So today is the Super Bowl, which is normally a big day for me. But this year the match up between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots is just meh for me.
Sometimes I either like a player or a team enough to make me want to root for them or, in the far more likely scenario, I despised one of the teams so much that I want to root against them. In their previous seven appearances, that team was always the New England Patriots. I hated Tom Brady and his coach Bill Belichick who proudly lived by the mantra "If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying." But both of those guys are gone. It's true their owner is a complete scumbag... but at this point, that seems par for the course for billionaires. So that is not enough of a reason for me to actually care about the game. But, like every other sports, music, and commercial fan out there, I will be watching the game. So here's who I've got.
Both of these teams have tremendous defenses. Both teams have allowed fewer than 4500 total yards this year which is no small feat in this offense happy age. Both teams also rush the passer producing more than an average of 2 sacks per game. The Seahawks are actually closer to three sacks per game. While the patriots have perhaps the best cornerback and individual defenders in the league in Christian Gonzales, the Seahawks sport a defense with three pro bowl selections.
On offense, the two teams are equally good... but in different ways. The advantage at QB clearly goes to the Patriots whose 2nd year QB Drake Maye was runner up in MVP voting. He's the most accurate passer in the NFL and did not make many mistakes during the regular season. He is also surprisingly quick and can scramble as well as anyone. The Seahawks have an incredible running attack lead by Kenneth Walker III who is an absolute beast. They also have the offensive player of the year in Jaxon Smith-Njiba. He averaged over 100 yards receiving per game and scored 10 touchdowns. He will be the best player on the field on either side of the ball.
On paper, the Seahawks should cruise to an easy victory. Seattle's strength (their pass rush) lines up perfectly with New England's weakness (offensive line). But here is problem. The Seahawks' quarterback is Sam Darnold. Darnold who was known as a complete bust before he got with Kevin O'Connell in Minnesota last year. He revived his career and continued the upward trajectory this season. But he was absolutely terrible in the Vikings last two games last year (the most important of the regular season). He was so bad that the Vikings no longer believed in him and let him walk after last season. In addition, he lead the NFL in turnovers this year. That is a huge problem when you are going against an evenly matched team in a neutral site. The Seahawks will not have their notoriously loud fans to help their team.
So who do I got? My heart wants the Seahawks. I'll be rooting for them because I think it would be funny if the Vikings let the Super Bowl winning QB walk in favor of an incredibly arrogant and below average young QB. But... my head tells me that Sam Darnold is going to crap down his leg.
The only thing I know for sure is that there is a 0% chance that the Seahawks will repeat what they did on the last play of the 2015 Super Bowl when Pete Carrol made the worst play call in the history of the Super Bowl... or probably the NFL in general. If you don't remember, the game ended on the goal line with Carroll drawing up a slant play instead of just giving the ball to freaking Marshawn Lynch. That pass was intercepted.
Actually I just thought of a reason to fully root for the Seahawks. Mina Kimes is my favorite football analyst and she will be incredibly happy if the Seahawks win. Go Seahawks!!!
So who ya got?