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'On The Line'
This column will be the home for the official TwoMinuteWarning selections each week, to be published on Friday at noon Pacific Time throughout the season.
Playoffs: Super Bowl
So it comes down to this. The NFC preseason favorite against the AFC preseason favorite. Both teams won their playoff contests convincingly after excellent regular season campaigns. A good matchup you might say.
This marks the end of the season and the end of the line for "On The Line". While we await the final tallies of the Subscriber Survey for feedback, it appears that next season will either feature an array of individual handicapper selections, or one specific handicapper acting as the frontman. The problems with consensus handicapping became evident once again for us through this column -- limited plays, and oftentimes the strongest opinions for someone were vetoed and we ended up with a game all could agreed on, but at a lesser level of confidence then had the individuals selected their own top plays.
Since if ever there was a time it was mandatory to make a pick, the Super Bowl would seem to be it, we have agreed to the lukewarm recommendation listed below for a modest half unit play:
Philadelphia +7
A number of statistical indicators prominently endorse the Eagles here, from the red zone stats to the drive chart overlays, and even the simulators. On the other hand, these numbers aren't adjusted by strength of schedule, which when included certainly makes the Patriots a more reasonable favorite. Philadelphia did throw away two games at the end of the year when they rested starters, so perhaps further adjusting for those efforts would bring us back to the original perspective. It's true that the Trends column steps out with the Pats, and that was where some 'convincing' was necessary in this round table endeavor, so don't go overboard on this.
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