MINNEAPOLIS -- The 52nd Super Bowl will be played here at Minneapolis' U.S. Bank Stadium, with the NFC holding a 26-25 advantage in overall winners. But when it comes to dominant teams in the Super Bowl era, two quickly come to mind: Patriots and Steelers.
No team has more Super Bowl wins than the Steelers' six. And no organization has more Super Bowl appearances than the nine the Patriots have made. With a win Sunday over the Eagles, the Patriots would match the Steelers with six victories. And those six will have all come within a 17-year span. The Steelers' six have been accumulated over a 34-year period.
Yes, the Steelers' first four came in a six-year burst. From 1974-79, the Steelers were the dominant team in the NFL. But they didn't win another championship until 2005, with the next coming in 2008.
In terms of short-term dominance in the Super Bowl era, the Steelers have the edge. New England won three championships in four seasons from 2001 through 2004 and can match that streak by beating the Eagles Sunday. But the Patriots also went nine seasons between their last Super Bowl win of the early Tom Brady era, winning in 2004, and the championship at the end of the 2014 season that started this latest run. In between those, the Patriots also lost two Super Bowls.
There's also the fact that the only two connections between those New England teams from the early 2000s and the ones of now are Brady and head coach Bill Belichick. But that's a pretty strong connection.
Tony Dungy, who played for the Steelers at the end of their Super Bowl run in the 1970s and began his long coaching career in Pittsburgh, said the search for the NFL's top dynasty might even go beyond the Steelers and Patriots.
Dungy, now an analyst for NBC's Football Night in America, said he might go back even deeper into history.
"Well, you'd have to look at the longevity," Dungy told Masslive.com. "In the 50s it was Otto Graham and the Browns and they did it for a decade, and then Packers did it for a decade, and then Dallas, and the 49ers were close in terms of doing it with two different groups -- coach (Bill) Walsh passed it along to George Seifert. But to stay from 2001 to 2017, to maintain the excellence for 17 years, it's pretty amazing.
"Would you say it's better than the Browns in the 50s? Probably not, but to do it for that long period of time, it's pretty incredible."
Under head coach Paul Brown, Cleveland won four All-American Football Conference championships from 1946-1949 before joining the NFL. The Browns then put together a string where they advanced to the NFL Championship seven times in eight seasons, winning three times. After a short lull, the Browns appeared in four more championships from 1964 through 1969, giving them 19 championship game appearances in 24 seasons with eight victories. (The last two were NFL championship games whose winner played the AFL champion in the Super Bowl.)
Ironically, Cleveland is one of just four NFL franchises to have never appeared in the Super Bowl. Detroit, Jacksonville and the Houston Texans are the others.
Whether you like that pre-NFL merger run by the Browns, the Packers of the 1960s, 49ers of the 1980s or early 1990s Dallas teams, it's undeniable the Patriots have placed themselves in the conversation with the Steelers as the most successful franchise of the Super Bowl era. A win Sunday would only magnify that.
THE ESSENTIALS
• When: 6:30 p.m..
• Where: U.S. Bank Stadium
• Streaming: FuboTV
• Radio: 93.7 The Fan
• Satellite: SiriusXM 82 (Patriots) 83 (Eagles)
• Forecast: Indoors
• Boxscore: NFL Game Center
• Odds: MyBookie.AG
THE INJURY REPORT
Patriots: None to report
Eagles: None to report
THE KEY VARIABLE
If previous Super Bowl experience means anything, the Patriots, of course, have a big advantage over the Eagles. Though they turn their roster over as much as, if not more than, any team in the league, the Patriots still have 41 players on their roster who have appeared in a combined 73 Super Bowls.
Philadelphia, on the other hand, has seven players on its roster who have played in a Super Bowl. Two of those, running back LeGarrette Blount and defensive end Chris Long, did so with the Patriots last year.
Brady has played in seven Super Bowls himself.
"It's a brand new team, so I wouldn't say last year's experience will have anything to do with the outcome of this game," New England defensive end Trey Flowers said. "This team has a lot of different guys from a year ago, so it's something you've got to do all over again as far as experience goes."
One of those new players is former Steelers linebacker James Harrison, picked up by the Patriots following his release by Pittsburgh Dec. 23, who will be trying to win his third Super Bowl ring in his fourth career trip.
Harrison was a special teams contributor in his first Super Bowl against Seattle in 2006, recording three special teams tackles. He made perhaps the defensive play of the game -- and perhaps playoff history -- in Super Bowl XLII, returning a Kurt Warner interception a Super Bowl-record 100 yards at the end of the first half for a touchdown to go along with four tackles. In Pittsburgh's Super Bowl loss to Green Bay in 2011, Harrison recorded one sack and one tackle.
I asked Harrison how much he expects to play in this Super Bowl.
"I don't know," he said. "It really doesn't matter. I'll do whatever or play however much they need me to."
THE STORYLINE
When Brady won his first Super Bowl in 2002, Eagles quarterback Nick Foles was just 13 years old. Yep, barely a teenager.
