Super Bowl 51: Running Game Common Ground for Patriots, Falcons
When the New England Patriots clash with the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl 51, both teams running games could be on display.
In case you were curious, there have seen 21 individual 100-yard rushing performances in the Super Bowl’s 50-year history. The last was Seattle’s Marshawn Lynch, who gained 102 yards and a score in the team’s 28-24 loss to the New England Patriots two years ago at Arizona.
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However, it’s also worth noting that there have been only four such performances in the last 10 Super Bowls. San Francisco 49ers’ running back Frank Gore turned the trick in XLVII. And 10 years ago, both Dominic Rhodes (Colts) and Thomas Jones (Bears) reached the mark in Super Bowl XLI.
What’s the point? Both the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons bring potent ground attacks to Super Bowl LI. They are also two teams that have improved greatly in this department from a year ago.
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In 2015, only two teams in the league gained fewer rushing yards than Bill Belichick’s club. This season, more focus was put on LeGarrette Blount and the return of offensive line guru Dante Scarnecchia was a big boon as well. The former ran for 1,161 yards and 18 scores. Hence, New England ranked seventh in the NFL when it came to the run.
Better offensive line, thanks to offseason addition of center Alex Mack, was also a factor in Atlanta’s improved running game. Dan Quinn’s team finished 19th in the league in this department a year ago.
This season, only four teams in the NFL gained more yards on the ground than the NFC champions. The combination of Freeman (1,079) and Tevin Coleman (520) was good for 1,599 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns.
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With MVP candidates such as quarterbacks Tom Brady and Matt Ryan taking the field on Super Sunday, there’s a lot of anticipation that this could be a back-and-forth two of the better signal-callers in the league. But don’t overlook the fact that this could be quite the day for both teams when it comes to running the football. And that could really be the factor that enables this game to have more than its share of offensive fireworks.