Super Bowl Predictions with Gallagher and Byron

MONTREAL -- Players known for wearing their hearts on their sleeves and never taking a shift off on the ice, Brendan Gallagher and Paul Byron take a similarly passionate approach to their football fandom.
We caught up with the two self-proclaimed NFL experts ahead of Super Bowl LIII to get the skinny on this year's Habs NFL Fantasy Pool, how their own favorite teams fared in the regular season, and who they think will win Sunday's big game.

BRENDAN GALLAGHER: Let's start with a little fantasy recap. Paul, you want to handle this one?
PAUL BYRON: Oh, my team was terrible. Just awful. The day of the draft, I had my last appointment with my doctor in New York and I was going to be on the plane, so I trusted a good friend to do my draft for me and he pretty much took all the guys I had red flags on.
BG:He's an analytics friend of his, so he was trusting the analytics.
PB: I'm an eye-test guy. He went against me. I had Sammy Watkins, Amari Cooper, Josh Gordon, who didn't even make it through the year. I played [Shea] Weber in the last game of the year, and the winner got to go to the playoffs. So I wasn't that bad.
BG: You had Zeke Elliott…
PB:Gally passed on A.J. Green and Joe Mixon.

BG: I did.
PB:Literally one pick ahead of me and he passed.
BG: No, you took Mixon and I wanted him. I took Howard after. I passed on A.J. Green for Keenan Allen, just because I know Keenan Allen is a guy you can count on late in the year. It actually turned out that I couldn't count on him the last few weeks.
Paul actually beat me in the playoffs last year and won, but this year I was able to bounce back. I won the championship this year. Actually, the way I won was against Karl Alzner]. I couldn't have asked for a better finish - I was only up by 4.5 points and he had a kicker left and his kicker didn't kick a single field goal in the final. They scored two touchdowns, so he got two points, and he actually had a 55-yarder and he came just a bit short. He would have won it right there. I think it was Christmas Eve, so it felt like an early Christmas gift.
**PB:** Even before he won, he already thought he was the best fantasy guy on the team.
**BG:** I've always thought of myself as a bit of a guru. I made a lot of trades that worked out. I traded for Dalvin Cook, I actually traded for Joe Mixon from Paulie. Those two were really big for me in the playoffs. Through the bye weeks, you need some guys to step in, so I made some trades, but those two were big.
[Instagram from @bgally.11: @nmanning8 #Whodey #Andy #SuperNerd
PB: He took advantage of some rookies, the guys who had no idea what they were doing.
BG: I did kind of do that… I traded Carlos Hyde for Matt Bereda from Mike Reilly and [Max] Domi.
PB: Like a day later, the guy got traded and we never saw him again. He just takes advantage.
BG: Hyde never played another game and Bereda was very good for me. He helped me get into the playoffs, actually. I was slipping right before the playoffs, and that helped. We do teams, so I was with Jeff Petry. We've done this for three or four years now. Jeff and I have won twice. Jeff is more of a silent partner. He only jumps on when we're losing - gives me the heat. But he lets me do my thing. Paulie was with Phil [Danault] but he dumped Paulie this year.
PB: Yeah, Phil fired me. The season wasn't even over yet.
BG: He just took over.
PB:I'll be searching for a new partner next year. He's been riding my coattails the last few years. He'll see what life is like without me.