And if the Eagles had their druthers, it would not be Brady vs. Foles Sunday. Instead, it would be a quarterback who is even younger. Foles, after all, is replacing injured Carson Wentz, who, at 25, was just nine when Brady won his first Super Bowl.
Turning to your backup quarterback is never ideal for a Super Bowl team. But it's not like Foles is the first backup to lead his team to the NFL's title game. And it wouldn't be unprecedented for him to win it.
In fact, in the 2001 season, Brady himself was an injury replacement for Drew Bledsoe. But he played well enough that year to keep the job even after Bledsoe returned, though Bledsoe did finish off New England's 24-17 win over the Steelers in the AFC Championship that season after Brady was injured in the first half.
Foles knows he's just holding down the spot for Wentz, Philadelphia's top pick in 2016 who suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 14.
“Any time you step in for a guy when he gets injured is tough because you never want to see anyone get injured,” Foles said. “I work with Carson every single day. I feel for him. We’re people. We care for one another You see the true test of a man’s character when things like this happen. Carson is a man of high character. We all see that now. I knew it before. For him to go through this trial in his life is a big one. Just how he’s handled it has been amazing.”
How Foles has handled things has been pretty amazing, as well. He led the Eagles to two wins in their final three games. Then, he helped them knock off Atlanta and Minnesota in back-to-back weeks in the playoffs to reach this spot.
Foles is vying to become the third quarterback with two or fewer wins in the regular season to lead his team to a Super Bowl. Jeff Hostetler did it in 1990 with the Giants, while Doug Williams led the Redskins to a Super Bowl victory in 1987.
Heck, Terry Bradshaw was originally a backup in 1974. Chuck Noll opened the season with Joe Gilliam at quarterback for the first six games before eventually turning to Bradshaw.
Foles has done a pretty good job of replicating Wentz' production. Wentz posted a 101.9 passer rating in the regular season, throwing for just under 3,300 yards with 33 touchdowns and seven interceptions. In his five starts, including the playoffs, Foles has thrown for 1,037 yards with eight touchdowns and two interceptions.
Foles did struggle mightily in his first start in place of Wentz -- in a shutout loss to Dallas -- but has played well since. Part of that was developing a plan with quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo, offensive coordinator Frank Reich and head coach Doug Pederson.
"He’s not afraid to tell us what he likes. He’s been great communicating that," DeFilippo said. "I think that’s why you’re seeing a better product on the field the last couple of weeks.”
THE MAIN MATCHUP
Facing Brady is never an easy task for any defense. After all, the four-time Super Bowl MVP owns a 27-9 record in postseason games, including a 5-2 record in Super Bowls.
One thing the Patriots' QB has not done in his career -- perhaps the only thing in his 18 seasons -- is lead his team to a score in the first quarter of a Super Bowl. That's right, Tom Terrific has been a slow starter in the NFL's biggest game.
“There is a little caveat to that, in my opinion,” Brady said. “In 2007, it was our first drive of the game and it just happened to be the first play of the second quarter (that we scored).
“But you’re right: I’d love to score 21 points in the first quarter if we can, but obviously this (Eagles) defense is going to make it really tough for us.”
If Brady does get out of the gate slowly, he could find himself trailing against the Eagles. Philadelphia outscored its opponents by a healthy 92-62 margin in the first quarter of its games this season. And the Eagles scored 179 points in the second quarter of their games. If the Patriots fall behind, this is a team that will be difficult to come back against, like the Patriots did last year when they rebounded from a 28-3 deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl 51.
The Eagles feel like they might have the defense to control Brady if their offense gets a lead.
"We never get talked about," Philadelphia's disruptive defensive tackle Fletcher Cox said. "That's our story. Nobody talks about the Eagles defense. But at the same time, we finished top five in a bunch of categories."
The Eagles did, including leading the league in rushing defense. They also finished fourth in total defense and points allowed and third in defensive third down conversion percentage.
But, do they have what it takes to beat Brady and company?
Even though Philadelphia ranked just 15th in the league with 38 sacks, they led the NFL in quarterback pressure. According to Pro Football Focus, the Eagles pressured opposing quarterbacks on 40.8 percent of their dropbacks.
The Eagles typically rush only four players -- "If we have to blitz, we're in trouble," Cox said -- but they have an eight-man rotation of defensive linemen who all play and are disruptive.
"These guys really play hard," Belichick said. "There's no plays off, so you have to block them on every play. You can't get away from them. There's nowhere to go. You have to deal with that front down after down. They wear you down. It's a huge strength for their defense."
But Brady's biggest strength has always been getting rid of the ball quickly and decisively to the right player. That will be critical in this matchup.
"The biggest thing watching him is that there's no panic. It's just business as usual with him," Pederson said of Brady. "When the team has the lead, you just got to make sure you continue to play ball and you've got to play for 60 minutes. He's obviously one of the best quarterbacks at bringing teams back and he's proven it time and time again. He did it a couple of weeks ago. I just think that's something, as quarterbacks, you're always remembered for Super Bowl wins, but for him too. It's how he's gotten some of these wins and that's a special thing."
"I'll put you on the list, yeah," -- Belichick, the joker, when asked by a reporter if he could get four tickets for the Super Bowl.
