Welcome, Husker Nation, to the Carriker Chronicles and today I am doing my gut reaction to the Super Bowl and four things I think the Huskers can take away and learn from that Super Bowl. Now I'm gonna warn you - normally my gut reactions are only two or three minutes, but we're not putting this out 'til the next day so I'm going to go a little bit more in-depth tonight. You're welcome!

Now right off the bat I'm sure you're noticing that I'm not dressed in my normal attire, even for me. That's because we had a Super Bowl party at our house, we played a backyard football game, played a lot of ping pong - we had a great time, even through the first three quarters, which was kind of a dud of a Super Bowl. I thought about changing into more professional clothes - you know I like to keep it professional most of the time - but this is what's great about having your own show, 'cause I like to keep things raw and real as well for you folks at home.

Now, I probably need to explain the one glove. No, I'm not Michael Jackson, but in our backyard football game, just like in high school, I was the quarterback and I was throwin' that ball all over the yard, baby. And I hope you noticed - still rockin' the beard as well.

Let's get into that DUD of a football game that turned into, arguably, one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time. Think about it: we watched the largest comeback in Super Bowl history; we watched the first overtime game in Super Bowl history. This has been a great past few months to year for sports if you're a sports fan! The World Series goes to seven games, you see the Cubs win for the first time in 108 years, the seventh game of the World Series goes to extra-innings, you got the NBA finals going to seven games, you've got the national title between Clemson and Alabama coming down to the final seconds. It's been a phenomenal year.

You also saw another record in the Super Bowl as well: Tom Brady threw for the most yards in Super Bowl history. He was 43 of 62 for 466 yards passing. He broke Kurt Warner's old record of 414 yards. Now, I'm gonna go out on a limb and just go ahead and make some of you mad. That's OK because it's not only my opinion, it's borderline fact at this point: Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time, arguably the greatest NFL player of all time. You don't have to agree with me, you don't have to like it, and you can bring up Spygate, Deflategate - I completely understand and respect those - and that's why I didn't move him ahead of Joe Montana until this Super Bowl. Keep in mind, though, since Deflategate, three years since then, he has thrown for over 10,000 yards. He has appeared in three straight AFC championships games, and he's won two of the last three Super Bowls. And this is all while Roger Goodell and all of his henchmen are checking out Tom Brady's balls every chance that they get. And yes, I'm fully aware of how that just sounded, and I'm going to stick with it anyways. I won't even bring up the fact that he's been to a record seven Super Bowls, won a record five Super Bowls, and won a record four Super Bowl MVPs. Won't even bring that stuff up!

Now let's talk about the four things I think the Huskers can take away from this Super Bowl game. It's NFL vs. college, I fully understand that. By the way, I loved watching Roger Goodell have to hand that trophy over to Robert Kraft and the Patriots. I can't really stand Goodell, so I loved watching him eat that crow!

The first thing I think the Huskers can learn from this Super Bowl: pocket passing quarterbacks. We're used to guys who run with the ball. We've had a pro-style offense in the past, we've had pocket-passing quarterbacks in the past, but historically, we've had quarterbacks who can take off when a play breaks down, run the option, power option, read option, spread option - all those things. So I know Husker fans are a little bit nervous about a pocket passing quarterback going forward. I know they're also slightly excited. Calm your nerves a little bit, 'cause think about this: two of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, are two of the slowest and worst running quarterbacks of all time. That should calm your nerves just a little bit.

Number two, you don't always have to have the best talent to win big games or win championships. Look at the Patriots for example. After the game, I wrote down some of the biggest names that they have: Tom Brady (a sixth-round pick); Rob Gronkowski (injured, did not play in this game); Julian Edelman was a quarterback at Akron. Who was he before he got to the Patriots? Martellus Bennett, their other tight end, has had some success in the NFL but he's basically an NFL journeyman - a lot of talent, but he hasn't been consistent.

