As Super Bowl Sunday approaches, everyone seems to have their own feeling as to which city the Lombardi Trophy will be headed to after the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles settle things on the field — including some of our parish’s own gridiron strategists.
Hahnville knows a little something about championship competition after earning four playoff wins to reach he Class 5A state championship game in December. And when Tigers offensive coordinator Mike Silva breaks down this Sunday’s game, he believes the difference is clear: Brady, Brady, Brady.
“Well, I just think it’s hard to beat guys who have been there before,” Silva said. “When all things are equal, the quarterback position makes a difference, especially in the pros. Tom Brady’s been in league 16 years, and at least half the time he’s been in the Super Bowl. How do you beat that?”
Silva did add, however, that while he’s backing Brady and the Patriots, he sees nothing coming easy to them.
“I think it’s gonna be close because the Patriots do give up points,” Silva said. “They’re not a suffocating defense, they do give up some points. It’ll be close. But with the game on the line in 4th quarter, who do you want controlling the game more than Tom Brady?”
Hahnville head coach Nick Saltaformaggio was quick to defer to Silva’s outlook on the pro game, Saltaformaggio self-admittedly “not a pro football guy” in terms of where he directs his attention. But he does have a rooting interest, noting current Eagles head coach Doug Pederson was not all that long ago part of the Louisiana High School coaching fraternity. Pederson was the head coach of Calvary Baptist from 2005 to 2008 before accepting an assistant coaching position under then-Philadelphia head coach Andy Reid.
“I’m pulling for Philadelphia. It would be nice to see (Pederson) win, and to be honest, it would be nice to see someone else (besides the Patriots) win it,” Saltaformaggio said. “I’m a fan of the Patriots. I like (New England head coach) Bill Belichick. But I’m pulling for the Eagles.”
The Patriots, of course, are the last NFL team to record an unbeaten regular season, a feat New England achieved in 2007.
Destrehan knows a little something about that. The Wildcats stacked up four seasons in a row without tasting defeat in the regular season, from 2013 to 2016.
Destrehan offensive coordinator Greg Boyne echoed his Hahnville counterpart Silva, noting the experienced winners on the New England side will spell the difference.
“I’ll go with the Patriots, 30-24, for two simple reasons: Belichick and Brady,” Boyne said.
Be the first to comment