By now everyone knows the score of the Super Bowl.
Everyone also knows that the Patriots' 28-24 win over the Seattle Seahawks actually lived up to the super hype.
Did you know, however, that the EA Sports video game Madden 15 simulated this Super Bowl 50,000 times and delivered a final score of 28-24, with New England rallying from a 24-14 deficit and with Julian Edelman catching the winning touchdown pass.
Sweet science, we're like five years from not needing the players and just simulating every game. But other than the Patriots -- and the clairvoyant talents of Madden 15 -- here are some other winners and losers from the Super night.
Super winners
Tom Brady. It's time to end the greatest-of-all-time debate. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Tom Brady. No matter your criteria -- stats, wins, titles, presence, talent/technique/skill set, et al -- Brady is on the short list of all of them. Add to that his postseason record and records, and well, the conversation ended Sunday night and the likes of Montana and Manning and Unitas and Elway are all fighting for spots 2 through 4 on the Rushmore. The lasting image may be from the very end and may have included an undrafted defensive back from West Alabama, but the most telling image -- and the most important -- may have been the calm and cool look on Brady's face when his team was down 10 in the fourth quarter. Dude delivered.
Bill Belichick. Wow, the man in the hood now has record-tying stats of four rings and six trips to the big one. And this from a guy Cleveland fired. We know this: Belichick is right there on the Rushmore of coaches in all of sports in the modern era. And he has notched himself a spot along with Lombardi and Halas and Walsh and Shula and any other coach you want to suggest as the NFL's best ever.
Bettors. For just the third time, it appears the gamblers in Las Vegas had the upper hand on the house on the game and the total. Granted, not all the numbers are in, and the house almost always wins -- even when they don't clear more at the betting window, remember they fill up the hotel rooms and restaurants and casinos during big events such as fights and the Super Bowl -- even when they don't win. Still, the finish -- Patriots winning and the game going over -- was the one the public most picked. Also, after taking several max bets on the national anthem going over the 122.5 seconds, a lot of cassias suspected there was inside knowledge on that bet and took it off the board. Yes, the anthem went over and those max bets were good. We've always wondered about the sheer number of prop bets and the chance for people to influence that. Like you could have won $750 on a $100 bet on blue Gatorade being the color Belichick got splashed with, and some enterprising sideline equipment guy for the Pats could directly influence that. Not that the Pats equipment people need any more controversy or anything.
Snickers and eSurance. Loved the Brady Bunch spoof for Snickers, which really has coined a commercial franchise with the "You're not yourself when you're hungry" ad line. Heck, our 4-year-old tells her 7-year-old brother to quit acting Abe Vigoda when he gets "hangry." And eSurance used a borderline unrecognizable Lindsay Lohan and an unmistakable Walter White in very good ads. (That said, we were underwhelmed with the commercials as a whole.)
Sports fans. What a game. Period. And the NFL has the country's pop culture right where it wants it. We'll dig up some numbers, but here's saying that the viewing was off the charts and it was the rare game that lived up to the hype. Awesome in its awesomeness.
Super losers
Seattle offensive coaches. As TFP ace columnist Mark Wiedmer coined this morning, what in the world was that? Wow. That's going to be one of the all-time worst coaching calls of all time. Period. In fact, that slant-pass call was so bad it made what was a coaching mistake by Bill Belichick into a wise move. After the miracle catch down the sideline and the Marshwan Lynch run to the 1, there was still a minute left, but the Patriots refused to call a timeout. They could have called a couple -- or even let the Seahawks score -- and have almost a minute to go get points. Belichick did not -- and in truth he looked frozen and confused -- and was bailed out by the inexplicable pass that was picked off.
A Seattle slew of players. We understand the frustration about the ending, but the fighting was less than cool. We also understand the defensive guys being puzzled by the slant-pass play call -- there were Bushmen in the Outback who came down from the trees and said, "Why didn't they hand it to Beast Mode?" -- but all the bellyaching needs some balance. All the Seahawks needed was one fourth-quarter stop and they would have won it. You want to be the best defensive unit in the modern era? Get a stop. That said, there's nothing explaining Doug Baldwin acting like a clown, and know this, if the NFL won't show your TD dance because it's inappropriate, well, you, sir, lost the weekend.
Nationwide Insurance. OK, we get the overflow of emotion in the Super Bowl commercial genre these days. You are spending a huge chunk of your advertising budget and you want to make an impact. But dead kids? That's your impact? Especially when there was a slew of Peyton Manning options -- "Wishing I was in this game" or "Brady, you get all the breaks" -- that could have really left you as the talk of the morning.
Sports fans. The Super Bowl has come and gone. Meaningful football is done until late August. Sigh.
Roger Goodell. We think Goodell is the biggest hypocrite around, and here's the latest example. We all know that Marshawn Lynch has accrued multiple fines for not talking to the media. Goodell said no thanks to media interview requests Sunday. Hmmmmm. Ladies and gentlemen, the Roger Goodell era.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.