A look at the New England Patriots versus the Seatle Seahawks
Two weeks from now, the NFL’s two top ranked teams from the regular season will meet in Arizona. Despite their shared number one ranking, they’ll be arriving under very different circumstances.
The Patriots have humiliated their opposition along the way, while the Seahawks, on the other hand, limped their way to the finish line.
Tom Brady and his teammates have looked as good as ever this postseason, showing the necessary mental toughness to come back from two separate 14 point deficits (an NFL first) against a surprisingly effective Baltimore Ravens team, in addition to the ability to dominate, even when put up against a quality team like the Indianapolis Colts.
Photo Courtesy Keith Allison via CC BY-SA 2.0.
Conversely, the Seahawks have looked nothing like their usual dominant selves, as of late. Despite playing against a Green Bay Packers team with a notably weak defence, the Seahawks were shut out in the first half of the NFC championship game and only managed to sneak into the Super Bowl on the strength of a miraculous final three minutes from Russell Wilson and a minor miracle from the football gods in the form of an ugly Packers play.
The Seahawks are undoubtedly a great football team, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, but with injuries to cornerback Richard Sherman’s elbow and safety Earl Thomas’ shoulder, the usually great secondary will be playing with question marks surrounding two of its most important pieces. With these two players playing even slightly injured, the entire Seahawks defensive scheme suffers. Sherman and Thomas are the reason Seattle can run man coverage on the outside and still boast one of, if not the best, passing defence in the league. With those two not their usual selves, expect to see more nickel-and-dime looks from the normally aggressive Seahawks defence, a fact which should bode well for the suddenly terrifying ground game that Bill Belichick and Brady have picked up over the last few months of the season. LeGarrette Blount should continue the trend of tearing up defenses running behind the powerful Patriots’ offensive line, and that’s not even mentioning the damage quarterback Brady can do when he’s on. Keeping in mind that it’s Tom Brady, and it’s the Super Bowl, there’s a strong chance he will be.
That’s not to take anything away from Wilson, who is well on his way to becoming elite and who has shown as much poise and as much heart as anyone could dream up for a young signal caller in these playoffs.
Prior to the (mostly) embarrassing outing against Green Bay, Wilson boasted the highest quarterback rating (QBR) of all time in the playoffs. The flat out zero he pitched heading into the second half of Sunday’s game changed that fact, but Wilson showed that he can be dangerous no matter how off he might seem – as was the case by his game-winning strike to Jermaine Kearse on the first drive of overtime. Not only was the throw spot-on into extremely tight-bordering on pass interference level-coverage, it showcased Wilson’s extreme mental toughness. He was able to shrug off a first half in which he threw for more interceptions than completions, to lead his team to a 15 point rally at the end of the second half. Wilson then proceeded to immediately one-up himself by taking the opening possession of OT down the field for the winner. He’s the most clutch quarterback the game has seen since – arguably – Tom Brady.
Fittingly, the approaching Super Bowl and these playoffs as a whole really have represented something of a symbolic passing of the torch from the old-guard at the quarterback position to the new one. With the Colts’ Andrew Luck knocking off his Hall of Fame-bound predecessor in the divisional round, and Wilson making it to his second straight Super Bowl, there’s the sense that the potential of the two standouts from the 2012 Draft is only being scratched.
However, Wilson does face his toughest test by far this post-season in the Brady led Patriots, the challenge that many believe he will fall short of overcoming, at least not at this point in his career. Wilson will win more Super Bowls, maybe many more, if he remains healthy and keeps playing behind that dominant Seattle defense, although it just might not be in the cards this year.
Prediction: New England Patriots 24, Seattle Seahawks 17.