After months of watching, yelling, cursing, crying and celebrating, the end of the NFL season is here, culminating in the greatest sports spectacle of the year- The Super Bowl.
Super Bowl XLIX, featuring the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, brings fans lots of story lines to follow: Tom Brady vs. the Legion of Boom, Russell Wilson’s attempt to become the first black quarterback to win back-to-back Super Bowls, Darrell Revis vs. Richard Sherman and more. With all of these exciting match-ups and events unfolding Sunday, the TSL team got together to give you our picks for Super Sunday:
JR GAMBLE
Legacy games are always fun and there are some big-time legacies at stake here. Now that we’ve gotten past Richard Sherman’s ridiculous tease that he would miss the Super Bowl to see his child being born (if your’e not giving birth to the baby I don’t think you can miss a Super Bowl for that lol), we can refocus on Tom Brady going for a fourth Super Bowl ring and Russell Wilson attempting to go back-to-back with his c’hips like Brady and Belichick did in 2003-04.
Deflategate, Marshawn “Mums The Word” Lynch and Richard “My paternal instincts are telling me to miss the Super Bowl” Sherman are all very interesting and provocative stories filled with nonsense.
The real deal is Wilson and the fact that he is the game’s No. 1 winner, snatching that title from Brady last season. He showed us again in the NFC title game how ill he was. Only legends shake off four picks and then throw two perfect passes with the game on the line. The Patriots’ dynasty era has been over for some time now. It’s Wilson’s Joe Montana moment and not even a deflated football, Brady’s innocent smirk, or Belichick’s shady maneuvers are going to stop the inevitable from happening. He should beware of Revis Island though.
Outcome: Seattle 20, New England 13
Alejandro “ALI” Danois
This a fantastic Super Bowl match up. Seattle walks in with the league’s best defense, a unit that is playing some historically great football. This season they allowed the fewest points in the league for the third year in a row. The last team to do that three years running was the Minnesota Vikings incredible Purple People Eaters in the 1970s. In addition, this is the second consecutive year that Seattle has allowed the fewest yards from scrimmage, a feat that hasnt been accomplished back-to-back since the Chicago Bears 1985 Monsters of the Midway unit.
With a win, especially if they’re able to dominate New England, which boasts the league’s best offense, in the way that they humbled Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos last year, we could possibly start mentioning the “Legion of Boom” with the all-time great units like the aforementioned, and others like The Pittsburgh Steelers “Steel Curtain” unit in the ’70s and the Los Angeles Rams’ “Fearsome Foursome” unit in the ’60s.
No one is talking about New England’s defense, which is much better than most people think, and the secondary, led by Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner, could steal the spotlight from their more celebrated counterparts on the opposing sideline.
There are so many questions I can’t wait to see answered. How will New England thwart Marshawn Lynch and Russell Wilson’s brilliance on the read-option? How will Seattle limit Rob Gronkowski’s effectiveness? What tricks do both coaches have up their sleeve? Can New England run the ball effectively, which opens the field up for the precise Tom Brady?
In the end, I’m looking for an exciting, back and forth slug fest. As much as it seems like everyone outside of New England wants the Patriots to lose, I don’t think they’ll get their wish.
Miss Cleo just gave me the heads up, the final score will be New England 31, Seattle 28.
Don’t believe me? Call me now!
KEITH REED
The New England Patriots didnt win the AFC championship because of deflated footballs. Its good to get that much out of the way because the same thing that alleviates the team from having to apologize for making the Super Bowl will also take away any excuses from their fans when they lose Super Bowl XLIX to the Seahawks.
Theyll lose because, put simply,the Seahawks are just too good. More to the point, the Hawks defense is too swarming, too fast, too dominating and too able to adjust to the Pats offensive quirks to lose this game. Its no question that Tom Brady is an all-time great quarterback, and on paper thats almost enough to make anyone believe the Pats should have an edge in this game. But the Patriots arrive at this Super Bowl having dropped its past two appearances to an NFC foe in the Giants that was nowhere near as good as the team they face on Sunday. Russell Wilson is better than Eli Manning, both inside the pocket and out of the pistol. The G-men secondary was nowhere as tough to beat as the Legion of Boom. The Seahawks have the edge, ever so slightly, in key areas of the game.
Thats not to say we should expect a blowout. Brady and Bill Belichick will carry a chip on their shoulders into this game that has propelled them to victory before. They want to put any #DeflateGate talk to bed with finality. And they have a weapon in a rejuvenated LeGarrette Blount who should help Brady with his only Achilles heel, having to throw on the run or under pressure. Thatll keep the game from getting out of hand and provide an exciting, close Super Bowl for fans. But it wont be enough. The Seahawks will vanquish the Patriots, 28-24, and be the first team in a decade to repeat.
RICARDO HAZELL
And so the big day is just ahead of us on the calendar and were all filled with joy over what has become a National Sports Holiday. Thats right, Super Bowl XLIX is about to be on and popping like Crisco as the Seattle Seahawks take on the New England Patriots in a game whose outcome could possibly signify the end of one era and the solidification of another. Although the Seahawks won last years big game versus Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos in resounding fashion, the New England Patriots are actually the winningest Super Bowl franchise in recent memory.
And nothing would spell ascension quite like beating Tom Brady and Coach Bill Belichick in the Super Bowl. Although Russell Wilson struggled in the NFC Championship game, he is a clutch player with a ton of heart and pride. New Englands front seven simply isnt fast enough to stop him from breaking contain and stopping running back Marshawn Lynch as well. Somethings got to give and my guess is the New England defensive line will break sometime in the 3rd quarter, if not sooner. Additionally, Tom Brady is a prideful man and you can bet your Aunt Petunias church hat that he will be handing the ball off to RB Legarrette Blount early in the 1st quarter.
If successful, they will attempt to play action Seattle to death. Look for him to challenge the vaunted Legion of Boom secondary, and that will lead to at least one big turnover. Additionally, New England doesnt have a single receiver thats fast enough to blow the top off of Seattles Cover 3 defense. Im going with Seattle 28-21.
YUSSUF KHAN
When the playoffs match-ups were finalized in week 17, I already knew what would happen. I had Seattle coming out of the NFC (yes, I was sweating out the NFC Championship game but when Marshawn Lynch brought out Beast Mode in the 4Q, I just knew they would win; good thing the Packers played D in overtime like they were playing against Bird, Coach McGrath and the rest of the Wildcats of Central High.
The only question in the AFC (after my Steelers lost) was whether the Ravens could beat the Pats in Foxboro. Once that was decided, it didn’t matter who New England played because neither the Broncos or the Colts were beating Tom Brady in Gillette Stadium in an AFC Championship game.
So now we have one of the nastiest defenses going up against one of the top offenses, two clutch quarterbacks, the two best cornerbacks in the game, two highly experienced Super Bowl winning coaches and a few other intriguing story lines. After all of the fan fests and pre-game shows are finished, and the teams actually play the game, I think you’ll see this game defined by the age-old saying- “offense wins games, but defense win championships.” One defensive squad will step-up and make a play that turns the tide of this game, and in this case I’m going with Seattle’s defense. I think you’ll see one the front seven start the big play, someone from the Legion of Boom finish it with a touchdown and that will start the run for the Seahawks on their way to securing their second Vince Lombardi trophy.
Seahawks (Central High) 27, Patriots (Prescott) 17.
Gotta’ love Football; It’s the sport of kings, better than diamond rings.
