Destiny,
rising in the face of adversity and desire; these are the things that great
teams believe in, do and aspire too which is something both the New England
Patriots and Seattle Seahawks possess.
These
two NFL heavyweights will lock horns come Sunday evening for arguably
the biggest prize in sport, the Lombardi Trophy. The Patriots are looking to
capture their 4th championship in franchise history and more importantly their
first since 2004. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick will also be looking to exorcise
demons from previous Super Bowls as it was in this exact stadium back in 2007
where the Patriots were minutes away from pulling off the perfect season before
losing to the Giants and finishing the campaign 18-1.
Despite
all their achievements and all the success the Patriots organisation has
achieved it appears that Sunday's game is going to define a legacy. If Brady
and Belichick win then it is a 4 Super Bowl win and 6 appearances, both have
the most playoff wins for a QB and for a head coach and both hold numerous
other records that help stake their claim as the greatest ever. If they don't
defeat Seattle then other fan bases will continue to jibe the Pats with
"Spygate", "Deflate gate" and about any other gate they can
think of.
The
Patriots are usually the masters of rising up in the face of adversity and
punching it right in the throat which is something you could say they've done
more so than ever this season but Seattle have had to combat this themselves.
After a lacklustre start to the season the defending champions were heavily
criticised including the almighty legion of boom and despite the fact that many
experts were touting a possible return to the Super Bowl for these Seahawks
secretly I believe and from what I saw about 90% of people really did feel that
Dallas or Green Bay would knock off Seattle in this postseason but it never
happened.
The
Seahawks rose from the ashes last week to pull off one of the greatest playoff
comebacks in NFL history as they rallied back from 16-0 down to take the game
to overtime at 22-22 before Russell Wilson finished off the game to Jermaine
Kearse with a beautiful touchdown leaving Green Bay shell shocked and wondering
what if (I doubt any of their players will be watching the game tomorrow). So
now Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch and this amazing Seattle Seahawks defense,
who came up big especially in the red zone last week, will have a chance to
repeat against a team who were in fact the last NFL franchise to pull off such
a feat.
It's
that among many other factors which makes this game so exciting and so damn
hard to predict! This will arguably be Seattle and New England's toughest games
of the season. The Patriots themselves pulled off a memorable playoff comeback
against Baltimore in the divisional round so we know how much heart and
determination both of these teams have. They also put in a stellar performance
in last weeks AFC Championship game against the Colts to blow out the
opposition 45-7 with LeGarrette Blount running wild and the Pats defense coming
up big with huge intensity and fantastic play for near enough the entire 60
minutes.
The
Patriots defense is probably the second best in the league and the truth is
that they are not that far behind Seattle's but with this Seahawks D being so
tough and so nasty it just puts them head and shoulders above the rest. Now Tom
Brady has faced many great D's in the past and he will have been studying
Seattle night and day for the past fortnight so he will be prepared and he has
the tools to defeat the legion of boom.
The
LOB's and this Seattle defenses kryptonite for me is Rob Gronkowski as despite
how good the likes of Kam Chancellor, Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, Jeremy Lang
and Bobby Wagner are they've never come up against a player like Gronk as this
man can do anything. Now despite Gronk's abilities to block, catch and just
about to near enough anything my key to the game is this Pats o-line protecting
Tom Brady as well as whether they can be effective enough to help get the run
game going.
In
Brady's past two Super Bowl losses the Giants front 3 was able to create tons
of pressure to force a collapse in the pocket and get to Tom. If that happens
again on Sunday it will be hard for the Pats to win especially as we've seen
how brilliant that the likes of Bruce Irvin and Michael Bennett are in the pass
rush. They have the skills to crash up the middle and replicate the success the
Giants had against Brady but this Pats o line ranks 4th in giving up the fewest
sacks this season so them doing their jobs will be crucial.
If
they can indeed hold up strong and give Brady time in the pocket as well as
create a successful run game with Blount also being a key factor then the Pats
have the tools to win this game. The recipe to New England's success on offense
this season has been quick passes, slants and the abilities of their small,
nibble receivers creating plays after the catch so Julian Edelman and Danny
Amendola will have big roles to play. This is something that Seattle have
sometimes struggled against in the past with TY Hilton of the Colts being an example. Edelman,
Amendola can both run similar corner routes to this one and because all are so
good but with different qualities it makes for an exciting head to head when
this Pats offense goes against the Seattle defense. Add Gronk in the mix as
mention previously along with the big bodied Brandon LaFell who's having a breakout
year at wideout for the Patriots, he has become one of Brady's most trusted
weapons, and this Patriots offense will be giving the Seattle defense a few
sleepless nights of their own. (Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan fans will appreciate the
pun).
The
Pats defense will be having a few restless nights of their own as they know how
devastating Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch can be. Beast mode is the best
running back in the league and thrives for the big games whilst Wilson always
seems to keep calm in high pressure situations and also always manages to pull
out a big play when needed. Doug Baldwin for me is a very underrated receiver
and will pose the Pats defense threats but because of his slant running type
nature New England will be well equipped for this.
Despite
Russell Wilson's ability to use his legs and considering how underrated his
throwing ability is at times which was something the Broncos underestimated in
last years Super Bowl I feel this Patriots defense has all the tools to combat
the Seattle offense. Just like Wilson is a new type of QB these Patriot
linebackers in the form of Jamie Collins and Dont'a Hightower are new breeds of
linebackers and are equipped to disrupt as well as get after Russell Wilson.
whilst the likes of Vince Wilfork, Chandler Jones and Rob Ninkovich definitely
have a chance of frustrating beast mode.
Add
the Pats secondary to this defense which includes brilliant safety Devin
McCourty along with Darrelle Revis wanting to prove he's the best corner in the
game on the biggest stage of them all when he goes against Richard Sherman
tomorrow and you can see why this is the best Patriots defense since 2007.
Remember the last time the Pats were in a Super Bowl Julian Edelman played at
corner; now they have key contributors such as Brandon Browner, Logan Ryan,
Kyle Arrington and Patrick Chung who all have risen to the occasion thanks to
the inspiration and leadership from the likes of Revis and McCourty. For the
Seahawks to win they'll need to run the ball effectively through Lynch so that
Wilson can try to deceive the Pats D by using his own legs and with his throws
but if that doesn't happen they'll become a bit more predictable which will
help the Patriots in attempting to stop this Seattle offense.
Now
everyone is talking about Seattle repeating or the fact that this is the game
to cement Belichick but more so Tom Brady's legacy and to be quite honest it is
a little bit. It is incredible that he would have to win this to make on Sunday
to have 4 Super Bowl wins from 6 appearances in the big one just to prove the
doubters wrong but personally I see this as being the career game for Rob
Gronkowski who will help Brady, Belichick and the Patriots achieve their dreams
once again. Gronk, the man who played for the university of Arizona, has waited
3 years for this since the Super Bowl loss to the Giants when he hobbled around
on one ankle and has missed the past two playoffs with other injuries so it's
only fitting that the biggest game of Gronk's career will be played in Arizona,
a place he loves and a place where he hopes his dreams will be fulfilled
come Sunday night. Seattle may be favourites and I do agree with that
assessment but I've been adamant all season that if Gronkowski stays healthy
the Patriots will win the Super Bowl so despite the fact that Pete Carroll is
up against his former team as well as that the all mighty legion of boom are
the best defense to come along since 1985 Bears I am standing by that
prediction now more than ever.
Prediction:
Patriots 27-23 Seahawks
