Esiason: Experience Gives Patriots 'Distinct Advantage' In Super Bowl LI
BOSTON (CBS) -- Tom Brady heads to his seventh Super Bowl to take on the Atlanta Falcons in Houston in two weeks. Clearly, the Patriots quarterback has a wealth of Super Bowl experience - compared to none for first-timer Matt Ryan.
The Falcons quarterback is red-hot heading into Super Bowl LI, but the Patriots do have a clear edge in the experience department, and not just at quarterback. Boomer Esiason touched on that when he joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich on Monday to talk about the Pats' AFC Championship Game win over the Pittsburgh Steelers and what to expect in the Super Bowl.
Esiason expects a high-scoring affair between two great quarterbacks leading high-powered offenses, but ultimately believes that the experience of the Patriots, particularly in their secondary compared to the Falcons' defense, sets them apart.
"I don't think Atlanta's played a defense remotely close to what we have here in New England. This is the lowest-scoring defense versus the highest-scoring offense," said Esiason. "I think both teams will score a lot of points in the Super Bowl. However, the experience factor, the secondary experience for the New England Patriots, gives them a distinct advantage in this game."
Esiason is as impressed as anyone at what Bill Belichick has done with the Patriots defense, which has played outstanding football in the second half of the season in the wake of the shocking Jamie Collins trade. Esiason believes it's a huge testament to how well the entire Patriots organization is run.
"The loss of all these players - Chandler Jones, Jamie Collins, and everything else - you see that those players are not needed," said Esiason. "And what that really points to is the brilliance of Bill Belichick, operating his football team like a business, knowing who his best players are, knowing where his money is best spent.
"Once again, it's literally been 17 years of utter brilliance. And to be able to do this in the salary cap era, and to do it as well as he and Brady have done it together, is really nothing short of a miracle and the best-run organization in all of sports these days."
The Patriots' win is not just another Super Bowl berth, either. The record-setting victory also comes with an air of added satisfaction in a season that saw Brady serve a four-game suspension for his alleged role in the DeflateGate controversy. Esiason hopes that, someday, Brady will actually tell his side of the story, even if it's 20 years from now.
"I just hope someday, Tom Brady writes a book," said Esiason. "Because maybe then we'll find out just how deep and how mind-bogglingly frustrating it must have been."
Esiason also touched upon the Patriots' great offensive performance without Rob Gronkowski and the tight end's future in New England. Listen to the full podcast below: