NFL Recap: Tom Brady licking his chops with Eagles next on the menu

The Conference Championship games threw up many headlines, but the outcome of Super Bowl LII looks pretty inevitable…

We have a Super Bowl matchup.

It’s only two weeks, or three Leeds managers, away.

The result is basically a foregone conclusion at this point, but let’s dish out some compliments to the Eagles, too – and pretend those b**tards Patriots haven’t got yet another Vince Lombardi sewn up.

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Jacksonville Jaguars @ New England Patriots

The easiest way to identify greatness is through inevitability. Yes, social media and the commentary booth got temporarily excited when Jacksonville led by 10 in fourth quarter, but nobody in their right mind believed they’d ever go on to win that game.

Of course, the reason for that is because they always find a way. When that Jaguars defence has been basically guaranteed that when a team is passing against them in the regular season, they shut the game down. Not in Foxborough, they wouldn’t.

Brady carefully went to work – like a surgeon dissecting with trusty tools.

This time without his most important scalpel in Rob Gronkowski.

Yet, somehow, those familiar playoff heroes had his back once again. Danny Amendola caught his touchdown pass, then he caught another – despite the laws of gravity.

Nobody has been able to beat AJ Bouye and Jalen Ramsey one-on-one all year. Brandin Cooks took turns making them look like Shareece Wright.

Nobody has been able to run an underneath route ahead of Telvin Smith all year.

He’s still chasing shadows as you read this.

Even when all the evidence points towards one outcome, there’s still no doubt it won’t come to fruition. The reason is inevitability.

Inevitability is what wears a defence out when the odds are in their favour.

The ability to impose a daunting sense of inevitability on a seemingly immovable object is reserved exclusively for the great ones. This great one just happens to be 40 years of age.

Minnesota Vikings @ Philadelphia Eagles

This game ended with 31 points between the sides.

Below is the moment superb pass rush got to Case Keenum and forced the ball short of its intended target. Its destination would be the arms of slot corner Patrick Robinson.

There were 31 points between the sides in the box score, but this one play changed the entire game and allowed the Philly signal-caller to relax – making Tom Brady consider buying Nick Foles pyjamas as a result.

The Eagles are one of only a few franchises to have never won a Super Bowl.

This defence is as good a unit as they’ve ever seen, but they appeared to be hamstrung by the injury to starting quarterback and all-round top ginger, Carson Wentz. Not one bit of it!

Foles threw for 352 yards and three touchdowns for a passer rating of 141.4.

He did this against one of the best defensive units in football. Nobody knows how. You can bet your life that Nick Foles was as surprised as anyone.

Yet, here we are. The Philly locker room felt disrespected by being constantly written off by oddsmakers in Vegas and proceeded to adopt dog masks, to represent their status as apparent underdogs.

They may not have a hope of winning the Super Bowl this year, but at least they’ve nice masks so they can avoid looking at themselves in the mirror after they’re dissected by the master in Minneapolis.

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