Things That Caught My Eye

Philadelphia really needed that Super Bowl win. From 1984 to 2017, the sports teams of Boston won 7.7 more championships than expected, those of Chicago won 6.1 more than expected, LA 4.9, San Francisco 4.7, and New York 3.2 more than we’d otherwise project. Prior to winning the Super Bowl, Philadelphia sat on the bottom of the list of North American sporting towns, winning 3.7 fewer championships than otherwise expected. [FiveThirtyEight]

Nick Foles finished the game with a quarterback rating of 88.6, completing 28 of 43 passes. Tom Brady came up short, with the purported GOAT racking up a QBR of merely 83.8 and completing 28 of 48 passes. Also, he did not catch a pass, whereas Nick Foles totally caught a pass and scored a touchdown doing so. [ESPN]

Try out our interactive, Which World Cup Team Should You Root For?

Early numbers are out, and according to the Westgate book the New England Patriots are yet again the favorites to win the Super Bowl next year, with 9-2 odds of bringing home the Lombardi. The Eagles are 6-1, Steelers 8-1, Vikings and Packers 12-2, and at the bottom of the league the Bears, Jets and Browns are 100-1 to win it next year. [ESPN]

That game was ridiculous for a number of reasons. At 1,151 yards it was the highest combined total yards in any game in NFL history. Tom Brady set the record (505) for most passing yards in an NFL postseason game, and the Patriots scored the most points of any Super Bowl loser. There was one punt! One! [ESPN]

Yes, there was a weird 20 second black out of the broadcast there. Something like a hundred million people collectively stared at a black screen when they anticipated a commercial. NBC came out and declared that it wasn’t a botched ad, but rather “a brief equipment failure that we quickly resolved.” [CNN]

Of the 10 players with the best selling jersey in the game, only one made the playoffs without an injury or suspension, and that was Tom Brady, a 40 year old man. This is one area where the NFL lags behind its rival leagues: 14 of the 15 players with bestselling NBA jerseys are healthy, and 13 will probably make the playoffs. [The Atlantic]

Big Number

8 percent

Something’s changing: The percentage of people who said they’d encourage a kid who wanted to play football to play a different sport that was less likely to cause brain injury has risen 8 percentage points in four years. All told 48 percent of Americans would dissuade a young person from playing the sport, while 49 percent of Americans disagree. [NBC News]

Leaks from Slack, Super Bowl Live Blog:

gfoster:

FOR PUB: I honestly don’t remember a Super Bowl that ended on a Hail Mary attempt.

neil:

EAGLES WIN

OMG

walt:

For Pub: F— this

kyle:

FOR PUB: Now to destroy the city of Philadelphia in celebration!

micah:

not pubbing that

Predictions

Oh, and don’t forget