The MMQB’s Super Bowl 52 Picks

Our staff reveals predictions for final score and MVP

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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