Super Bowl 51: Opening Night Predictions and Schedule for Patriots vs. Falcons

We've finally reached Super Bowl Week, folks. In less than seven days, the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots will face off in the 51st edition of the biggest game in the NFL.

The matchup between the Falcons and the Patriots is a worthy one for Super Bowl LI. The game will feature two of pro football's top signal-callers in Tom Brady and Matt Ryan. It will also feature the league's top offense and top defense from the regular season.

Atlanta averaged an NFL-best 33.8 points per game during the regular season. The Patriots allowed an NFL-low 15.6 points per game.

Today, we're here to take an in-depth look at Super Bowl LI and the latest odds—courtesy of OddsShark. We'll also examine some of the top storylines heading into Day 1 of Super Bowl Week.

Super Bowl LI

What: New England Patriots vs. Atlanta Falcons

Where: NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas

When: Sunday, February 5

Time: 6:30 p.m. ET

National TV: Fox

Live Stream: Fox Sports Go

Line: NE -3

Over/Under: 58.5

Prediction: New England 28-24

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Patriots Team Has Already Been Tested

The Atlanta Falcons might just be the most dangerous team the New England Patriots have faced all year long. They're certainly the most potent offensive force the team has encountered to this point. In addition to boasting the league's top scoring offense, the Falcons are also rated first in overall offense by Pro Football Focus.

However, the Patriots have already faced and overcome a number of different daunting obstacles this season—at least according to Brady.

"It's pretty cool for our team to be able to accomplish this," Brady said of reaching the Super Bowl, per Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. "I think we've done a good job taking advantage of our opportunities. It's a pretty mentally and physically tough team that has proven itself over the course of a long season."

One of the biggest obstacles the Patriots have had this year, of course, was the four-game ban of Brady for his alleged role in the team's deflated-football scandal.

Brady was asked on Sunday if this was a motivating factor but expertly sidestepped the specifics of the question.

"It would mean we won the game," Brady told ESPN's Chis Berman (h/t Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com). “The team’s really played well under a lot of different circumstances. Hopefully we’re in that position. It’s going to take a big effort.”

In addition to losing Brady for a month, the Patriots lost backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to injury after six quarters. The team also battled six of the top seven defenses as rated by Pro Football Focus this season (New England is rated No.1). Yet, the Patriots emerged with a 16-2 record, including playoffs.

If New England gets past this last hurdle, Brady will be lifting the fifth Lombardi Trophy of his career.

Freeman Doesn't Think Patriots Are Up to This Challenge

Containing the fast-paced and explosive Atlanta offense isn't going to be an easy task, even for the league's top defense.

Atlanta features a quarterback in Ryan who has been playing at an MVP level. Surrounding him is a cast of dangerous offensive playmakers. If Ryan can't find star Julio Jones with the ball, he can target Mohamed Sanu, Taylor Gabriel, Justin Hardy or Austin Hooper.

In addition, Ryan can flip the ball or hand off to running backs Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman. The two might just comprise the top backfield tandem in the entire league.

Freeman personally doesn't seem to believe the Patriots are good enough to stop the Falcons offense over the course of four full quarters.

“We can do whatever we want,” Freeman said, per Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio. "Pick your poison. ... We’ve had the game plan. The game plan doesn’t change.”

It's rather bold to suggest that the Patriots are going to allow the Falcons to do whatever they want to do on the ground. It's also bold to suggest that the same game plan Atlanta has utilized all season long will work to perfection against Bill Belichick's team coming off a bye.

However, there hasn't really been a time when the Falcons haven't been able to do what they want on offense this year. The Falcons were held below 23 points only once this season, by the Philadelphia Eagles.

Atlanta Will Have to Execute to Win

As good as the Atlanta offense is, it still needs to go out and execute well in order to triumph over New England. Poor execution was part of the reason why the Falcons faltered in their loss to Philadelphia during the regular season.

The Falcons defense couldn't stop the Eagles and their ground attack in that loss, and Philadelphia wound up controlling the ball for more than 38 minutes of the game. Atlanta's mighty offense was beaten by a lack of opportunities.

It's obviously unclear if New England will try to enact a similar game plan against the Atlanta defense, which is rated 14th overall by Pro Football Focus. It would make sense, though, and if the Falcons cannot execute better this time around, they could be in trouble.

Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton recently explained why strategy isn't enough to beat a team like New England.

Sutton, per Conor Orr of NFL.com:

"

You gotta be highly competitive. You gotta be in tight coverage. They have a lot of good football players and I think they do a great job obviously. But again, the thing I don't think people appreciate sometimes is the job they do executing. They just do a great job of executing. I'm sure that is through diligent work ethic and practice. At least that's what I hope, as a coach, that you can get a team to that stage.

"

New England's offense might not be as prolific as Atlanta's, but it can't be overlooked. The Patriots averaged 27.6 points per game in the regular season and are rated second in overall offense by Pro Football Focus.

If the Falcons fail to play a nearly perfect game of football, they're going to struggle to keep the Patriots down.