The MMQB’s Super Bowl 52 Picks
Peter King
Patriots 23, Eagles 20
MVP: Tom Brady
Man, I hate my pick to be boring. I am picking the Patriots’ eighth Super Bowl out of eight this century to be decided by less than a touchdown. With apologies to my friend Dan Shaughnessy, this is not going to be another Tomato Can Super Bowl—the Eagles will be rough and ready and a significant roadblock for the sports dynasty of this generation. But the stage will get to somebody on the first-timers at some point, and Brady will pounce on the opportunity.
Jenny Vrentas
Patriots 27, Eagles 17
MVP: Tom Brady
The Eagles are exactly the kind of team that could beat the Pats in the Super Bowl: confident, loose, fearless. That being said, I’m picking Belichick & Brady for as long as they’re still together.
Robert Klemko
Patriots 29, Eagles 15
MVP: [editor’s note: Robert didn’t pick one, but probably Tom Brady, right?]
Bill Belichick has two weeks to prepare for a team led by Nick Foles missing its best offensive lineman. So … Yeah.
Andy Benoit
Patriots 27, Eagles 16
MVP: It’s a secret
The Patriots can win this game in the number different ways. The Eagles can only win it through dominant defensive line play, and even then it's by no means a promise.
Greg Bishop
Patriots 27, Eagles 21
MVP: Tom Brady
It's not hard to conjure a scenario where the Eagles win. It's far easier, though, to imagine Tom Brady hoisting another MVP trophy at the end of another championship season.
Jonathan Jones
Patriots 30, Eagles 14
MVP: Tom Brady
I'd love a competitive Super Bowl, but we won't get one in Minneapolis. I'll take Brady and Belichick over anyone any day, and that includes Foles and Pederson.
Andrew Brandt
Eagles 24, Patriots 13
MVP: Fletcher Cox
I've been riding this team all year, even through the Wentz injury, as the best team in the NFL. Sure, Brady will outplay Foles—if he doesn’t, that will be the story of the year—but the Eagles will outplay the Patriots in the ultimate team sport.
Tim Rohan
Patriots 28, Eagles 21
MVP: Tom Brady
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
Same as it ever was
Conor Orr
Patriots 28, Eagles 7
MVP: Brandin Cooks
The Eagles rumble to an opening score, sending shockwaves through Manayunk and Pennypack. The euphoria is short lived, unfortunately, when Brandin Cooks exposes a busted coverage and takes a short pass 89 yards for a score (incidentally breaking Muhsin Muhammad's record for longest reception in Super Bowl history). Tom Brady finishes the night a respectable 30-of-42 for 274 yards and two touchdowns, both of which end up going to the former Saints first-round pick. Malcolm Jenkins leads the Eagles with 11 solo tackles and Chris Long registers two quarterback hits, resulting in a Pro Football Focus grade of 82.9.
Kalyn Kahler
Eagles 22, Patriots 21
MVP: Nick Foles
Backup quarterbacks have a pretty good record in Super Bowls. Foles is the new Jeff Hostetler.
Jacob Feldman
Patriots 13, Eagles 3
MVP: Tom Brady
How fitting would a total stinker be.
Ben Baskin
Patriots 24, Eagles 21
MVP: Tom Brady
After last season, I am not picking against Brady and Belichick again. It’s as simple as that.
Mark Mravic
Eagles 17, Patriots 11
MVP: Let’s say Fletcher Cox
The Jaguars showed what a tough, opportunistic defense can do to Tom Brady and the Pats; the Eagles will do the same. Doug Pederson and crew, however, won’t fall into the trap of playing it safe (and making mistakes) against a New England team that can be had. Dilly dilly, Philly!
Adam Duerson
Eagles 27, Patriots 24
MVP: Nick Foles
My stupidly simple, karmically-influenced NFL playoff betting rule: If you won your last game by the skin of your teeth—an idiom I’ve never understood—then I ain’t pickin’ you to win again. (See: 2017 Vikings.) Pats-Jags definitely qualifies as skin-teeth. (Ick?) And then there's the matter of New England’s previous Super Bowl wins: by 3, 3, 3, 4 and 6 points. This has to end. Right?
Bette Marston
Patriots 38, Eagles 27
MVP: Rob Gronkowski
Between Zach Ertz and Rob Gronkowski, Super Bowl LII will be a battle of the tight ends, featuring two of the best at the position. We all know that the Patriots are at their best under the brightest lights, and that Nick Foles’ 122.1 QB rating in the Eagles’ two playoff games must regress to the norm at some point. Gronk will be hero, scoring early to get the Patriots going, and the Eagles will play from behind the entire game, only able to watch as the Patriots hoist their sixth Lombardi.
Gary Gramling
Patriots 24, Eagles 21
MVP: Rex Burkhead
Fueled by a dominant pass rush, Philly leads 13-10 after three quarters, but the Patriots put together two long drives—both culminating in Rex Burkhead TD runs—in the fourth quarter. Nick Foles gets the Eagles into the end zone one more time in the final minute, and degenerate gamblers around the world hold their breath as Philly lines up for two, Foles steps out of a Trey Flowers sack and finds an open Trey Burton to cover the spread. (After which the Patriots recover an onsides kick to seal the actual game.)
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