Football fans, the biggest Sunday of the year is upon us.
While many fans pictured the New England Patriots in the big game at the beginning of the year, there were some skeptics due to the fact that Tom Brady was suspended for the first four games of the season. If anything, though, the suspension only helped New England, and when Brady returned, he lit the league on fire en route to reaching Houston.
The Atlanta Falcons, on the other hand, weren't on many people's Super Bowl radars when the season began, but a historically great offence and opportunistic defence have them in the Super Bowl.
Ahead of what should be a high scoring affair, we found 10 mind-blowing stats, with the help of ESPN Stats and Info, that could ultimately decide the winner of Super Bowl 51, or could just be meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
1. The Lewis Effect
When Dion Lewis plays, the Patriots don't lose, it's that simple.
Lewis has played in 16 games in two seasons with the Pats, including playoff games, and New England's won all of those games.
2. Offence, Offence, Offence
If you asked football fans if they would want to see a Super Bowl with a lot of scoring or plenty of punts, the majority of them would take the points.
Luckily, the over/under, as per OddsShark, is a Super Bowl-record 58.
3. Defence, Defence, Defence
Before you take the over, consider this, this will be the sixth time in Super Bowl history that the team that led the NFL in scoring faces the team that allowed the fewest points.
The top defence has come out on top in four of the previous five games.
4. Call it a Dynasty
The Patriots are no strangers to the Super Bowl as Sunday's appearance in the big game will be their ninth, breaking a tie with the Denver Broncos, Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers for most appearances.
The Falcons, on the other hand, will be playing in just their second Super Bowl.
5. Quick Strike
Watch for the Falcons to score a touchdown on their opening drive of the game.
Atlanta has done so in eight straight contests, and to put that into perspective, no team in the last 15 seasons has had a streak longer than five games of doing so.
6. Will History Repeat Itself?
Tom Brady may not have a perfect season on his resume, but he does have a perfect record against the Falcons on it.
Since entering the league, Brady is a perfect 4-0 against ATL.
7. Houston, We Don't Have a Problem
As you know, New England led the NFL in scoring defence this season at 15.6 points per game. This was just the second time in franchise history they led the league in that stat.
The other time was in 2003, a season in which they were crowned champions in Houston.
8. Matt-V-P
How many touchdowns will Matt Ryan throw?
Well, the Falcons quarterback has thrown at least three touchdown passes in four straight postseason games, which is an NFL record.
9. Playmakers Galore
The Falcons offence scored an NFL-best 540 points, and it was the first time in franchise history they led the league in that category.
That being said, high-scoring offences haven't led to Super Bowl victories. No team to score more than 540 points has ever won the title.
10. Pats' Playmakers
Even with the loss of Rob Gronkowski, New England still has a ton of playmakers that help put points on the boards.
That bodes well for them considering Atlanta ranked 27th in defensive scoring this season, allowing 25.4 points per game.
Sorry Falcons fans, but that's the second most ever by a team to reach the Super Bowl.
(H/T: Twitter/ESPN Stats and Info)
