What's up guys. First of all, I haven't read much of this thread but I skimmed through these forums yesterday and I gotta say I appreciate the lack of bullsh*t posts from you guys. No arrogance, no trolling, no nothing, just good football talk. A lot of times when I visit opposing teams' forums, you can see the BS they spew and I don't waste my time there, but this forum had a lot of class at first glance.
Watching the game (and actually I felt this way before it too), I gotta be honest, I was really hoping the Patriots would face Seattle rather than Green Bay should they beat the Colts. I did not want to have Rodgers get two more weeks to heal that calf and start beating the Patriots again with his 3rd or 4th receiving option like he did in the regular season. I feel that the Patriots have faced tougher defensive lines (not to be confused with tougher overall defenses) this year in Detroit, Buffalo, Miami, NYJ, Baltimore, and Denver, and that they're battle tested for it. What they haven't done though is face a secondary on the level of Seattle. Not to mention Wright and Wagner are damn good coverage linebackers to go with it.
New England has had some trouble stopping the run this year, and they're historically (historically being since 2008) not exactly world beaters against read-option teams. Still, Seattle's WRs are not some elite group and I feel that they can be limited with the Patriots' secondary. This is gonna be an awesome game. Wilson and Lynch are going to have to have a huge game, the Patriots' DL is gonna have to be disciplined and not let RW run around and extend plays.
If Bryan Stork gets healthy and can play like it and the OL keeps Brady upright, I think the Patriots win it.
Keys to the game for NE:
1. Protect Brady
2. Run the football
3. Keep RW contained
4. Limit the damage by Lynch
5. Keep the balls deflated??
Keys to the game for SEA:
1. Extend drives on 3rd down
2. DTs need to have a big game and get interior pressure
3. Bevell needs to find creative ways to get guys open
4. Don't get stuck chasing the Patriots on the scoreboard. Last thing you want to do is fall behind by double digits. We got balls (albeit deflated ones) unlike Green Bay and won't play not to lose
5. Find our cameras during practice. (Good luck with that!!)