LeGarrette Blount

New England Patriots running back LeGarrette Blount (29 rushes with the ball during the second half of a preseason NFL football game against the Chicago Bears Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

(Charles Krupa)

In a half-century of Super Bowls, only a handful of teams have cruised through the playoffs to the title game like the 2016 New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons.

The Patriots and Falcons have won four playoff games by a combined margin of 76 points, or 19 points per game.

This combined margin of victory in the divisional round and conference championship round ranks among the highest in NFL history for Super Bowl opponents.

1983 Raiders/Redskins -- 91-point margin

(Redskins wins by 44, 3; Raiders wins by 28, 16)

2000 Ravens/Giants -- 88

(Giants wins by 10, 41; Ravens wins by 14, 13)

1990 Giants/Bills -- 88

(Giants wins by 28, 3; Bills wins by 10, 48)

1978 Steelers/Cowboys -- 87

(Steelers wins by 23, 29; Cowboys wins by 7, 28)

2002 Bucs/Raiders -- 79

(Bucs wins by 25, 17; Raiders wins by 20, 17)

1996 Packers/Patriots -- 77

(Packers wins by 21, 17; Patriots wins by 25, 14)



2016 Patriots/Falcons -- 76

(Patriots wins by 18, 19; Falcons wins by 16, 23)

**

And here is what's unique about the Patriots-Falcons matchup: Each of their playoff games were decided by a margin between 16-23 points.

Even though a few past Super Bowl opponents have had entered the game with a greater combined margin of victory, most of those numbers were skewed by one totally lopsided contest (like the Bills' 51-3 win over the Raiders in the 1990 AFC Championship game, or the Giants' 41-0 scraping of the Vikings in the 2000 NFC title game). Both of those teams actually played in competitive divisional round games.

Neither the Patriots nor the Falcons engaged in a postseason matchup that can even loosely be described as competitive. The Patriots did not trail in either playoff game. The Falcons trailed for a total of 12:26 against the Seahawks, and led wire-to-wire against the Packers.

This probably reflects the inferior competition in each conference, and the true dominance of both the Patriots and Falcons.

Now that they're playing each other, maybe we will finally get a close game in these 2016 playoffs.