When the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons square off at NRG Stadium in Houston Sunday, Atlanta head coach Dan Quinn will try to get what was denied him two years ago in Super Bowl XLIX.Quinn was the defensive coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks at the time, and the Seahawks were about to win their second consecutive Super Bowl. All they had to do was punch the ball in from the 1-yard line in the final seconds, and they would have taken a late and seemingly decisive lead over the Patriots.But as the sporting world remembers, head coach Pete Carroll did not have running back Marshawn Lynch power the ball into the end zone. Instead, he had Russell Wilson attempt to throw the game-winning touchdown pass, and New England rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler scuttled that plan.The rookie jumped the route and intercepted the ball, and Bill Belichick and Tom Brady had their fourth Super Bowl championship together.Quinn gets his chance for revenge against the Patriots, and he has an opportunity to lead the Falcons to their first Super Bowl title.If the Falcons are going to get there, they can't allow the Patriots defense to come up with decisive turnovers. Atlanta has been solid at holding on to the ball this year, but the Patriots are a different type of opponent.They are unpredictable under defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, and while they don't have a slew of superstars, they are going to attempt to undermine Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan by confusing him with multiple fronts and looks.The Patriots don't appear to have a dangerous pass rush as Trey Flowers led them with seven regular-season sacks. However, they will drop extra linemen and linebackers into the passing lanes, and that may be frustrating.It certainly was to the Pittsburgh Steelers, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wideout Antonio Brown, as the Steelers were held to nine points until they scored a late and relatively meaningless touchdown that helped give them a total of 17 points.The Patriots are confident that their secondary can shut down a strong passing team. Butler, Logan Ryan and Patrick Chung are all capable of making big plays, and so is middle linebacker Dont'a Hightower, who excels at sniffing out the play and putting himself in the right place to make the hit.The Pats have a number of supporting players like Jabaal Sheard, Kyle Van Noy and Alan Branch who understand the requirements of playing in Patricia's defense.The Patriots are three-point favorites in this game,according to OddsShark, and that has been the case since shortly after the opening line was released. Much of that is because of the defense, which ranked first in fewest points allowed this season. The total in this game has also remained steady at 58.5 points.While New England will have a difficult time against Ryan, Julio Jones, Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman, the Patriots appear to have a much better chance of slowing down the Falcons than the Atlanta defense has of stopping Brady and his offensive mates. Super Bowl PropsBetting props are part of the appeal of the Super Bowl that get both the hardcore and casual sports fans involved in the game.Those props involve everything from how long it will take to sing the national anthem to who will score the first touchdown to which player will win the MVP.There are also props involving the Super Bowl and other sports. These cross-sports bets have been popular over the years.One of those involves Jones and whether he will have more receiving yards than the Boston Celtics have points. The Celtics host the Los Angeles Clippers on Super Bowl Sunday, and they are minus-150 favorites to score more points than Jones has yards. Those who believe that Jones will "outscore" the Celtics can get a return of $110 for a $100 wager.Another cross-sport wager involves the Falcons defense and Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin. The issue is whether the Falcons will register more sacks or Ovechkin will have more points. Those who want to bet on the Falcons trapping Brady with some frequency must risk $175 to win $100, while those betting on Ovechkin having more points can win $135 on a $100 wager.Jones could have a big receiving day against the Patriots, but it's unlikely he will come close to the 180 yards he had against the Green Bay Packers. We think the Celtics will probably score about 115 points, while Jones will not have more than 95 receiving yards. We will risk the $150 to win $100.Additionally, we like Ovechkin to have a big day against the Los Angeles Kings. The Capitals are at home, and while they play the Montreal Canadiens the night before, they should be in better shape than the road-weary Kings. Los Angeles visits Philadelphia Saturday afternoon.Look for Ovechkin to come up with at least three points, while the Falcons won't sack Brady more than once.
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