Super Bowl LI is a couple days away, and everyone in Houston from downtown to the University of Houston is preparing for it.
The Super Bowl is featuring the New England Patriots, led by four-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, and the Atlanta Falcons, led by quarterback Matt Ryan and wide receiver Julio Jones.
The Cougar took to the streets and asked students who they think is going to win and how the game being in Houston affects them.
“(The Falcons) have one of the best pass defenses in the league right now, and the Patriots’s bread and butter is passing, so put them together. Gronkowski isn’t playing who is the best receiver in the league once you get inside the twenty-yard-line. Once he gets the ball, there is a 98 percent chance he scores a touchdown in two plays. It’s statistics. With him out, their best receiver, particularly in the red zone, they’re dead in the water. It’s why the Patriots have suffered in games and won games, but if you watch, they struggle when they get close to the red zone because they don’t have Gronkowski, their bread and butter. Where the Falcons have a very high energy offense,” said corporate communications senior JonPaul Clayton. | Justin Cross/ The Cougar
“I really want the Falcons to win, but I feel like the Patriots are going to pull it off. Knowing Tom Brady, he’s the G.O.A.T. I’m a Giants fan, so I want to keep the record of the only losses (Brady’s) taken in the Super Bowl were from Eli Manning,” said management information systems senior Kushal Shah. “Stats speaking wise, every time in the Super Bowl, defense has won. There’s only one game where the offense has won.” | Justin Cross/The Cougar
“I love that (Tom Brady) is depicted as the bad guy all the time, and I like that. I really think that the world needs more bad guys. I think he’s portrayed as the bad guy, but I don’t see why he would be the bad guy. I just like the fact that everyone wants to see him do poorly,” said math junior Cole Tolkine. “This is his seventh Super Bowl. Do you know who else has been in the Super Bowl seven times? No one.” | Justin Cross / The Cougar
“I’m torn because I don’t like the Patriots, and I don’t like the Falcons. I used to be a Panthers fan for back when I lived in South Carolina, so they’re kind of nemeses. So if I had to pick the lesser of two evils, I guess I’d go with the Falcons because I don’t like the Patriots,” said computer programming senior Curtis Sternitzky. “(The Patriots) have been so good for so long, and the Falcons, they’ve had a good couple years so it may be them. But the Patriots have been so solid for so long that I’d be surprised if they lost.” | Justin Cross / The Cougar
“Tom Brady is just one of the most consistent quarterbacks of all time, and he just has a solid team,” said music freshman Johnathan Partida. “I’m definitely not looking forward to driving around this weekend, but I think it’s great for tourism, and it’ll be nice for the city.” | Leonard D. Gibson III / The Cougar
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