"I'm not here to talk about any (Super Bowl dreams). All I can tell you is, we're coming home with that trophy." -- Alshon Jeffery, Philadelphia receiver
"Straight enemies. Ain't no friends. Ain't no homies. None of that. We know what we're going to do. They know what they're going to do. We both have the same goal in mind. There aren't any hard feelings, it just is what it is. I play for the Eagles now. I don't play for the Patriots, anymore. I don't watch the Patriots. I don't care about the Patriots. I just focus on what we need to do to put us in the best position to win this game. I had a great time there last year, but, last year is last year." -- Blount, former Patriot turned Eagle
THE TEN DATA POINTS
• Brady needs 279 yards to surpass 10,000 career playoff passing yards. He, of course, already holds the NFL postseason record for passing yards.
• The Patriots have 19 players on their roster whom they drafted (36 percent). The Eagles have 27 players they have drafted (51 percent) on their roster.
• The Patriots and Eagles have met just 13 times in their history. Philadelphia leads the all-time series, 7-6. But the Patriots did beat the Eagles in the Super Bowl in 2005, 24-21.
• The Eagles are 0-2 in previous Super Bowl appearances and are one of just 13 NFL franchises to have not won one.
• The Patriots are trying to become the ninth team to win back-to-back Super Bowls. They did it once before, after the 2003 and 2004 seasons. The Steelers have done it twice.
• The Eagles have held their last four opponents to 10 or fewer points, including giving up just 17 combined points in their two playoff wins.
• In three career playoff games, Philadelphia's Nick Foles has completed 72 of 96 (75.0%) attempts for 793 yards, 5 touchdowns, 0 interceptions and a 116.4 passer rating.
• The Patriots have 13 playoff wins in this decade. They can match the NFL record for postseason wins in a decade with a win today that is held by the 1970s Steelers and Cowboys and Patriots of the 2000s.
• Despite having five Super Bowl victories, the Patriots have never won a Super Bowl by more than six points, that coming in overtime last year against Atlanta. Because of that, and two blowout losses in their first two trips to the Super Bowl, New England has been outscored 238-200 in its previous nine trips.
• Rob Gronkowski (1,084) and Brandin Cooks (1,082) both had more than 1,000 receiving yards for New England this season. Philadelphia's leader was tight end Zach Ertz with 824 yards.
THE TOP BETS
Typically, this would be where I would make my top fantasy play. But since there really isn't any fantasy football interest in the Super Bowl, I figured I would add a few of the proposition bets I like in this one. First up is over 200 1/2 rushing yards. While the Eagles had the NFL's best run defense in the regular season, the Patriots ranked 10th in the league in rushing offense, while the Eagles were third. These are two of the better rushing offenses in the league. They'll top 201 yards.
The second prop I like is the Eagles to score first. As previously mentioned, the Patriots haven't scored in the first quarter in seven previous Super Bowls with Brady. Why not bet on that to continue? And the odds (+115) are actually good.
THE STAFF PICKS
Our football coverage team offers predictions:
Dale Lolley: Experience can matter in a game like this and the Patriots have a big edge in that. But the Eagles are accustomed to playing the underdog role and won't blink. They have a very good running game and a defense that is capable of getting after Brady. I picked against the Eagles in both of their previous playoff games because I didn't think Foles would be able to get the job done. I'm not doubting him any longer. The Patriots have never blown an opponent out in a Super Bowl and I don't think that happens here, either. Philadelphia's use of run-pass options will keep New England's defense on edge and that could be the difference. This game opened with the Patriots favored by 5 1/2 and the line has moved to 4 1/2, meaning the sharps in Las Vegas think the Eagles can win. So do I. Eagles, 26-24
Christopher Carter: The Patriots have been pulling off close comeback after close comeback over the past two seasons and face another team that has a strong ground game with a tough defense. The Eagles have been riding the wave with their backup quarterback and they absolutely have a chance to win. But the Patriots are a defense that wait for you to revert back to your primary threats on offense and the Eagles are eventually going to resort to their running game when the going gets tough. The Eagles need to pull out all the stops and take to the air in those moments to beat Belichick, but they’ll probably play not to lose and wind up playing into the Patriots’ hands. Patriots, 20-17.
Matt Sunday: I know three things about the Super Bowl: Tom Brady wins them. The NFC East wins against the Patriots. Justin Timberlake will absolutely have some kind of guest during the halftime show, despite every effort to say it’s a solo act. Despite having a chance to see three West Virginia players I have covered in my career win a Super Bowl, and despite the entirety of Pittsburgh hoping the Steelers remain on top of the Super Bowl wins column, I like Tom Brady in the end. Patriots, 33-24
Dejan Kovacevic: I haven't accepted that New England's had a championship-level defense from the season's opening kickoff, and I won't accept that it's improved much in the interim. I have accepted that Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski can overcome a lot of ills, which is how the Patriots are right back in the main event for the millionth time. That leaves, obviously, a lot of middle ground. And I'll fill that ground by looking at this exceptional, physical, snarling Philadelphia defense and presume they'll do what others couldn't: Get to Brady. If they do, the rest won't matter. Eagles, 31-30