How will the Pats stop The Seahawks Offense

[Clayton]

I know everyone is talking about offenses and defenses but...

I can't help but look over the year and see the Patriots make a lot of awesome Special Teams plays and remember how bad Seattle's return unit was against the Packers and how STL beat Seattle this year purely on special teams.

 

[Fencer]

I know everyone is talking about offenses and defenses but...

I can't help but look over the year and see the Patriots make a lot of awesome Special Teams plays and remember how bad Seattle's return unit was against the Packers and how STL beat Seattle this year purely on special teams.

The Patriots blocked 5 kicks this season; I forget the punt/FG mix. They excel both at covering and returning punts. Kickoff returns are more ordinary, and covering of kickoffs is somewhere in between.

Ryan Allen is good; he was even ST player of the week once this season. Gostowski is of course excellent. Our long snapper Danny Aiken is shockingly bad for the team that made Lonie Paxton famous, but Allen keeps bailing him out, on punts and FG holds alike.

 

[octagondd]

Last point Talking heads are really underestimating Seattles O. They were 9th in the legaue in total O and have the most rushing yards a team has had in a few years.

The Hawks were also 5th in Offense in DVOA ahead of the Pats at 6th. DVOA is not the end all be all, but at least it attempts to take defensive opponents into account instead of just counting stats.