New England crushes Pittsburgh to advance to Super Bowl LI

Frankly, the focus should be on the players.

Atlanta will play in only their second-ever SuperBowl next month.

Worse yet, the biggest storyline of Super Bowl week will be how commissioner Roger Goodell stuck it to the team in Deflategate.

The New England Patriots were on their way to the seventh Super Bowl of the Brady-Bill Belichick era.

The Patriots will face the Falcons in Super Bowl 51 in Houston on February 5.

This was expected to be a shootout, but only one offense – Atlanta’s – delivered.

Fans chanted, “MVP! MVP!” “What we set out to accomplish is still in front of us”. They were backed up inside their own 20.

Roethlisberger completed 31 of 47 for 314 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Green Bay clearly ran out of gas after beating No. 1 seed Dallas in an emotional, gutsy victory one Sunday earlier. “The game was… we wished we could have played them one more time, we wish it was like the National Basketball Association and we could play them seven times because, obviously, we didn’t put a good performance out there”. They scored at least 23 in every game this season except a 24-15 loss at Philadelphia in Week 10. Goodell went to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and it ultimately reversed Berman’s decision in April.

“Great players. It’s all about the players”, Belichick said. That could mean the key match-up will be how the Patriots handle Sanu and Coleman/Freeman in the passing game.

Since then, the Patriots have made six Super Bowls and won four, most recently two years ago against the Seattle Seahawks. He came aboard and hasn’t looked back.Tom Brady began the playoffs in an unfamiliar spot with a less than healthy receiving corps. He threw for more than 300 yards for the 11th time in a postseason game, the most all-time.

The Patriots are old hands at this Super Bowl stuff.

Brady has the chance to get his “revenge” in Super Bowl LI, as the commissioner would have to hand the Patriots quarterback the Lombardi Trophy if his team defeats the Atlanta Falcons on February 5.

And maybe there’s some other unfinished business.

National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Brady for four games to start the 2016 season over the Deflategate scandal.

The team’s success, though, hasn’t lessened the fan base’s hatred for Goodell, who has yet to return to Foxborough since mandating the suspension.