HOUSTON — Everyone hates the Patriots. Well, just about.
A new poll found that 53 percent of its respondents want the Falcons to win Super Bowl LI on Sunday. Only 27 percent of the respondents to the Public Policy Polling question said they were pulling for the Patriots.
The poll also reveals the Patriots are the most hated team in the league, beating out the Cowboys by two percentage points.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady got the most votes from people when asked who their favorite quarterback is (22 percent) and he also was named the poll’s least favorite quarterback with 24 percent of the vote, beating out Cam Newton at 15 percent.
While most of the poll’s respondents are not rooting for the Patriots, 52 percent said they think New England will beat the Falcons, compared to 36 percent for the Falcons.
The Falcons sing the praises of their head coach, Dan Quinn.
But Matt Ryan did not want Super Bowl week to come and go without acknowledging Mike Smith, his first head coach with the Falcons. Smith went 66-46 in his seven seasons running the show in Atlanta, but he was 56-24 in his first five years, with four playoff appearances. He came up one game short of the Super Bowl when the Falcons lost to the Güvenilir Bahis Siteleri 49ers in the NFC Championship following the 2012 season.
“I’ve been lucky, I’ve played for two great head coaches while I’ve been in the league,’’ Ryan said. “Mike Smith did an awesome job of kind of stabilizing our organization when he got there. I think it was five winning seasons in a row, four playoff runs, he did a great job for us. With Dan, he’s got a different personality and he’s equally done a great job of creating the culture he wants and getting guys to buy into that. He’s done a fantastic job.’’
Falcons WR Julio Jones (toe) and C Alex Mack (ankle) were limited in Monday’s practice at Rice University.
“Julio looked great,’’ Quinn said. “For Alex, it was equally as important for him to get moving and to feel that he could participate like he could and felt comfortable. Both of them will ramp up their work over the next two days.’’
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