10 storylines to follow during the lead-up to Super Bowl LI

The New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons will play for Super Bowl glory in a dozen days. Here are the ten biggest narratives surrounding the NFL's big game.

Brady vs. Goodell

Tom Brady doesn't just have the chance to topple the Falcons; he can declare victory in his "war" with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell by winning the game and forcing Goodell to hand him the Lombardi Trophy - and perhaps award Brady game MVP honors, too.

The foes battled in the media and then in court after Goodell suspended Brady four games for his role in the Deflategate saga. Goodell hasn't showed his face in New England since, but the commish can't avoid Brady and the Patriots in Houston.

Brady's and Belichick's legacies

Brady has the chance to accomplish something no quarterback has before by winning a fifth Super Bowl ring, breaking a tie with Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw. Doing so would go a long way toward cementing Brady's status as the greatest quarterback ever in the eyes of many.

Bill Belichick is also chasing history. In his record seventh Super Bowl appearance as a head coach, Belichick can move past Steelers legend Chuck Noll to become the only head coach with five rings.

Is Ryan elite?

As Joe Flacco showed, a good quarterback can achieve elite status by carrying his team to a title. Ryan is closer to great than good, and is the favorite to take home MVP honors this season, but his magical run won't be complete and he won't be considered a true peer of passers like Brady, Rodgers, Roethlisberger, and Brees without a ring.

Dan Quinn's shot at redemption

Super Bowl LI will be Dan Quinn's first as Atlanta's head coach, but his third in four years if you include the two as Seattle's defensive coordinator. The second of those was a defeat at the hands of the Patriots, so Quinn has a shot at revenge.

No. 1 offense vs. No. 1 defense

The run-up to the Super Bowl is always rich with cliches, and the "unstoppable force" of the Falcons' No. 1 scoring offense against the "immovable object" of the Patriots' No. 1 scoring defense will elicit many.

Best way to defend Brady

Brady's two Super Bowl losses came at the hands of Giants teams that disrupted him by getting pressure with a four-man pass rush and dropping everyone else into coverage. Will the Falcons attempt to copy the model? There's no Justin Tuck on their roster, but Vic Beasley led the NFL in sacks as a sophomore and has the potential to wreak havoc in the Patriots' backfield after a quiet NFC title game.

Lack of controversy

Who will be the first player or coach to say something that gives their opponent some bulletin board material? The Patriots are notoriously tight-lipped, and the Falcons' star players are typically reserved when speaking publicly.

With the media omnipresent during Super Bowl week, however, every comment made by a Patriot or Falcon will be captured, dissected, and in many cases sensationalized.

Rising star coordinators

Quinn and Belichick will get most of the coaching headlines, but there's a strong argument that Super Bowl LI features the two best young play-callers in football. Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan will reportedly be offered the 49ers' head coaching job after the game, but things might have gone differently had Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels not taken his name out of the running for the gig.

How their respective offenses perform in the Super Bowl, and how the 49ers fare next season and beyond, will be a major talking point.

Retiring vets

There's no Peyton Manning in this game, but there are a few veteran players who could walk off into the sunset with a title. For the Falcons, 36-year-old defensive end Dwight Freeney, 35-year-old defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux, and 41-year-old kicker Matt Bryant are prime candidates. For the Patriots, 32-year-old Rob Ninkovich and 31-year-old Chris Long could hang up their cleats after a Super Bowl victory.

Patriots' ties to Trump

It's not a football storyline, but it's something you should expect to hear plenty about as we move toward the game. Both Brady and Belichick have spoken publicly about their friendship with Donald Trump - with the latter even writing the polarizing POTUS a letter of support during his campaign - but in recent weeks the pair of Patriots have tried to distance themselves from politics.

More than just football media covers the Super Bowl, meaning Brady, Belichick, and their peers will surely be asked to comment on the current state of government affairs.