The Pats have some ballers on D but when you look at the Falcons, I see Matt Ryan (third over-all pick, league MVP); I see Julio Jones (top five pick; they traded the whole house, kit and caboodle, to get this guy; he's one of the best receivers in the entire league); Davonta Freeman (a second-round pick, a great threat out of the backfield. He's as good a threat out of the backfield as Reggie Bush or Darren Sproles, as well as a really good running back). You look at Vic Beasley, a top-ten pick in his first two years in the league, has won several awards already on the defensive side of the ball. You look at Mohamed Sanu. This guy was a bit under the radar with the Bengals because he was overshadowed by A.J. Green. He's even overshadowed by Julio Jones a little bit, but he starting to really get recognition now because you can't deny him anymore. I've only played fantasy football one year of my life; I don't have time to dedicate to it like a lot of guys do. I enjoyed it, but I picked up Mohamed Sanu, and he was my best receiver that year.

When you compare the talent, the Falcons are more talented. And when I predicted the Patriots to win, I thought it was going to be 34-31 (I was fairly close), I was nervous about the Falcons being more talented, but here's what the Patriots do that separates them. They have talent, don't get me wrong, but they're not the most talented in the league. The Seahawks had more talent when they played them a couple years ago, but here's what the Patriots have: they have a system. They have a system that the coaches know inside and out; they have a system that fits their players; they have a system that their players know inside and out. When players have been there for years, they know (snaps) everything about it; when players leave, they understand it; when players come in, they know what it is, it's not a secret. We need to get a system at Nebraska and know who we are within that system on offense and defense. They have a belief - the coaches believe in the players, the players believe in the coaches, the fans believe in the coaches, the fans believe in the players; players and coaches even believe in the fans. There is a belief within that organization. And leadership: coming into this season, we need a leader to emerge at the quarterback position, on offense, and defense. There's no question who the Patriots leaders are. We need that at Nebraska as well. All of these things have absolutely nothing to do with talent, and that's why they're so successful year in and year out.

Real quick - big shout-out to my College Football Bowl Mania Pick 'Em group and my NFL Pick 'Em group, because I've now won College Football Bowl Mania two years in a row. Please - somebody stop me! And now I am the NFL Pick 'Em champion as well. Please - get at me bro! A little Richard Sherman. . . you mad, bro??

But let's get back to what Nebraska can take away from this. Number three: I don't want to say turning it around, but taking it to the next level. You look at the Falcons, because I like a lot of the things the Falcons did. They were 8-8 a year ago. Not bad, but they didn't make the playoffs. They go from that to a year later being one play away from winning the Super Bowl. You look at their defense: they started three rookies and three second-year players. Two years ago, half their defense wasn't even on the team. They were able to take it to the next level very quickly. You look at their defense over-all - they only have two major contributors over the age of 24 on their entire defense. My point is this: Nebraska doesn't need to turn it around but taking it to the next level doesn't have to take forever if we do it the right way.

And number four, and if you take nothing else away from the Super Bowl: falling behind and not giving up and never letting up. Too often, when Nebraska plays at Ohio State or Wisconsin, Iowa, whatever the case may be, a little snowball starts, and it gets bigger and bigger and it turns into an avalanche. I watched Tom Brady on the sidelines when they showed him. You could see he was pissed (I'll go ahead and say that word); he was very upset but he wasn't going to let this snowball keep going and turn into an avalanche. Nebraska needs to develop the ability to take a snowball that's building and stop it. Now, whether you come back and win the game (obviously that's what you want), but to be competitive in the end so you don't get blown out on a fairly consistent or inconsistent basis, whatever the case may be.

So, let's recap. Number 1: pocket passing quarterback. I'm slightly excited to see what happens. Number 2: you don't always have to have the best talent, although I do like the recruiting class we just brought in. Number 3, we can take it to the next level quicker rather than later, if things are done right; and Number 4, when things start to snowball, let's stop that bad boy from turning into an avalanche and let's finish competitive in those games.

You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter, and as always you can find the Carriker Chronicles every Monday, Wednesday, and Fast Friday right here at the same time and same great place, baby. So until Wednesday, Husker Nation, GO BIG RED, LIVESTRONG (I know it's Lance Armstrong's foundation but I just love LIVESTRONG, baby!). GO BIG RED and always remember to THROW THE BONES!