards abomination.

Also, the trick-play TD shouldn't have stand.

https://twitter.com/chatham58/status/960320820101951493

So much for the pats conspiracy.

But he's well enough to be playing on ST

3 straight throws to gronk.

Alright gronk showed up and pats down by 3.

Butler continues to ride the pine and CBs lower on the depth chart continue to play like crap. Terrible missed tackle by Bademosi.

The story here is Belichick would rather lose the game than give an inch on a disciplinary matter.

Great. It's literally unpredictable what the call will be after this review

Edit: I think the 10-yard penalty to begin this drive should count for Gostkowski Above-touchback Yardage, because a simple touchback doesn't give the return team the opportunity to commit a penalty. So NE is back to a positive 6 Gostkowski Above-touchback Yardage

Riveron will take this away.

I'm shocked that was upheld

Wow Clement catch stands?!

Hopefully the pro-Patriots officiating meme will die the long-deserved death now after that TD was upheld.

Not that it ever stood up to scrutiny. It was always a dumb theory.

Refs conspiring against the pats? Maybe Lurie paid them more.

NFL needs an NHL-style offsetting embellishment penalty for nonsense like that.

There may not be any more punts tonight.

Pats score again! back and forth!!

Now, first forcing a FG will win.

Brady with 403 passing yards in the 3rd quarter. He's gonna break his own record.

This is a weird game. Brady has been on fire, but the Pats' defense is garbage. And what the heck has happened to the Philly defense? Their vaunted pass rush??

Brady with 403 passing yards in the 3rd quarter. He's gonna break his own record.

I have a feeling with all this offense, this game will end on a turnover.

BTW glad I bet the over in the game.

Now the Pats' D isn't even forcing second down.

The clement to was a catch. The ball moved but was under control the entire time. Or at least there wasn’t indisputable evidence that he lost control.

Do you give up the points there if the result of the penalty is 4th and 1?

The virtual images of the players for stats are so bad.

What's up with those avatars? Is there any need for an obviously computer generated Brady?

Eagles defense wearing down.

Single covering Gronk? Why??

Just because Philly seems to be on to them, New England is going to give up completely on their kickoff strategy? What is going on here?

Why call picks on 4th and 1 when you’re not calling anything else...

Great decision to go for it there. I really want the Eagles to win just because I like seeing guts rewarded.

This one looks like a catch to me. Watch it get overturned...

This can't possibly be overturned what are they talking about?

Looked like Ertz had 3 feet down first

The ball doesn't come out until he's rolling over and then catches it again before it hits the ground. I think that has to be a catch.

How is this a catch rule issue? He took three steps with control, he should be a runner.

I don't understand what Collinsworth is complaining about.

Geez does anyone know what a catch is

The refs missed DPI by a Pats player? I'm shocked.

Killer fumble.

I don't like the Eagles' playcalling after the fumble.

I get the increase of trick plays in general towards the end of the playoffs, but BELICHICK is getting too cute by half? What a weird game

Good job by the Eagles. When both defenses were playing awful in the 2nd half, the Eagles got the key turnover to put the game out of reach.

Very unimpressive performance by the Pats' defense. Great coaching by Doug Pederson. McDaniels pissed me off a number of times in the first half. I'm also interested in the benching of Malcolm Butler. Was it the after-effects of the flu or a disciplinary matter? Aside from Gilmore the secondary was a disaster.

Best wishes to Matt Patricia in Detroit and, presumably, Josh McDaniels in Indy. Now you guys get to put up with his decision-making!

Crazy game. Congrats Eagles- although it may come with an asterisk, due to that controversial last TD.

It appears N.E. has a jinx vs. NFC East teams in the SB.

LOL my TV reception went out literally while that last pass attempt was in the air. No big deal since it fell incomplete and didn't matter much, but funny timing.

Pats put 613 yards on the board and never punt. Yet, they lost.

Guess the terrible D's finally showed up. Without Butler that was more probable.

As a Pats' fan, I admit I felt 1/10th of the thrill I had last year (2014-2011-2007 were sky-rocketing) coming into the game. Maybe it was the same for the defense.

Would've been interesting if the Eagles had been able to run the whole clock down and kicked a FG to win it as time expired. Then we would've had the bizarre phenomenon of a team scoring a TD on EVERY possession of the second half, but losing. Has that ever happened? I doubt it.

The Ertz TD was a no-brainer, as much as was the Jesse James' overturn. The Clement one was more tricky, but if they had not enough evidence...

Common Sense One, Evil Zero.

Though for the life of me i can;t understand going for 2 up 15-3 in the first half or running on 2nd and 6 with the 2 minute warning about to stop the clock anyway and NE out of timeouts.

On Catch One, he did not JUGGLE the ball. He moved it from one hand to the other never losing control. left foot was down already-- Touchdown.

On Catch Two, Ertz took three steps and then leaped for the end zone. That was not Jesse James, as bad a bastardization as that was-- the New England defense was awful when it counted most, and one trick pass to a QB worked, and the other didn't.

So it goes...

So Philly went 14-0 in games in which they won or tied the TO battle. That fumble was huge. They lose without it.

NE's defense was worse than their offense was good. Their key all year.

Congrats to the Eagles. They outplayed the Pats. Great game.

I do wonder what the game would have been like if the refs had actually called, you know, penalties. There's let them play, and then there's this. Would have been lower score, I think.

But to any Pats fans whining about the "questionable" TD calls for the Eagles:

* It wouldn't have mattered. Four points fewer, the Pats would have been trailing by 1 in the penultimate drive, and the Pats still would have been driving the same way at the end, Graham still would have forced the fumble, and the Pats still would have needed a Hail Mary to win.

* Barring the possible illegal formation call on the trick Foles catch, the refs got them right. The Ertz TD was very clearly a catch--Ertz caught the ball and established himself as a runner. He went to the ground not as part of a catch, but because of an attempted tackle by McCourty. So it was a TD the moment the ball broke the plane. And the Clement TD was *probably* a catch--yes, the ball moves, but it appeared to be intentional on the part of the receiver (tucking it closer) and he never appear to not be in control of the ball. Had a Pats hand caused the move, it would have been different. But there was insufficient evidence to suggest that he wasn't in control.

Good game, and happy for Philly fans who finally have their first SB win.