Good Time Charlie & co.
January 29, 2015Police: Girl, 2, killed by truck in Thibodaux
January 30, 2015
‘I think the two best teams in the NFL are playing in this game…. It’s going to be a great game for fans of the sport of football.’
Doug Baldwin
Seattle Seahawks No. 1 wide receiver on Sunday’s matchup
The defending Super Bowl champions versus the team that has been the gold standard for NFL success in the past decade.
Arguably the best quarterback of all-time versus arguably the best NFL defense of the free agency era.
Arguably the best coach in NFL history versus one of the only coaches to ever win both an NCAA National Title and a Super Bowl.
It’s a classic battle of West Coast versus East Coast with Seattle and Boston going toe-to-toe on the football gridiron.
Conference Champion versus Conference Champion.
One will be No. 1 and one will be No. 2.
Fired up yet?
The stakes will be high, and the excitement will be even higher on Super Bowl Sunday this year as the NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks take on the AFC Champion New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX. The game will be played in Arizona, and kickoff is slated for a 5:30 p.m. kickoff on NBC.
The Patriots are a 1.5-point favorite in Las Vegas at press-time – a number that indicates what the above-mentioned statements already indicated: This one is expected to be a slugfest.
“I think that the two best teams in the NFL are playing in this game,” Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin said. “When you look at New England and what they’ve done – that’s a class organization. That’s a team that’s won a lot of Super Bowls and been accustomed to being in the last games of the season. On our end, we’re trying to get to that point. It’s going to be a great game for fans of the NFL.”
On the chalkboard, this is a battle of a historically consistent offense versus a historically dominant defense.
The New England offense is All-World – a unit that scored 80 combined points in its two playoff games to this point. As always, future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady is leading the charge for New England.
The 37-year-old legend completed 373-of-582 passes for 4,109 yards, 33 touchdowns and nine interceptions in the 2014-15 season – his 15th season in the NFL.
Brady has been just as vicious in the 2015 Playoffs, completing 56-of-85 passes for 593 yards and six touchdowns in two games.
But for as perfect as things have gone on the field for New England leading to the Super Bowl, they’ve been equally imperfect off it.
After the Patriots defeated the Colts 45-7 in the AFC Championship game, rumors began to swirl about the air pressure in the footballs New England used in that game.
The rumors became fact when the NFL confirmed that the air pressure in 11 of the 12 balls New England used were below the league-mandated levels. Lower air pressure in the ball gives the offense an advantage because the balls are easier to grip – especially in the cold, wet weather in Boston on that day.
Patriots’ legendary coach Bill Belichick denied having any knowledge regarding the incident, deflecting a lot of the media’s questions to Brady.
When asked about the incident, Brady didn’t offer much more insight, saying that he isn’t the one who inflates or deflates the footballs on the field.
“I feel like I have always played within the rules,” Brady said. “I would never break the rules.”
If New England is too distracted by the incident dubbed as ‘Deflate-Gate’, they will have a stiff price to pay against a Seattle defense that is vicious.
The Seahawks enter the Super Bowl with a defensive group that is capable of stopping both the run and pass with relative ease.
In the NFC Championship Game, the Seahawks limited elite Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers to just 19-of-34 passing with 178 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
In the final six games of the regular season heading into the playoffs, Seattle allowed 39 combined points.
The Seattle secondary earns most of the team’s defensive acclaim – a star-studded unit consisting of cornerback Richard Sherman and safeties Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas.
But Seattle also stops the run successfully thanks to a talented core of linebackers and defensive linemen.
“We like to be a complete defense,” Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “We take pride in being able to take away the things that opponents are able to do best. I think that we have a total team defense with a lot of great individuals who can make plays for our team.”
Like New England, the Seahawks enters the big game with a little bit of fogginess off the field.
Star halfback Marshawn Lynch was almost suspended from the NFC Championship Game after he attempted to wear gold-bottomed cleats – a fashion faux pas in the NFL’s dress code policy.
Lynch changed his cleats and then dominated the game, gashing Green Bay’s defense for more than 100 yards and a touchdown. But Lynch was fined after the game for his touchdown celebration. He has also received fines from the league for his unwillingness to talk to media after games. To skirt the policy, Lynch often gives reporters one-word answers – using the same word to answer questions regardless of what’s asked.
But for Seattle, it’s a formula that seems to work as the team is heading to its second-straight Super Bowl.
If they can beat New England, they will enter the halls of league history as one of just eight teams to have won back-to-back Super Bowls.
If the Patriots win, it will mark their fourth ring in the Belichick Era in six total appearances in arguably the biggest game in all of the sports world.
Who will win? It’s anyone’s guess. But players and coaches on both sides all agree on one thing – it’s going to be one heck of a show on Sunday.
“We expect a close, competitive game,” Patriots receiver Danny Amendola said. “It’s two great teams competing for one great prize. I think it’s going to be a great NFL showdown.” ES
