MINNEAPOLIS — Last year in Houston, Tom Brady said that Bill Belichick reminded him daily that he had never led the Patriots offense into the end zone in six Super Bowls.
Now it’s up to seven.
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Yet what makes this somewhat tired stat a little more interesting is that normally we’d view it as a technically historical issue. The 2001 Patriots are not the same as the 2016 Patriots, the latter of whom had exactly one player from the former. Yet the in-game problem that gives us that stat is the same one that’s troubled this year’s Patriots often.
Last season, the Patriots had scored in the first quarter of 16 of 18 games heading into Super Bowl LI. This season, they’ve scored in the first quarter of just 12 of 18. Though the Patriots finished fifth in the NFL in first-quarter scoring, the vast majority of their first-quarter points came in three games: 20 in Week 2 against the Saints, 14 in Week 10 against the Broncos and 14 in Week 16 against the Bills.
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Now, add in the fact that the Patriots are going up against that sweet, sweet defense of the Eagles on Sunday. Philadelphia went their first 11 games without allowing a first-quarter touchdown. Yet once they started allowing first-quarter points this season, they kind of didn’t stop. Since Week 13, the Eagles have allowed their opponent to score in the first quarter of five of seven games, including both playoff games.
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Of course, the Vikings’ first-quarter touchdown and PAT in the NFC Championship marked the only points the Eagles allowed in that game. Overall, they’ve only allowed 17 combined points for their entire games against the Falcons and Vikings.
New England Patriots
The first-quarter stuff is probably a little silly to dwell on. Players will probably tell you the whole thing about wanting to score every time you have the ball (which is a lie unless kneel-downs are a figment of my imagination), and some quarters obviously have fewer possessions than others depending on a number of factors.
Plus, and most importantly, there’s that other stat about the Brady Era Patriots not scoring in the first quarter: they’re 5-2 in Super Bowls when they don’t. (This would be an appropriate time to say "scoreboard," but, ya know...)