It’s that time of year again. For most sports fans across the country, Super Bowl weekend is one of the most heavily anticipated weekends in sports. As a lifelong Philadelphia sports fan though, it is becoming routine to a depressing tee. Just yet another season we will be devoid of a sports championship. It’s almost not fair: Boston has 34 championships between the Patriots, Celtics, Bruins, and Red Sox, with a third of them coming in the past two decades. Philadelphia has seven titles, with six of them being over thirty to forty years old.
New England Patriots: Let me put this out there: Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback in NFL history, regardless if he wins this year. Year after year, he makes the Patriots a contending team regardless of his receivers and running backs. It’s a patchwork offense with no big name players aside from Gronk, but it has been a top offense all year, as well as the most efficient offense in the league thanks to Brady. This year his corps feature utility man Julian Edelman and the glass superman Rob Gronkowski who are expected to run the offense, and they are backed up by breakout player Brandon LaFell and recent resurgent Danny Amendola. With Bill Belichick, nobody really knows who the starting running back will be, but the most likely candidate will be journeyman LeGarrette Blount, who has had a monster postseason so far. Defensively, the Patriots have been top 5 in nearly every category, as shown in their dominating performance against Andrew Luck’s Colts. With ace kicker Stephen Gostkowski and a very solid special teams, the Patriots are primed to win it all.
Who wins? Both teams are built very similarly. Both have the offensive capabilities to run away with it, yet both have the defenses to always keep them in the game. Both have power running games and quarterbacks who can pull off impossible game winning drives. It will all come down to who finishes with the ball I think, as the game will be very close. So who wins? I will take the Patriots 24-17.
Megan Keating 
Natasha Chaillou 
Paul McConnell