Cowherd: Terry Bradshaw on why the Patriots' Super Bowl experience is a crucial factor

Cowherd: Terry Bradshaw on why the Patriots' Super Bowl experience is a crucial factor

Published Feb. 2, 2017 4:35 p.m. ET

On Sunday the Atlanta Falcons will play in their first Super Bowl since 1999, when quarterback Matt Ryan was just 13 years old. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, meanwhile, already has four Super Bowl rings from six previous appearances on football's biggest stage.

On Thursday's episode of "The Herd", four-time Super Bowl champion Terry Bradshaw explained how big of a factor the gulf in experience between the Patriots and Falcons will be.

Colin Cowherd: “Tom Brady, how big of an advantage? He’ll be in his seventh Super Bowl, Matt [Ryan’s] first. Do you think that matters?”

Terry Bradshaw: “Yeah, I do. I talked to Tom the other day and I used the example… it’s like going through a forest and you’re trying to get to the other end for the prize.

"And you come to creeks and there’s little warning signs. Do I jump over the log in the creek or so I step on the log in the creek? So you figure out you jump over it, then you come to the fork in the road. ‘OK, let’s go… this way!’ Then the tree falls right in front of you and you have to go around.

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"So you finally get to the end and you go ‘whew! What an experience that was. But I made it! Good for me!’

Second time you’re on the same trail. Well, [there’s] no surprises. Third time, you know the trail. Fourth time, you chart it yourself.

"So the more you do it, the more comfortable you get, the more familiar you are with the circumstances. The only thing that changes, for the most part, is the team that you’re playing.

"And I think [with] Tom and the entire New England bunch, they’ve been there so many times. This is more of a normal game for them than Atlanta, where sometimes you can say ‘Well they’re just celebratory because, well they’re just here.’

"Like I said earlier, that is not how this team will approach it. They’ll go out, they’ll be a little bit more in awe of it than the other bunch. The other bunch wants to be history. They want to make history. Tom wants to win five.”

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