Symmetry is required by definition in football: 11 players on both offense and defense; an end covering the five interior linemen on the line of scrimmage. Where it’s not required, and where it’s even more rarely seen, is in the trajectories of Super Bowl opponents.
Consider last year when Denver blew past every other team in the history of the NFL offensively, whereas Seattle relied on its legendary defense. It was two worlds colliding, and the game was going to go either one way or the other.
This year, it’s not quite the same story.
The New England Patriots come into the game at 14-4, as do the Seattle Seahawks.
Both teams struggled early in the season. The Patriots limped out to a 2-2 start which included an annihilation on Monday Night Football in Kansas City. The sky was falling in Foxborough. Questions came to life about Tom Brady’s career: has father time finally caught up to him? Do he and Belichick have a suddenly tumultuous relationship? Has his cascade from the top of the mountain begun? Is it Jimmy Garoppolo time?
Those questions died. They may never be revived.
The Patriots went 10-2 during the regular season from Week 5 onwards, winning games by an average of 17.8 points, and putting an average of 35.8 points up on the scoreboard. Rob Gronkowski got healthy and was a huge part of the team’s success. Recovering from a blown out knee, Gronk scored 12 touchdowns in 15 games. This isn’t to say their defense wasn’t good, they held teams to 19.6 points over the course of the season.
A cavalcade of controversies has chased the Pats throughout these playoffs. First, there was the ineligible receiver against the Ravens that John Harbaugh contended was illegal. It wasn’t, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a big news story. The play was actually lifted almost verbatim from the Alabama Crimson Tide’s overtime win against LSU just a few weeks earlier. It was just another case of Belichick’s mad genius.
After New England’s drubbing of the Indianapolis Colts came “deflate-gate”. So much can be said about this contemptible offense, especially because some of the evidence uncovered suggests this has been going on since Brady and other quarterbacks lobbied the league to allow for offenses to prepare their own game balls. The issue should be further explored past the Super Bowl, but for now, there will be added security on the footballs so it shouldn’t be a concern. The distraction of “deflate-gate” might have been hugely impactful on the focus and preparation of the Patriots the past two weeks, or knowing “The Patriot Way”, it could be a footnote in the end result of the game.
Pete Carroll’s squad also got off to a questionable start, starting 3-3 and allowing an uncharacteristic 300 yards in four of those games. There were supposed locker room issues, and wide speculation that these issues, past or present, had caused the trade of the enigmatic but magnificently talented Percy Harvin to the New York Jets for just a conditional draft pick. Rumors ruminated about unrest between players in the locker room, and that the Seahawks front office had grown tired of Marshawn Lynch’s antics and that he was as good as gone this offseason.
Those narratives also died. The Seahawks figured out whatever ailed them, and put their defensive concerns to bed.
From Week 8 to the end of the regular season, the Seahawks were 9-1. In their last six games, they didn’t allow a point in the fourth quarter. Bobby Wagner’s return to the defense from injury helped to shore up some of their issues and brought them back to being a cohesive unit. Wagner finished the season as Pro Football Focus’ fifth-ranked inside linebacker. Their impressive run included a 35-6 clobbering of their biggest perceived divisional foe, the Arizona Cardinals, on the road.
Carolina went into Seattle and the matchup turned into the newest episode of “The Kam Chancellor Show.” The fifth year safety dominated, with a 90-yard touchdown return off of Cam Newton, eight solo tackles, and two hurdles clear over the Carolina field goal unit.
The NFC Championship Game was something entirely different. Seattle should not have won, but the magic continued. It took Seattle, playing in front of their always loud and boisterous fans, 40:10 to score a fake field goal touchdown late in the third quarter to make it 16-7. With four minutes left in the game, just as Green Bay’s Tim Masthay punted the ball to the Seahawks, the defending Super Bowl champions had a 0.1% win probability (Pro Football Reference). Russell Wilson managed to come out of the game with a win after throwing four interceptions. Wilson’s passer rating in the first 55 minutes of the game was just 7.0; in the last nine however, it was a perfect 158.3. Jermaine Kearse was terrible until overtime, as all four of Wilson’s interceptions came on throws to Kearse during regulation, but became the hero scoring a 35-yard touchdown to give Seattle the win in the most insane football game of this season.
Seattle was of course not without controversy this Super Bowl cycle either, as Marshawn Lynch has been scolded all week by the media for replying to questions with just a few simple phrases: “I’m only here so I don’t get fined”, and “You know why I’m here”. Lynch of course, has been fined in the past for refusing to speak with the media outright. Speculation surrounds his reasoning: it could be pure disdain for the media, a social anxiety issue, or as he’s said in the past, he’s just tired of talking. In an interview for NFL.com last year, Lynch made it clear that was the way things were, saying that “there are only so many times I can say, ‘I owe it to my offensive linemen,’ or, ‘The credit should go to my teammates,’ before it becomes run down.”
It’s an odd year, in which the two teams playing in the Super Bowl have had fairly similar trajectories. The game has neither the sort of David vs. Goliath narrative of the last two Super Bowls the Patriots have played in, nor the offense vs. defense battle we saw last year when Denver and Seattle faced off. The Patriots and Seahawks are two teams with proven players, who struggled early, but managed to put it all together matter-of-factly while we watched anxiously.
Both teams feature unflappable quarterbacks, bludgeoning running backs, somewhat lackluster receiving corps, athletic linebackers, and outstanding secondaries.
The similarities are uncanny. It’s highly unlikely we see another blowout victory this Super Bowl (most Vegas casinos have the Patriots by just one point). Ultimately it’s going to come down to whoever executes better.
Whoever hoists the Vince Lombardi trophy on Sunday will make a bit more history than usual. The Seahawks would be the first team to repeat as champions since the Patriots themselves in 2003 & 2004 while Tom Brady watches. On the other hand, the Patriots could cap off a 13-year dynasty in which Belichick reached six Super Bowls and took home four: asterisk optional.
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