The Patriots have not only shown a more consistent offense than Philadelphia’s–with a balanced mix of run and pass–its Special Teams are, in a word, “special.”
What: Super Bowl LII, for the championship of the National Football League
When: 6:30 p.m. (ET), Sunday, Feb. 4
Where: US Bank Stadium; Minneapolis, Minnesota (73,000)
NFC champions (visitors): Philadelphia Eagles, 15-3, NFC East champions, No. 1 seed
AFC champions (home): New England Patriots, 15-3, AFC East champions, No. 1 seed
TV: WBAL-TV, Channel 11 (Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, booth; Michele Tafoya, sidelines)
Radio: WJZ-FM, 105.7 (Kevin Harlan, Boomer Esiason, Mike Holmgren, booth; Ed Werder, Tony Boselli, sidelines)
About The Super Bowl
– –This Super Bowl will be the second to be held in Minneapolis and the first since Super Bowl XXVI (Redskins-Bills, Metrodome). It will be the sixth held in a northern-tier city, following one in Minneapolis, two in Detroit (XVI, XL), one in Indianapolis (XLVI) and the only outdoor northern game, in New Jersey (XLVIII). This year US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis – which opened in July, 2016 – will host the Super Bowl, the 24th different stadium to do so. It will be the 17th Super Bowl to be played either under a fixed dome or with a retractable roof closed.
–Miami and New Orleans have hosted ten Super Bowls each, but both cities have used two different stadiums to host the game. The Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans has hosted the most Super Bowls, with seven. There have been six Super Bowls held at college-campus stadiums–three at Tulane (IV, VI, IX) and one each at Arizona State (XXX), Rice (VIII) and Stanford (XIX). The warmest Super Bowl was VII (Miami-Washington) at the Los Angeles Coliseum (84 degrees) and the coldest was VI (Dallas-Miami) in New Orleans–an outdoor game at Tulane played in 39-degree chill.
–This year’s Super Bowl will be the 16th to be played in the month of February, and the 14th consecutive game to be pushed into the year’s second month. The first February Super Bowl was XXXVI (Rams-Patriots), which was moved back by necessity, as that season’s Week Two slate of games was postponed due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks (and made up in early January). Due to fewer playoff rounds and fewer teams in the league at the time, the earliest Super Bowl by date was XI (Raiders-Vikings), which was played on January 9, 1977. The latest games took place on February 7, which has occurred twice (XLIV, 50).
–New England is participating in its tenth Super Bowl (5-4), breaking its own record for the most by any franchise–further relegating Dallas (5-3), Pittsburgh (6-2) and Denver (3-5) to second place with eight each. However, the Patriots have four losses in the big game–tied for second-most with Buffalo and Minnesota (0-4 each). It could become the second team with a record-tying fifth Super Bowl loss, matching Denver’s total.
–The NFC representative (prior to 1970, the pre-merger NFL champion) has won 26 Super Bowls, only one more than their AFC opponents (or pre-merger AFL champions). It has been rather even lately with the two conferences splitting the last ten. But the AFC champion has won four of the last five Super Bowls. Only four Super Bowls have featured comebacks of ten or more points by the winning team: Washington (XXII), New Orleans (XLIV), New England (XLIX) and the Patriots’ 25-point rally last year.
–Since the current seeded postseason format was instituted in 1990, only seven Super Bowls, including the upcoming Philadelphia-New England matchup, have featured the No. 1 seeds from each conference. Last year Atlanta was the No. 2 NFC seed, breaking a streak of three Super Bowls that saw the top seeds square off. New England is the designated home team and will have jersey choice. Teams with choice usually choose dark home tops, but the Patriots will wear white. Teams with jersey choice are 21-30 in Super Bowls, but teams wearing white jerseys–whether they had a choice or not–have won 12 of the last 13 games.
–-As the home team New England will have its logo painted in the right-side end zone and occupy the far-side bench at US Bank Stadium. Philadelphia, the designated visiting team, will have its logo painted in the left-side end zone and occupy the near-side bench. The Eagles were the first to arrive in Minneapolis on Sunday. The Patriots flew in on Monday
–Teams that win the coin toss are 23-28 in Super Bowls. Ever since deferring the choice became an option, teams that have done so have lost five of eight times. Teams that led at halftime Bowl are 37-11. Three games have been tied at the half–Super Bowl XLIX (Seattle-New England, 14-14), Super Bowl XXXIX (Philadelphia-New England, 7-7), and Super Bowl XXIII (Cincinnati-San Francisco, 3-3). Teams that score first are 34-17 in Super Bowls. Last year, Atlanta’s opening score broke a string of six straight eventual winners that had scored first.
–There have been ten kick-return scores in Super Bowl history, but only four by members of the eventual winning team, including two by the Ravens (Desmond Howard, XXXI; Jermaine Lewis, XXXV; Jacoby Jones, XLVII; Percy Harvin, XLVIII). In Super Bowl XLI, Chicago’s Devin Hester became the only player to run back an opening kickoff for a touchdown. Two players have run back the second-half kickoff for a score–Baltimore’s Jones (XLVII) and Seattle’s Harvin (XLVIII). There has never been a punt-return touchdown in a Super Bowl. The longest such runback was 61 yards by Denver’s Jordan Norwood in Super Bowl 50 against Carolina. There had never been an overtime Super Bowl … until last year when New England outlasted Atlanta.
–There have been ten missed extra points during Super Bowls, including one by New England’s Stephen Gostkowski last year, and just nine two-point conversions, including one by New England’s James White last year. There have been six fumble returns for Super Bowl touchdowns (including two by Dallas in Super Bowl XXVII). Teams are 4-2 when accomplishing that feat. There have been 15 interception returns for scores in Super Bowls (including two by Tampa Bay in Super Bowl XXXVII), but only one by a member of the eventual losing team, namely, Atlanta’s Robert Alford, last year.
–There have been 29 different head or assistant coaches who have won Super Bowls with at least two different teams. They include current Baltimore defensive coordinator Dean Pees and ex-Ravens assistants Gary Kubiak, Wilbert Montgomery, Jim Caldwell, Milt Jackson and Russ Purnell. Kubiak was the first to win Super Bowls as a player and head coach with the same team. There have been 20 individuals to win titles as both a player and coach, including ex-Baltimore offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh and assistant coach Todd Washington, who played for Tampa Bay in Super Bowl XXXVII.
–While New England quarterback Tom Brady will appear in his record eighth Super Bowl – more than any player at any position – Philadelphia’s Nick Foles will start his first. Quarterbacks who have started only one Super Bowl during their careers are 14-25.
–As is the case with most Super Bowl opponents, New England and Philadelphia haven’t played each other that often. The teams met in Super Bowl XXXIX, but haven’t clashed in regular-season play since 2015. New England has won four of the last five meetings, while the Eagles lead the lifetime series, 7-5.
–-There have been 49 players to win the Super Bowl with more than one team. They include Baltimore Colts linebacker Ted Hendricks, quarterback Earl Morrall and center Bill Curry, as well as Ravens players Robert Bailey, Billy Davis, Marcus Nash, Shannon Sharpe and Harry Swayne. Philadelphia’s Nick Foles is only the third Super Bowl starting quarterback to wear #9. The others are 1-1 (Jim McMahon, Chicago, XX; and Steve McNair, Tennessee, XXXIV). New England’s Tom Brady wears #12 – the most frequent number in Super Bowl history. And those signal-callers are 16-12 in Super Bowls.
–-Seven Super Bowls have been played just one week after the conference title games, and those games have had an average final margin of 11.4 points. The other Super Bowls, played after a two-week break, have had an average margin of 14.6 points.
–-In 51 previous Super Bowls, quarterbacks have been named the game MVP 28 times, including after eight of the last 11 games. The MVP trophy was named after late commissioner Pete Rozelle following Super Bowl XXV.
–Before Super Bowl V, the winners’ trophy was affixed with the name of the late Green Bay and Washington head coach, Vince Lombardi. The trophy is a sterling silver trophy created by Tiffany & Company. It’s a regulation-size silver football mounted in a kicking position on a pyramid-like stand of three concave sides. The trophy stands 20.75 inches tall, weighs 107.3 ounces, and is valued in excess of $25,000. The words “Vince Lombardi” and “Super Bowl LII” are engraved on the base, along with the NFL shield.
–The Lombardi Trophy will be carried to the post-game victory platform by a yet-to-be-announced football dignitary. This practice was instituted at Super Bowl XL in Detroit (Seahawks-Steelers). Those who have performed this task in the past have included former Baltimore Colts coach Don Shula, Navy quarterback Roger Staubach, and Colts receiver Raymond Berry.
