Photo Courtesy of nflrush.com

Matt Barrett ‘17  and Brian O’Neill ‘16

Collaborative Writers

This Sunday is Super Bowl XLIX, which means it’s time for game picks.

M.B:The last time the New England Patriots stepped foot in Reliant Stadiumthey found themselves not against the Cardinals, but against the New York Giants playing for the Super Bowl—not to mention a perfect 19-0 season.  This year the Patriots are out with a vengeance in Glendale, Arizona.

The Patriots will win this time in a game dominated by defense.  The Patriots defense looked sharp against the Colts two weeks ago were, holding the Colts to just 209 yards of total offense and were able to force two turnovers.

While the Patriots defense is improving, the Seahawks offense is stifling. The team struggled to win the NFC Championship game against he Green Bay Packers, winning in overtime.  The offense was inefficient and sloppy over the course of the game—quarterback Russell Wilson threw four interceptions.

In addition to the Seahawks recent offensive woes, their notorious defense and secondary will face the need to overcome the injuries of their two star defensive backs, Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas.The last time that the Seahawks faced the Patriots in 2012, both Thomas and Sherman intercepted Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

But with both players less than 100 percent healthy, Tom Brady will attack the secondary as he has done in both games this post season.  In just two games, Brady has thrown for 593 yards to go along with six touchdowns.  Besides this, the Patriots showed their ability to run the football against the Colts two weeks ago, for halfback LeGarrette Blount ran for 148 yards and three touchdowns.

The ultimate X-Factor, however, might be Bill Belichick.  The head coach always has something new and unique up his sleeve.  Against the Ravens, it was the controversial use of Shane Vereen as an ineligible receiver and against the Colts it was the use of wide receiver Julian Edelman as a quarterback. Belichick’s offense schemes make it difficult for any team to defend.

“He’s just a man,” said Richard Sherman on Tom Brady after the 2012 matchup.  But this time it will be Tom Brady showing that Richard Sherman is nothing but a man.  I like the Patriots 24-14.

B.O:I’ll start by saying that there isn’t anything more terrifying than a team that defines itself with a defensive edge. The Ravens in 2000, Buccaneers in 2002, and most recently the Seahawks in 2014, all had an alarming ability to force offenses into a hole.

The Patriots themselves are victims of losing to a defensively sounds team, when they lost to the Giants in the 2007 Super Bowl.  Sure, Eli Manning and David Tyree stole the headlines, but Michael Strahan and Justin Tuck won that agonizing 2007 Super Bowl in the trenches right in front of Brady’s eyes. They found a way to reach the record-breaking quarterback through what had been a nearly impenetrable offense line all year.

The Seahawks’ Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, and Earl Thomas are three of the best defensive backs in the league.  We all saw what happened last year when the number one offense went against the number one defense [Broncos vs. Seahawks].  The Seahawks dominated the entire game.  This season, the “Legion of Boom” has lived up to the standards they set for themselves, wreaking havoc on just about every offense they face.

All that being said, I’m still going to stick with the Patriots.  The Patriots are playing great on both sides of the football, especially on defense.  Despite allowing 344 yards per game in the regular season, they rank eighth in the NFL in point allowed per game, allowing just 19.6 per game.  This discrepancy is fostered by a “bend but don’t break” mentality: allow yards up until the red zone, then hunker down and force a frustrating field goal attempt.

If the Patriots can accomplish this and allow fewer than 20 points through four quarters, the game will be theirs for the taking.  Tom Brady will undoubtedly find a way to put points on the board as the game goes on, as small nagging injuries to Thomas and Sherman could be just enough to throw off the swagger that the Seahawk’s defense so heavily relies on.I have a feeling it might be Richard Sherman’s turn to be the “mad bro.” (In 2012, after the Seahawks defeated the Patriots, Richard Sherman said to Tom Brady after the game, “You mad bro?”)

Besides the football game on Sunday, people will tune in to watch the commercials, which usually cost the companies that advertise millions of dollars.  What’s the best Super Bowl commercial of all time?

M.B:“Bud Light, you gotta problem with that?”

This commercial still rings in my ears every time I see or hear the words Bud Light.  The commercial takes place in an adult English class where the teacher is solely showing the students how to order a Bud Light in different parts of the country.

The teacher shows the class how to order a Bud Light in south, New York, and East Los Angeles.  The teacher then asks the class what to say when they are asked for a Bud Light, to which they reply, “No speak English!”

This commercial made Super Bowl XLI all the more enjoyable to watch and was certainly a score for Anheuser Busch.

B.O:Puppies, Clydesdales, beautiful farms, beautiful people and a good ol’ Budweiser make up this Anheuser Busch classic.

In a typical departure from Budweiser Budvar’s much more light-hearted Bud Light campaigns, this darker beer warrants a true connection to the American heart. The commercial uses adorable animal relationships, adorable human relationships and a nice cool beer to wash it all down.  What could be better than watching a puppy and a horse run through fields together?

Budweiser gets a 10/10 for embracing what truly matters to the American people.