The Patriots-Eagles Rematch is shaping up to be a hotly contested game this Sunday in Minneapolis or Mini-Annapolis according to Patriots tight-end Rob Gronkowski, the resident intellectual. The Eagles pose one of the greatest threats to the Patriots dynasty because of their skill on both sides of the ball and consistency across the board. Philadelphia is overall more talented than most of the Patriots previous opponents over the last 15 years. They are most comparable talent-wise to Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks, who the Patriots met in the 2014 Super Bowl. The Eagles pose more of an aerial threat than the Seahawks with talented receivers, Alshon Jeffrey, Nelson Agholor and Tight-end Zach Ertz. The Eagles have depth in important positions and the ability to play exciting football, which is a foreign concept to the Patriots. Belichick’s coaching style does not rely on low percentage plays and trickery to win. Instead, he breaks down an opponent surgically and takes their will to win with him. The Patriots among other reasons are probably large influences to the strikingly lower ratings for the NFL this year. Leagues are no longer fun when one team has been dominant for the last fifteen years. The Patriots do not win every single year but it almost feels like they do. The road to the Super Bowl always seems to go through Foxborough, MA for AFC teams and NFC teams hit a brick wall when the reach the Big Game.

The return of the Patriots to Super Bowl LII draws the ire of many football fans around the country save for New England, who are relishing their team’s sustained level of success. Belichick has created a functioning robot-like football team out of a collection of unremarkable players into a high powered winning machine. Machine is really the only word that truly does them justice. Every part is replaceable. The have a rotating cast of villainous characters that make their impacts in carefully selected ways.

Belichick has the ability to manipulate his fine-tuned machine during the game. His playbook is carefully designed to artfully use his players and hs team’s depth. The only true mainstay of the team has been Tom Brady. Everyone else is old news or soon will be in the Belichick offense. He is the Patriots true X factor on Super Bowl Sunday. His control of the locker room and authoritarian control of his players is vastly different from most in the NFL. Opposing coaches have yet to fully comprehend Coach Belichick’s slow and steady offensive style yet. They have not perfectly game-planned for his quick short passing offense with unnaturally short receivers that grind down defenses. They eat up a few yards at a time seemingly always converting on third down or moving the chains on two.

Tom Brady is rarely asked to throw further than an 8 yard pass in the air. Most of his passing yards are the product of his scrappy receivers ability to turn upfield and claw for each additional yard. Brady’s throws are not even particularly accurate either. His quick release after the snap sacrifices quality for hitting a receiver through the incredibly small window that he creates for himself. While Tom never seems to get even a small grass stain on his pants, his receivers are cut and bleeding from the beating they take each week diving and sprawling to catch Brady’s passes. Rob Gronkowski is another great weapon the Pats possess. At 6’6” few players can match up against him. His size makes it difficult to leave just a cornerback to keep track of him but his speed renders linebackers useless to follow him. The Pats are also able to use their run game just enough to open their passing game further. The Eagles will have to keep track of Dion Lewis’ running ability in addition to his pass-catching skill out of the backfield The Patriots offense imposes their will on opposing defenses but their defense, especially this season, is not their strong suit.

The Patriots defense was ranked near the bottom consistently all year. They give up a lot of yards but still the Patriots are able to restrict them from scoring more than they can put up in response. The Jaguars survived by scoring so many points that the Steelers just could not overtake them in the Divisional Round. D’onta Hightower, Stephon Gilmore and Malcolm Butler are the keys to this defense. Gilmore and Butler certainly are not shutdown corners but they do a very consistent job of keeping teams out of the endzone and have the ability to make big plays on the ball. (Nate Scott, SBNation) The Patriots never let teams run away with it but the Eagles need to find a way to put the game out of reach. They cannot lose their identity or the dual threat between the run game and passing. The Patriots cannot handle change of pace backs like the Jaguars fourth string back who ran all over the New England Defense. New England’s hopes ride on their defense keeping the game close because the Eagles decimated a much more talented Vikings defense in the NFC Championship.

The Eagles will live and die by Nick Foles. Everything they are playing for rests on his shoulders. Philadelphia has gone football-mad this year. The legitimacy of their city rests on the Eagles. Philly have not seen a championship since the 2008 Phillies and the Eagles themselves have never won a Super Bowl. A win would grant them status as one of the few cities in America with a championship in all four major sports, hockey, baseball, football and basketball. There is a lot of pride among the famously ruthless fans of Philadelphia and a win on Sunday would finally legitimize their long-standing, underachieving franchise. They would also do most of America a favor by saving us all from another Patriots victory parade through Boston while they rub it in our faces.

The Eagles have a great 1-2 punch at running back with Jay Ajayi and ex-Patriot (haha) LeGarrette Blount and an excellent receiving core led by Nelson Agholor, Alshon Jeffrey and Tight-End Zach Ertz. They are also backed up by a very solid defense capable of putting intense pressure on Tom Brady. Doug Pederson has amassed a young-ish but experienced defense that can choke out strong offenses and get Nick Foles back on the field, but more importantly get themselves off the field. The defense needs to give their offense a chance by stopping Brady’s juggernaut. They have to tackle well and stop third down conversions to force the Pats to punt. The Eagles must play their game. They play fast exciting and fun football and they need to stick to their game in order to have hope of overthrowing the Patriots dynasty while possibly beginning their own. The Eagles have nearly their entire roster signed through next year. They are relatively young and Carson Wentz has an unbelievable upside when healthy. The Eagles are our last hope this season to end the Patriots reign of terror. Philadelphia are the most well-equipped team that the Patriots have met in the Super Bowl during their “dynasty” and we all remember the Patriots losing to less-talented teams like Eli Manning’s New York Giants... twice. Nick Foles does not have to be perfect but he cannot fall apart like Blake Bortles did nearly two weeks in a row. The Patriots toss teams aside and come from behind the minute they slow down.

My bold prediction is an Eagles victory, but not without a scare from the menacing Brady offense marching back.

Prediction 35-31 Eagles