SuperBowl Prediction

Let’s Get This Kicked Off

            Football has finally arrived my friends. The greatest time of the year, the time of year when fans of teams with no chance at the SuperBowl get tattoos, “____ 2018 SuperBowl champs!!” on their calves and everyone else kind of just laughs at them together. It is safe to say there is not a single sad football fan right now… until the season starts and 9ers and jets fans realize that they won’t be good for a very long time. But enough of that, time for me to start this season off with my SuperBowl prediction.

Raiders vs Falcons

            Now, my choice for the team that was coming out of the AFC was much easier than picking a team to come out of the NFC. The NFC every year is a tossup, there are always way too many good NFC teams for me to ever confidently pick one of those teams, however, this year is different and here’s why:

Falcons

            The Falcons offense was pretty close to unstoppable last season. Matt Ryan has proven to be a solid QB after having an MVP season last year, and he is still at the helm of that stacked offense. I am aware of Kyle Shanahan departing and that undoubtedly will make an impact, however, Dan Quinn is an excellent head coach and Falcons fans shouldn’t be too worried. There is one, fairly large, question mark here; their front office hired Steve Sarkisian, who has only ever called one game in his career – Alabama’s loss to Clemson in the most recent championship game – after being fired by USC in the middle of their 2015 season. Now I know that seems bad but the Falcons offense has enough weapons and experience to outplay any defense in the NFL, only time will tell how that will affect their offense. Did I mention they have the best receiver in the NFL?

            Their defense was the weak point in that team last year and it still was not that bad. Vic Beasley was nothing short of a monster last year, combine that with Dontari Poe, another solid DT in Jack Crawford and on top of that, they just drafted one of the best pass-rushing linebackers in this year’s draft class, Takkarist Mckinley. The Falcons should have a front that’s miles ahead of last year’s. Keanu Neal, Desmond Trufant and Robert Alford are all great DBs that can hold it down in the passing game, at least long enough for their pass rush to get to the QB.

Raiders

The Raiders are another team whose offense can be nothing short of dominant. That offensive line might be better than the cowboys this coming season. Put Beast Mode behind a line like that? They also have Derrick Carr at the helm of that offense, who has proven to be one of the best QBs in the league, and they gave him another weapon in Cordarrelle Patterson. Patterson being added to a receiving core that already included Michael Crabtree, Amari Cooper and Seth Roberts gives the Raiders an offense to be feared.

The Raiders DBs are stacked this year, Karl Joseph has proven to be a safety that plays a lot bigger than his size, Reggie Nelson has always been a great safety and Sean Smith is a lock down corner who comes up with a lot of pass deflections and can tackle fairly well. With the draft, the Raiders added a freak of nature, Obi Melifonwu, who had an insane NFL combine, and Gareon Conley who was one of the best corners in this year’s draft. Safe to say receivers are going to have a frustrating day when having to play against that secondary. Khalil Mack is probably the second-best pass-rushing linebackers in the NFL and if you made an argument that he is better than Von Miller I’d have a hard time disagreeing. On the other OLB position Bruce Irvin is always a great defender. The only real weakness that I can see in that defense is their middle front and that is only because they drafted and have chosen to let rookies take the helm of the nose tackle and middle linebacker position. So only time will tell how those players develop through the season.

Winner

The Raiders and Falcons, in my opinion, have the most talent and are the best prepared to make a SB run this year and I am a fan of how both coaches rebuilt these teams from the ground up, however, someone must win. I have the Raiders winning it all this year. The raiders defense is extremely talented in the secondary and will be one of the only defenses that can match up with the receiving core that the Falcons have and the Falcons don’t win games by running the ball. Both offenses are great but the Raiders defense is much better where it needs to be for this game. Raiders 31-21.