If you can’t stop the run, you can’t win the game is my personal philosophy when it comes to football. The matchup in Super Bowl XLIX between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks feature quarterbacks who make few mistakes and know how to make the big play when their team needs it most. The difference in this year’s Super Bowl, however, will be at a position that in recent years has been devalued and underappreciated.
The benefit of a strong ground game can go underestimated in today’s high flying, pass happy NFL. Super Bowl XLIX will prove as a reminder that the ability to lineup and physically dominate your opponent on the ground is a dynamic that the game was built on. Seahawks running back, Marshawn Lynch, and Patriot running back, LeGarrette Blount, both will be asked to offer offensive balance to the passing game. A ground game that is effective will not only take pressure off of the quarterback, but will open up opportunities through the air, down field, stemming from the play action pass.
Six Super Bowl appearances in thirteen years is unheard of in the world of professional football. For New England Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady, this feat has been accomplished through old fashioned execution and precision. The schematics and cerebral piece of the game is often underestimated by those with novice football insight. Brady has mastered the skills necessary to play the quarterback position, consistently, at a high level better than anyone in the history of the game. Brady has won big regular season games as well as huge post-season games, all while making others around him better.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback, Russell Wilson, is the prototype dual threat quarterback. Wilson is a guy who can outwit defensive scheme with his down field play-making ability while possessing the speed to outrun the entire defense. Throughout the 2015 season, I watched some of the league’s best defenses fail to execute, allowing Wilson the opportunity to do damage well after originally having the play well defensed. With Wilson and Lynch in the Seahawk backfield, it makes it difficult to play old-school assignment football. Wilson has the poise and football IQ to make the defense pay for those failed assignments.
Synopsis:
THE PATRIOTS WIN: If the Patriots plan to bring home their fourth Lombardi Trophy, Blount will need to figure out a way to top the 100 yard mark against the league’s top rated defense. If Brady is regulated to predictable passing situations, the Seattle defense will dominate. Not even the best quarterback in NFL history will be able to get the ball down field if New England’s ground game doesn’t get out of the garage.
THE SEAHAWKS WIN: If the Seahawks plan to repeat as Super Bowl champions, their ever-so-stout defense will have to control the middle of the football field. Between the hash marks is where Brady will often look to find All-Pro tight end, Rob Gronkowski. The middle of the field is also where the Patriots will look to impose the will of LeGarrette Blount. The Seahawks cannot lose touch with Patriot second team tight end, Tim Wright, who has been a pleasant surprise with his athleticism and pass catching ability. I do worry about the shoulder of Seahawk safety, Earl Thomas and his ability to make it through the entire game. If the effects from the dislocation suffered during the NFC Championship game linger, it will take the on-field leader of the “Legion of Boom” off of the football field, making them vulnerable to the vaunted and precise Patriot passing attack.
Byrds-Eye Super Bowl XLIX Prediction
New England Patriots 23
Seattle Seahawks 20.