–There have been 19 pairs of fathers and sons that have played in Super Bowls and 28 sets of brothers. The relatives include Ravens defenders Peter Boulware (Michael, with Seattle), Cornell Brown (Ruben, with Buffalo), Ma’ake Kemoeatu (Chris, with Pittsburgh), Jamie Sharper (Darren, with Green Bay) and Arthur Jones (Chandler, with New England).
–The oldest player to ever appear in a Super Bowl was ex-Ravens kicker Matt Stover. He was with Indianapolis at the time (42 years, 11 days). The youngest player was Ravens running back Jamal Lewis, who as 21 years, 155 days on gameday.
–Veteran referee Gene Steratore will work his first Super Bowl as the lead official. He has been an NFL official for 15 years, 12 as a head referee. The crew named to the game has a combined 127 years’ worth of NFL experience. Steratore, a part-time college basketball official, was the alternate at Super Bowl XLIV (Saints-Colts). Retired referee Jerry Markbreit holds the record with four Super Bowl assignments. Norm Schachter, Jim Tunney, Pat Haggerty, Bob McElwee and former Howard County high school ref Terry McAulay have done three Super Bowls each.
–-NBC will televise this year’s Super Bowl, its 19th, which ties it with CBS for the most Super Bowl broadcasts. The two networks each aired Super Bowl I with different announcers and camera crews. Fox has done eight Super Bowls. ABC, which is not part of the current Super Bowl telecast rotation, has shown seven. CBS will show next year’s game, which will be played Feb. 3, 2019, at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
–The Super Bowl has kicked off at 6 p.m. or later (ET) each year since Super Bowl XXVI (Bills-Redskins). The last Super Bowl to be played entirely in daylight was Super Bowl XI (Vikings-Raiders) in Pasadena.
–NBC’s Al Michaels will do play-by-play on his tenth Super Bowl (six with ABC, four with NBC), one short of Pat Summerall’s record of 11. Summerall did color analysis on four additional Super Bowls. Dick Enberg called eight Super Bowls and Curt Gowdy did seven. Joe Buck has done five games, while Ray Scott and Jim Nantz have called four Super Bowls each. Greg Gumbel and Jack Buck have each done one title game. Working the sidelines this year will be Michele Tafoya, a Minneapolis resident…
–Former Cincinnati wide receiver Cris Collinsworth will work his fourth Super Bowl as a booth analyst. He has called three for NBC and one for Fox, which just happened to be the first New-England Philadelphia matchup (XXXIX). Kevin Harlan will have the Westwood One radio call for an eighth straight year. Harlan succeeded Marv Albert. Ex-Maryland quarterback Boomer Esiason will work with Harlan for his 18th consecutive Super Bowl assignment.
—The highest-rated Super Bowl was XVI (49ers-Bengals) posted a 49.1 reading. But the most viewers were tuned in during last year’s game. Over 172 million fans watched at least a part of the broadcast.
—Over 3.9 million fans have watched Super Bowls in person. The largest crowd was nearly 104,000 at the Rose Bowl to watch Pittsburgh and the Los Angeles Rams (XIV). The smallest crowd (61,946) showed up for the first-ever Super Bowl between Green Bay and Kansas City at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum…
–This year’s Super Bowl will pay out a record $112,000 per man to the winning team and $56,000 per man to the losing players. Those figures are up a respective $5,000 and $3,000 from last year. This year’s game marks the fifth straight year the payouts have increased.
–Serving as honorary coin-toss captains will be 15 Medal Of Honor winners, 13 from the Army, two from the Navy, and two members of the Marine Corps. A veteran of the Battle of Iwo Jima will toss the coin.
–Pop singer Pink has been tapped to sing the national anthem. “America The Beautiful” will be performed by Leslie Odom, Jr., who is a cast member of the blockbuster play, “Hamilton: An American Musical.” Justin Timberlake will perform at halftime and it will be his third Super Bowl appearance (XXXV with *NSYNC, XXXVIII with Janet Jackson). he pregame on-site concert will be headlined by “American Idol” debut season winner, Kelly Clarkson.
Joey P’s Game Prediction
Despite New England’s two-decade dominance of the NFL and multiple Super Bowl successes, all of their winning appearances have had one thing in common: they have been close, hard-fought contests, with the Patriots getting the big play needed to win. That will be tough to do against an aggressive, opportunistic Philadelphia defense.
But, thanks to Brady, New England is better than Philly at sustaining long drives. The Pats have not only shown a more consistent offense with a balanced mix of run and pass, its Special Teams are in a word “special.”
If New England is careful with the ball, the Patriots should be able to pull out another close game.
New England 26, Philadelphia 23
