Ozzy the bear predicted a Patriots win. Penguins at the Cincinnati Zoo chose the Seahawks. Animal predictions aside, it’s time to make your bets because Super Bowl XLIX is a only day away. The New England Patriots will meet defending Super Bowl champions, the Seattle Seahawks in Arizona on Sunday in the final matchup that NFL fans have waited for all season. If you’re torn on which team to put your money on (or you’re just not sure who to cheer for), here is a brief look at Sunday’s matchup.
The Championship
Ahh yes, the less-talked about but equally as exciting championship round of the playoffs. The Patriots earned their ticket to the Super Bowl in a 45-7 point win against the Indianapolis Colts. Subsequently, New England was accused of cheating in a scandal that Twitter took to calling #Deflategate, where the Pats were accused of deflating footballs in the AFC Championship game. Sports media spent the next two weeks speculating, and reporting on assumptions and opinions from sources with little to no credit (Michael Rosenberg, I’m looking at you). P.S., adding “gate” to a word doesn’t make it a scandal, people. Watergate wasn’t about water. Still, it would be doing the Patriots a huge disservice to say their slaughtering of the Colts was because of a football with a below-regulation PSI, and even Colts tight end Dwayne Allen agrees. Post-game controversy aside, NFC Championship game was arguably one of the most exciting (or upsetting, if you’re a Packers fan) games of the post-season. Seattle, by some miracle, erased their 0-16 deficit against Green Bay in a 28-22 overtime comeback win. If Seattle wins tomorrow, they will become the first team since New England in 2003-04 to win back-to-back Super Bowls.
Old Dynasty vs. New Dynasty
Owner Bob Kraft’s Patriots have been a force to be reckoned with in the league. The team, which was established in 1959, has eight Super Bowl appearances, twelve AFC East titles since 2001, and have not had a losing season since 2000 when Bill Belichick signed on as head coach. Tom Brady and the Patriots also won three Super Bowls in four years. The Seahawks are a much younger team than the Patriots, established in 1974. Some would say that the team saw a rebirth in 2012 when they acquired current quarterback Russell Wilson. Seattle is owned by Paul Allen, and coached by Pete Carroll, who was the head coach in New England before Belichick from 1997-99. The Seahawks have won only three conference championships, and have appeared in just two Super Bowls, numbers that wane in comparison to the Patriots’ dynasty.
The Frontmen
It would be downright unfair to compare QB-to-QB in this matchup. I could list Tom Brady’s accomplishments with the Patriots in his 15 seasons, but it wouldn’t be fair to Seattle’s 26-year-old Russell Wilson, who has only played three seasons. Despite the huge gap in experience, TB12 boasts a passer rating of 97.4 and Wilson rates 95.0. I think Wilson’s career might rival Brady’s in the future, but tomorrow we’ll see how the matchup plays out head-to-head in the first-ever postseason meeting of the two teams…I’m with Ozzy the bear.
In Between the Uprights 