Seattle and New England both feature unflappable field generals, although to be fair getting to any Super Bowl requires a high level of play from the quarterback position.
SB XLIX Preview: Dissecting the Quarterbacks
Russell Wilson for the Seahawks has been an outstanding dual threat quarterback, capable of moving the chains for his team any way possible. Wilson has the arm to chuck it deep, completing 63.3% of his passes over 20 yards this post-season and scoring three touchdowns. He can make defenders miss with subtle shakes as he did against Arizona, and was ranked the best running quarterback by Pro Football Focus. The New England defense has faced just two read option plays this year, both from Ryan Tannehill, who doesn’t have the rushing acumen of Wilson, as the Seattle signal caller lead all quarterbacks with 849 yards and 6 touchdowns.
Wilson just seems to make the right plays, even though they aren’t always dazzling. He has an underrated skill in his ability to read the defender properly on the read option, and the sleight of hand to make the defense think that Marshawn Lynch has the ball before popping up with it and finding an open receiver or running for a first down. If he extends a play and doesn’t like his options, he’ll just throw it out of bounds. Rarely does Wilson make the wrong play.
That’s why his performance in the NFC Championship game is stunning. He played, without a shred of doubt, the worst game of his NFL career. Wilson had barely thrown a pick throughout his NFL playoff career, the only one being a last second Hail Mary pass against Atlanta that was caught by Julio Jones. He went and threw four against the Packers.
As putrid as Russell Wilson was though, he still made the plays needed to win the game when it came down to crunch time – and his leadership? Wilson kept going at Jermaine Kearse to a fault. It could possibly be seen as a stubborn-headed pitfall, but what cannot be denied is that Jermaine Kearse scored the game winning touchdown. He did so after every interception Wilson threw was targeting Kearse. Wilson’s insistence on going back to Kearse shows an unwavering confidence in his teammates, and as much as that hurt him for 55 minutes last week, it won him the last nine.
The Patriots have to hope their young, athletic, versatile linebackers are up to the task of containing Wilson. Jamie Collins is a jack-of-all-trades player. Collins can pass rush, run stop, and cover from sideline to sideline. The loss of Jerod Mayo to injury hasn’t been nearly as impactful as Patriots fans feared because of just how good Collins has been. He leads the Patriots in defensive stops this year with 52, and is the second best rated player for the Pats behind only his fellow linebacker Dont’a Hightower, according to Pro Football Focus. Hightower has been sensational on the inside for New England. If the Patriots are forced to spy Wilson, expect it to be Collins partly because of his athleticism, and partly because Hightower is a competent blitzer.
Look for Wilson and Seattle to test the discipline and athleticism of the New England linebacking corps early and often. If Seattle can get a subpar performance out of the Collins and Hightower, Lynch and Wilson will have a field day if they can get to the second level in the run game.
For New England, the skinny 6th round draft pick out of Michigan is their quarterback. Sorry, that’s two time MVP and three time Super Bowl champion 6th round pick out of Michigan, Tom Brady. There’s not a lot that can be said about Tom Brady that hasn’t already been said. He holds the NFL record for post-season TD passes with 49, and has more playoff wins than 21 NFL teams.
Brady has been his usual self during the playoffs this year, throwing 6 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. The offensive line hasn’t been giving him a lot of time but Brady has actually thrived making the quick throws, as 76.7% of his dropbacks are throws under two and a half seconds and he’s completing 72% of those passes, against 42% with over two and a half seconds to throw. The uber competitive playoff QB thriving under pressure isn’t a new idea though, is it?
A lot has been made of the matchup between Brady and Richard Sherman and whether or not he will avoid throwing at Sherman, but that may not end up being the matchup that matters the most. According the Pro Football Focus, when throwing outside the numbers Brady prefers the left side – Sherman plays the right, which means Byron Maxwell might see a bulk of passes thrown his way.
Expect Brady to attack Maxwell, who is seen as the least talented player in the ‘Legion of Boom’. To Maxwell’s credit, he picked up an interception in the NFC Conference Championship game. Rob Gronkowski has eight touchdowns this year when lined up outside as a wide receiver, so expect to see the Patriots use that mismatch in big situations on Sunday.
The start of Wilson’s career very much mirrors Brady’s. Both started early in their career, Wilson winning the starting job as a rookie, and Brady going in for the injured Drew Bledsoe in his second year. Both won their first Super Bowl in their second year, with some help from great defenses on the other side of the ball.
They play the game in different ways, but both Brady and Wilson are the heartbeats of their organizations. Seattle and New England both have more purely talented players on their offenses, Gronk and Lynch come to mind, but nobody is more important to either team than their field generals.
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