It's been quite a couple of weeks. Instead of football, America has been treated to deflated footballs, cheating controversies, crotch-grabbing, media spooked athletes and so much more nonsense.
Don't fret my fellow football fans, Super Bowl XLIX is almost here.
In just a few short hours Tom Brady's New England Patriots will face off against Russell Wilson's Seattle Seahawks.
The biggest headline of them all is the fact that the defending champion Seahawks are looking to begin their dynasty, while the tested Patriots are looking to cement their legacy. With a victory, Brady and Belichick would win their fourth Super Bowl since 2001 with the Patriots.
For the casual football fan, it's tough to find a sentimental favorite between these two teams. Cheating allegations on one side and loud, cocky attitudes (or not speaking at all in Marshawn Lynch's case) represents the other side.
For the diehard football fan, the matchup couldn't be more perfect.
Seattle's defense has yet again finished the season ranked as the number one unit in all the land. Their secondary is among the best talent ever assembled in one defensive backfield in NFL history. The way they play on defense is absolutely perfect to match up against Brady's offense.
Seattle runs a zone oriented, one safety over the top scheme.
Safety Earl Thomas plays center field better than anybody in the game today, and is arguably the most important player for any one team in the league. Cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Byron Maxwell are also one of the better cornerback tandems in the league.
Because they play the deep ball so well, it allows their defense to play a very vanilla, aggressive, in your face defense. This scheme is what Brady is going to have to overcome.
Brady and the Pats are a short to intermediate passing attack. While they ran the ball wonderfully against the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game (177 yards), their running game is as hot and cold as humanly possible.
The week prior against the Baltimore Ravens, the Patriots broke a record in becoming the team to win a playoff game with the fewest rushing yards, 14 in total.
I don't think the Patriots will have much success running the ball or throwing their short dink and dunk passes unless Brady gives Seattle something to think about first. He's going to have to hit the Seahawks for a couple of deep hits which will then loosen the aggressive defense up.
Brandon LaFell over the top against Maxwell or Rob Gronkowski down the seem in between Bobby Wagner and Thomas will be Brady's best options. Only if he hits a couple of 20 plus plays early, will the Pats be able to operate their normal screen, motion, spacing, rub and pick passing offense.
Though the talk this week has dealt with so much other than football, one of the major issues that hasn't been discussed enough is the health of the Legion of Boom.
Thomas, Sherman and now Kam Chancellor come into the game banged up. Thomas and Sherman especially have serious injuries. It's not good enough to just start the game, these guys are going to need to play to the level we're used to seeing them at for the Seahawks defense to have the usual success they're used to.
These injuries are the reason I think New England will have success.
Flip the units and I see Marshawn Lynch having success against the Pats defense. He'll get his 100 yards despite Bill Belihick trying to take away the Lynch-Wilson run game.
That matchup will interesting as well, but will play out the way most of us envision. Lynch will get his yards and Wilson will have immense struggles throwing the ball. Wilson will run for at least 50 yards in the game.
In the end though, Wilson will have one last chance on a final drive to lead his Seahawks to a late game win. He'll come up short though.
Predictions:
New England Patriots 24
Seattle Seahawks 20
MVP: Julian Edelman
Image Courtesy of INFphoto.com
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