While New England Patriots are the consensus pick to win Super Bowl XLIX, the Seattle Seahawks will be undaunted and be the first repeat champion in a decade. The New England Patriots are a very strong and talented team and well coached, but Seattle have too many strengths to counter the Patriots.
Best Coaches in NFL Will be Cautious at First
The coaches are the best in the NFL. Most analysts correctly talk about Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick as arguably the best coach in the game and probably all-time. However, Seahawks’ head coach Pete Carroll has proven to be a worthy contender to best coach in the game. In fact, both coaches have a lot of similarities.
Carroll and Belichick both like to think “outside the box.” First, both Carroll and Belichick have proven to be very willing to use trick plays during a game. Such trick plays are often used to finish off an opponent.
Second, the NFL is a copycat league. These two coaches have been two of the most copied coaches for their approaches to handling their teams. Belichick used to be known as a defensive coach, yet in recent years as rules changed to favor the offense, Belichick has been on the forefront of offensive innovations.
Carroll is now routinely copied for constantly bringing players to be evaluated all season long. Carroll is not wed to players just because of contracts. Carroll has always preached that every job on the roster must be earned through competition. Carroll took a chance on third-round rookie quarterback Russell Wilson over Matt Flynn who had just signed a three-year $19.5 million contact in the offseason.
As such, both coaches will be cautious in the early stages of the game. The Seahawks cannot afford to fall behind the Patriots with multiple turnovers as they did against the GreenBay Packers in the NFC Championship game. The Patriots will not allow that type of comeback.
The game will be low scoring initially especially in the first quarter. The scoring will pick up in the second half and still end up with plenty of scoring as this chess match develops.
Seattle’s Secondary Will Dominate
Tom Brady will throw the first interception of the game. Wilson will be kept conservative most of the game. The Patriots will be forced to throw 45-50 times and the Seattle secondary will eventually intercept one or two passes.
Seattle defensive lineman Michael Bennett will eventually pressure Brady enough to make a mistake against the Legion of Boom. There are just too many potential heroes on the Seahawks defensive squad to not have some big plays.
Marshawn Lynch Too Much “Beast” for Patriots
While clearly Belichick and Patriots will try to stop Lynch, he will eventually be too much. Patriots are great at stopping one or two strengths on a team. In the Indianapolis Colts game, the Patriots stopped the run and feasted on quarterback Andrew Luck’s errors.
In this game, Lynch will be limited, but will break out enough to damage the Patriots. Lynch is great after the first contact and playing him tight does not mean you can stop him. Lynch will score.
Russell Wilson Will be the Difference Patriots Cannot Stop
Ironically, the extra defenders assigned to stop Lynch will eventually lead to Wilson getting a few big plays in. Wilson is not a Peyton Manning or a Tom Brady. Wilson is not the quarterback that carries a team. Wilson is the quarterback who manages a game until it is time to put a team away.
Wilson audibled on the overtime play that beat the Packers. Wilson saw that the Packers had no safety in the middle and exploited that for the win. Wilson cannot make the early mistakes that he made in that game though. He needs to be mistake-free.
In the the end, Wilson has proved to be a most savvy improvisor and will likely need to break off a few long zone-read runs to be the difference in the game.
Seahawks Already Had their Bad Game
Two years ago, the Denver Broncos had their home playoff game locked up against the Baltimore Ravens. All the Broncos needed to do was play prevent defense. Instead, the Broncos safety Rahim Moore played too tight on Ravens receiver Jacoby Jones who got behind him for a 70-yard game tying touchdown. Ravens went on to win the game and beat the Patriots in the AFC Championship game on their way to a Super Bowl victory.
The Seahawks were minutes from their season end, when they rallied to stun the Packers. After Wilson threw an interception with 5:04 minutes to play in the game, their chances of winning went to less than one percent according to CBSSports.com’s John Breech.
History tells us that when a team escapes with an improbable victory, they have got that bad game out of their system and are poised to win it all. The Seahawks are not a fluke team. They are experienced and now very confident. This confidence will be enough to defeat the talented and experienced Patriots.
Seattle Seahawks Repeat as they Win 38-35
Seattle will never be able to pull away. This will not be a repeat of their win over the Denver Broncos last year. But, they will hang on in a very tight contest against a very good Patriots team, win 38-35 and be the first repeat Super Bowl champion since the Patriots repeated ten years ago.
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