Be ready for Super Bowl beating

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In movies, we always get that dramatic finish. The two titans always collide, and it’s inevitably a back and forth battle that leaves us on the edges ot our seats until tne closing credits.

In the world of sports, we’re sometimes blessed with the same, and when we are, it’s absolute magic. Two great Super Bowls between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants come to mind for following that script. The NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs two years ago was also epic theater that produced a great finish.

When it happens, it’s rare. But it’s memorable for the spectacle and magic that ensues. These are the games that are why people like me fall in love with sports. They are why there is an entire cable network (ESPN Classic) that lives to retell these epic stories and showcase them to loyal fans like myself.


With the Super Bowl just around the corner, it’s inevitable that columnists around the country will chirp that this year’s big game will be a thriller that will soon join the annals of historic sporting events of yesteryear.

I hope they are right, but I just don’t see it.

In fact, I think we’ll get the opposite.


For the second-straight year, I think we may have a Super Bowl that lacks its luster. For the second time in 24 months, I think the biggest football game in the world may have a decided outcome for the vast majority of the second half.

To me, Seattle is just too good.

I look at the Seahawks as the perfect Modern Era NFL team. Their defense is amazing in all facets.


Against the pass, the Seahawks are amazing. They are athletic and fast enough to guard the deep routes, while being strong and physical enough to jam receivers to prevent dinks and dunks.

Richard Sherman is incredible. Sure, fans hate his big mouth and his propensity for saying things that other players aren’t brave enough to say. But in between the white lines, he’s a bad dude. There’s no denying that. If you throw his way, you will pay.

If you get past Sherman on the odd chance, bruising safeties like Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas are right there ready to pounce. A collision with these guys mark a concussion waiting to happen.


Up front, the Seahawks are just as stingy, ranking third in the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game.

That’s the formula – they take away the run, force you to pass and then create sacks, turnovers and punts.

Offensively, Seattle isn’t great, but they don’t have to be. Quarterback Russell Wilson is vastly


overrated by national media. He’s nowhere near an elite quarterback like Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning. But he is exactly what Seattle needs – a guy who protects the football and has a good enough arm to make plays when necessary in an offense focused heavily on its running game with bruising halfback Marshawn Lynch at the center of all the chaos.

On the other end of the spectrum, I see a New England team that is also very good, but that is battling chaos at the most inopportune time.

For the past 10-plus years, quarterback Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick have been NFL royalty – the duo that every, single team in the league has attempted to emulate in terms of on-field success.


But after hearing Beli-chick’s comments about the ‘Deflate-Gate’ scandal, I’m not quite sure the two are on the same page heading into the big game.

Instead of giving a politically correct ‘answer, no answer’ response, the coach used his press conference time to point fingers at Brady and suggest that he was the one responsible for the team’s footballs being deflated in the AFC Championship Game.

If this were the first time the two were embroiled in a bit of a spat, it’d probably be no cause for concern. But Brady and Belichick also were at odds in Week 4 when the coach pulled Brady out of a lop-sided Monday Night Football loss in favor of upstart rookie Jimmy Garoppolo – the guy New England selected with its second round pick in 2014.


Now is not the right time for a team to have a spat between coach and star player. Belichick should have probably chosen his words a bit more wisely. But then again, as a repeat offender in terms of rule-breaking in the league, maybe Belichick was doing what he could to cover his rear end.

Away from the controversy, I see a game that is also a bad matchup for New England on the field.

History has shown us this season that the way to beat the Patriots is to punch them in the mouth on both sides of the ball.


Teams that succeed against New England are often those who run the football effectively on offense and play tough, hard-nosed defense.

Heck, just look at the New York Jets as proof of the above statement. For as awful as the Jets were in 2014-15, they did possess an above-average rushing offense and a gritty defense.

They played New England twice – losing by 2 in the first meeting and then by 1 in the second. They out-gained the Patriots by nearly 100 yards in both games, and I can make a very real argument that they outplayed the AFC power in each meeting.


Seattle can do everything the Jets can do – except they can do it 10 times better. They possess the competent quarterback play that the Jets aren’t yet able to boast.

Defensively, Seattle is bigger, faster and stronger than the Jets and can cause even more problems to Brady and that New England attack.

Sure, it’s hard to completely write off Belichick, Brady, Gronkowski and the rest of that great Patriots’ core that has been so dominant throughout this season.


But tension, turmoil and a bad matchup are hard to overcome on Super Bowl Sunday.

Give me Seattle and give me give me Seattle big.

I’ll say 31-10 in favor of the repeat champions.


This year won’t be one where we get the dramatic, magical finish.

It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it is sometimes in the world of sports. E3

CASEY GISCLAIR


The Times Sports Editor

Be ready for Super Bowl beating