January 31, 2015
Seattle Seahawks by Ben Fields '15
It’s been almost exactly a year since Seattle sent a team to the Super Bowl. In that time a lot has happened, but one thing has remained constant: the city’s love and craziness for the Seahawks. Few teams can claim quite the same fan base that Seattle’s 12th man has brought in the last several years. Although many will call them bandwagon fans, really they have just been biding their time to have a team for which to scream, yell and generally go crazy. New England fans may hold a monopoly on general poor sportsmanship, anger and—dare we say it —cheating, but Seattle fans are the best in the game at supporting their team. Enough about the fans, there are two excellent teams about to face off in Super Bowl XLIX.
Seattle has not had the easiest road to get to Glendale, AZ and the University of Phoenix stadium, but they’ve certainly earned it. Coming out of the best division in the league, with three consecutive NFC champions, the Seahawks had to prove themselves throughout the season. They had a rough start, losing to the St. Louis Rams of all teams, but are currently riding an eight-game winning streak and are 11-1 in their last 12 games. With an easy divisional game against the Carolina Panthers, the NFC Championship was decidedly their biggest test.
A few words come to mind when thinking about the Hawks in the NFC Championship: scrappy, tough and tenacious. While many had counted them out, down by two touchdowns with just five minutes left and without the ball, the team itself knew that it was not done just yet. The Seahawks showed why they were consistently among the top teams in the NFL, why their defense has been the best for two consecutive years and why they deserved to be in the Super Bowl again. Yes, it can be said that the Packers beat themselves, and in some ways they probably did, but it took guts and determination for the Seahawks to claw their way back to the Super Bowl.
This year’s match-up promises to be one of the hardest fought games in the history of the NFL. If the Patriots can somehow control their cheating instincts, this should be a fair and fun game. So let’s just hope that we don’t have deflated balls or illegal filming of the Seahawks’ practices.
It’s a match up of one of the best quarterbacks in the game against the best secondary and overall best defense. It also pits Beast Mode against a pretty solid Patriot defense. Look out for at least one interception from Richard Sherman, several rushing touchdowns from Marshawn Lynch and never count out Russell Wilson for some late game drama.
While the Patriots are a very good team and have earned their spot in this game, ultimately they should be no match for Pete Carroll’s squad. The Seahawks have proven time and again that they are the scrappiest, hardest fighting
and—in the end—the best team in the league. So if you have friends from New England, you should have a good condolence plan ready for Sunday night.
It’s been almost exactly a year since Seattle sent a team to the Super Bowl. In that time a lot has happened, but one thing has remained constant: the city’s love and craziness for the Seahawks. Few teams can claim quite the same fan base that Seattle’s 12th man has brought in the last several years. Although many will call them bandwagon fans, really they have just been biding their time to have a team for which to scream, yell and generally go crazy. New England fans may hold a monopoly on general poor sportsmanship, anger and—dare we say it —cheating, but Seattle fans are the best in the game at supporting their team. Enough about the fans, there are two excellent teams about to face off in Super Bowl XLIX.
Seattle has not had the easiest road to get to Glendale, AZ and the University of Phoenix stadium, but they’ve certainly earned it. Coming out of the best division in the league, with three consecutive NFC champions, the Seahawks had to prove themselves throughout the season. They had a rough start, losing to the St. Louis Rams of all teams, but are currently riding an eight-game winning streak and are 11-1 in their last 12 games. With an easy divisional game against the Carolina Panthers, the NFC Championship was decidedly their biggest test.
A few words come to mind when thinking about the Hawks in the NFC Championship: scrappy, tough and tenacious. While many had counted them out, down by two touchdowns with just five minutes left and without the ball, the team itself knew that it was not done just yet. The Seahawks showed why they were consistently among the top teams in the NFL, why their defense has been the best for two consecutive years and why they deserved to be in the Super Bowl again. Yes, it can be said that the Packers beat themselves, and in some ways they probably did, but it took guts and determination for the Seahawks to claw their way back to the Super Bowl.
This year’s match-up promises to be one of the hardest fought games in the history of the NFL. If the Patriots can somehow control their cheating instincts, this should be a fair and fun game. So let’s just hope that we don’t have deflated balls or illegal filming of the Seahawks’ practices.
It’s a match up of one of the best quarterbacks in the game against the best secondary and overall best defense. It also pits Beast Mode against a pretty solid Patriot defense. Look out for at least one interception from Richard Sherman, several rushing touchdowns from Marshawn Lynch and never count out Russell Wilson for some late game drama.
While the Patriots are a very good team and have earned their spot in this game, ultimately they should be no match for Pete Carroll’s squad. The Seahawks have proven time and again that they are the scrappiest, hardest fighting and—in the end—the best team in the league. So if you have friends from New England, you should have a good condolence plan ready for Sunday night.
New England Patriots by Grant Whitney '17
It will be a clash of dynasties when the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks face off in Super Bowl XLIX on Feb. 1. The reigning Super Bowl champion Seahawks look to establish their franchise as a legitimate dynasty. A dynasty that dominated the 2000s, the Patriots aim to win their fourth Super Bowl in the last 15 years.
It is a battle of opposite identities. East Coast versus West Coast. The enigmatic Pete Carroll versus stone-faced Bill Belichick. Young Russell Wilson versus the seemingly ageless Tom Brady. These two teams will play a phenomenal game for sure. Unfortunately for Seahawks fans looking to buy “Back-to-back Super Bowl Champions” t-shirts, the Patriots will win Super Bowl XLIX.
The Patriots by no means expect an easy victory. To the Seahawks’ credit, they have created an outstanding young team in the last few years. Their defense combines a physical front seven with one of the most dynamic secondaries in the league, led by the polarizing Richard Sherman. Offensively, Marshawn Lynch, while not being particularly vocal, is one of the strongest runningbacks in the NFL. His raw power, combined with Russell Wilson’s versatile playing style, more than makes up for the Seahawk’s lackluster passing game.
But the Patriots boast a much more complete team—a team that matches up perfectly against the Seahawks. In last week’s AFC Championship Game, the Patriots’ secondary held Andrew Luck to 126 passing yards with a 36% completion rate. Expect this terrifying secondary, led by Darrelle Revis, to contain the Seahawks’ comparatively weaker passing offense to similar shutdown numbers. This will allow the Patriots’ defense to focus on getting to Marshawn Lynch and Russell Wilson behind the line of scrimmage. Hard-hitting linebacker Dont’a Hightower presents a comparable counterpart to Lynch, while the athleticism of outside linebacker Jamie Collins makes him an excellent QB spy on Wilson. Patriots’ defensive tackle Vince Wilfork had a quiet season, but he weighs 325 pounds and could crush a small whale, so a Seahawk seems like a relatively small challenge.
While the Seahawks’ defense is admirable, there is no defense in the league potent enough to contain an angry Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman and LeGarrette Blount. As we saw in last week’s game against the Colts, when Blount’s on a roll, there is no stopping him. Sherman and Byron Maxwell match up well against Patriot wideouts Edelman and Brandon LaFell, leaving Gronk as the X factor in this game.
The Seahawks will play physically and will hit Gronk on the line of scrimmage, but that’s akin to hitting a Greek god. You don’t hit a semi-literate 6’6” Greek god, say his balls are deflated and expect him to bow down. Brady is an experienced quarterback; his last two Super Bowl defeats are fresh in his mind. He will exploit this defense in the classic Patriot way, combining big-name talent with undrafted players to win.
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