BG: Now, for the regular season. I'm a Bengals guy, obviously, and they started off great. They were 4-1, then the injury bug hit. We lost A.J. Green. That hurts. He actually got hurt twice this year. And then Andy Dalton got hurt and a bunch of linebackers went down.
PB: I'm a Cleveland Browns guy.
BG: Well, he hasn't been a Browns fan that long.
PB: I wasn't a big football fan growing up. My dad was a huge Cowboys fan, but I didn't really like them. I moved to Abbottsford, so Seattle was always on TV, and I became a Seahawks fan. Marshawn Lynch was my favorite player. Of course everyone started making fun of me saying I was a bandwagon fan. So I picked the worst team in the NFL, the Cleveland Browns.
BG: Well, he went with Atlanta before that.
PB: No, I had a hat. I was a big Julio Jones fan, though. I like cheering for my fantasy guys and I just picked the Browns. I just felt like no one could make fun of me for picking the Browns. This year, they were close.
BG: They were better than the Bengals, sadly…
For the Super Bowl, I think the Pats will probably win, but you know, the Patriots did beat the Rams on that Tom Brady fumble that wasn't ruled a fumble in that first Super Bowl when it all kind of started for the Pats. I feel like if there's any kind of karma in the world, something is going to happen that will actually go the Rams' way in this one.
PB:The AFC and NFC Championship games were incredible. Two overtime games - can't get much better than that. You've got the call against the Saints that was a bad call, no doubt about it, but the refs try their best to let them play football and not make these ticky-tacky calls. That one was pretty big so it stands out, but you could probably go back through the game and find one or two that maybe went against the Rams that could have changed the game. At the end of the day, Drew Brees threw a pick in overtime. They won the coin toss - if they march down and get a touchdown, no one would even be talking about the penalty. He had the ball and they had the chance. Greg Zuerlein hit a 57-yard field goal, which is pretty incredible to win in overtime. Watching Patrick Mahomes with those drives at the end was pretty cool.
BG: I wish Mahomes had gotten the ball. I wish they'd change that rule.
PB: Oh, if Mahomes gets the ball, they go down and get a touchdown.
BG:Yeah. The Patriots get the ball, then Mahomes gets the ball, we go back-and-forth… we could have watched one of the greatest sporting events ever if both teams got the ball.
PB: I'd like to see them make it so that if you kick the extra point, the other team gets a chance, but if you go for two and make it, the game is over. That way, if you miss the extra point, you risk losing the game.
BG: Yeah, that would be more exciting. I actually think the Saints would be more exciting in the Super Bowl. I'm not sure if I want to see the Rams win, just because everyone is trying to be like their coach now. I just like good defense, and now everyone's going the offensive way.
PB: I like watching the Rams. They're really good. Good running back, great offensive linemen. They've got good defensive players that can put pressure on Brady.
BG: Both coaches are geniuses. What Sean McVay has done in two years is incredible. They went from 4-12 in 2016 to having eight losses in two years or something like that.
PB: It would be the old passing the torch kind of thing, which is what I wanted with Mahomes. Brady is 5-3 in his career in the Super Bowl.
BG: I'd like to see Brady win. It's cool to be able to say you were able to watch the greatest player ever. If he goes to 5-4…
PB: But he already is the greatest ever. I don't think winning or losing changes that.
BG: But if he goes to 5-4, people will say he's not.
PB: I disagree with that argument, because even if he's 5-4, he still got to nine Super Bowls. When you lose, you're losing against the other best team in the NFL. It shouldn't be a knock on you, especially the Brady he loses. It's not like he's getting blown out.
BG: I agree with that completely. He is the best, but you'd like to see him kind of pad it. I saw a stat the other day: this is his ninth Super Bowl and no other NFLfranchise has been to nine Super Bowls.

PB: Yeah. We shouldn't be comparing him with Joe Montana. Joe Montana goes 8-8 one year and wins the Super Bowl.
BG:So did Eli Manning against Brady. Anyway I hope he wins. But for the Rams to win, they'll probably have to stop the run.
PB: Which they did against New Orleans. They've got a really good defensive line.
BG:Aaron Donald is probably the best defensive player in the League. It's him or Khalil Mack. They probably have to force some turnovers and score some points that way. They're going to be able to score. They're a lot like the Chiefs. Their defense is good.
PB: I think they'll be able to stop the run. With the Chiefs, that's what gave them tons of trouble. I think the Rams are a better match up against the Patriots than the Saints were. On paper, I think they just match up better.
BG:They can both score.
PB: It's not going to be a 50-49 shootout, but both teams will easily get 27 or 30 points.
BG: They're probably going to need [Todd] Gurley to be healthier than he was. They can win. They might need a big special teams play or something.
PB: The Patriots' execution is second-to-none on special teams.
BG:Bill Belichick goes into games prepared for every possible situation. Every single play. Against Atlanta, they needed three two-point conversions to win the game. There's nothing the Rams will do that Bill Belichick won't be prepared for. They did take a lot of penalties against the Chiefs, though, which they normally don't do.
PB: It really hurt them at the end. A lot of pass interference penalties.
BG: Experience is huge, too.
PB: For sure.
BG:When you get into those situations, emotions take over and it changes the way you act and prep. I mean, [Jared] Goff is really young, Brady's been there before. Certain people handle it differently, but experience helps.
PB:If you've got Tom Brady on your team, you're not worried about making a mistake, because you know that in the heat of the moment, this guy will march down and get a touchdown, regardless of what's happened earlier in the game. We don't know if Goff can do that: Super Bowl on the line, a minute left, no time outs, is he going to be able to get a touchdown? We know Tom can.
BG: If the Rams get down early, you can see them panicking. If the Patriots get down early, there's not a chance they panic. They're never out. I think the Pats will win 31-28.
PB:That's the number I had too, actually. I guess I'll say 34-30.