In January, guys like Aaron Rodgers make plays like this:
And guys like Marshawn Lynch do things like this:
January is powerful. It turned Peyton Manning, the greatest regular-season quarterback of all-time, into just another guy. And January turned Joe Flacco, just another guy, into $120 million.
Two men have dominated football in the first month of the year unlike any others, and it’s why once again, they will play in calendar month two. LIII is the ninth Super Bowl appearance in the duo’s 18 seasons. That’s right, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have played in their sport’s biggest game at an every-other-year clip for almost two decades.
But February football is different than January football.
February football is bizarre. It’s quieter – played at a neutral site in front of stuffy corporate sponsors. The last game of the season is the first in which both teams have two weeks to prepare. It’s the only game with a 40-minute intermission instead of the usual 20 minutes.
Both teams arrive at the venue a week in advance for this strange game because it’s the only with the circus known as media day:
The engineers of the league’s longest dynasty have struggled, by their imperial standards, in the Super Bowl. Since 2001, the Patriots are 5-3 in the biggest game of the year with a measly margin of victory: 3.8 points (compared to 9.1 average MOV in the regular season.) Also, Tom Brady’s Patriots, a team notorious for jumping out to early leads, has failed to score in the first quarter of the Super Bowl in eight out of nine appearances.
While the strength of the Patriots’ Super Bowl opponents is certainly the most obvious factor, the abnormalities of February’s lone game are tough to ignore. Consider some of the bizarre things we have seen in the Super Bowl in recent years:
- 2013: The game was put on hold for nearly 40 minutes in the 3rd quarter due to a power outage in the stadium.
- 2014: The greatest statistical offense in NFL history (39 points/game) was limited to 8 points.
- 2015: Pete Carroll neglected to give the ball to Marshawn Lynch on the one-yard line.
- 2016: (Ok, so nothing that crazy happened between the lines in 2015. But a confused dancing shark and a kiss between Peyton Manning and Papa John made major headlines.)
- 2017: The largest comeback in Super Bowl history. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
- 2018: The NFL’s winningest coach benched a key defensive starter and proceeded to allow 538 yards of offense (and a RECEIVING touchdown) to a backup QB.
So, regardless of the outcome of the Super Bowl, two things will once again be true:
- Patriots fans will watch their team play the first weekend of February.
- Something weird will happen.
Hold onto your guac.