Why Patriots Will Win Super Bowl 50

The New England Patriots took a significant step toward winning Super Bowl 50 by defeating the hottest team in football, the Kansas City Chiefs, in the AFC divisional round Saturday.

The Patriots are technically a game away from reaching the Super Bowl with the AFC Championship Game against either Denver or Pittsburgh next week but they must feel like the title is within grasp.

The season has gone from Tom Brady potentially serving a four-game suspension for Deflategate to Brady thriving as if he was 10 years younger. He and the Patriots are on a mission. They are not fooling around trying to rectify their image after Deflategate. You can see the steam coming out of their ears.

The following are the prospects of the Patriots’ final steps toward their fifth Super Bowl title (check the SportsBetting.ag Sportsbook for odds updates leading up to the AFC title game):

Who can stop the Patriots?

The options are the broken down Pittsburgh Steelers with Ben Roethlisberger playing hurt and the limp Denver Broncos with Peyton Manning trying to show he can play through age and injuries. Neither team is dynamic enough to match Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Co.

If the Steelers face New England, the Patriots would be playing a team without a healthy quarterback and effective running game. Pittsburgh is one tackle away from hoping Landry Jones can work magic if Roethlisberger goes down. The Steelers’ top receiver Antonio Brown will also try to overcome a concussion that kept him from playing against Denver.

If New England plays Denver, it will face Manning, who is starting his first game in five weeks against Pittsburgh in the divisional round. He’s older and a lot more broken down than Brady. Moreover, Manning was benched earlier in the season in favor of unproven Brock Osweiler. That’s another distinct advantage for New England.

Tough for Denver to beat New England twice

Osweiler led the Broncos to a victory against the Patriots which enabled them to have the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs. Osweiler has faltered enough since then to allow Manning back in the picture.

Like Pittsburgh, the Broncos’ defense is capable and something Brady should concern himself about. But as long as Gronkowski stays healthy, it will be hard for any defense to handle the Brady-Gronkowski connection and a strong running game. Brady left the Denver game early because of a knee injury and the Patriots never recovered.

NFC has talent but not drive equaling that of New England

Arizona or Carolina or Seattle has enough to beat the Patriots but can they match New England’s collective drive? New England has made it a mission to have commissioner Roger Goodell hand them the Lombardi Trophy to hoist. They want Goodell to squirm on the stage.

The biggest threat in the NFC is the Cardinals. Arizona has the defense to beat Brady and the offense to manage the game long enough to win a close Super Bowl. But after barely surviving against Green Bay at home in overtime it will be interesting to see if the Cardinals can persevere through a tough game against Carolina or bitter rival Seattle next week.

The bottom line is any challenger has to go through New England and the Patriots’ strong will to rectify Deflategate and prove once again they are worthy of a title. That appears to be too tough to overcome for any opponent. Just ask Kansas City.