Seahawks vs Patriots SportsHoopla analysis/discussion

[SJ76]

I need to re watch that Super Bowl to see how that game really played out.
(this time minus the Tecate's & pickle shots.)

Easy. Broncos had an early turnover, got behind and was trying to climb back uphill with a lot of pressure on Manning.

You fall behind early to Seattle and that's when they just beat you down.

 

[TxHeat]

belichick is a great coach you just never know what he will come up with .. its hard to prepare for someone like him

Belichick should start with watching game tape of Dallas at Seattle and go from there.

 

[sonnyblack65]

Interesting thing about both teams , is their resiliency and not crumbling under pressure. Seattle was down 16 and came back and won and NE was down by 14 twice to Balt and did the same thing. This is anybodies game right now. I hope Sherman and Thomas are healthy for the game, 2 of the best and there will be no what ifs.And it is good to see Gronk healthy and playing in SB

 

[packerzrule]

so you are judging the Seattle D on their 1st half against Green Bay?


That's who Brady is going to need to use, problem is Chancellor and Seattle's LBs. BUt New Englands WR's are not even close to Green Bay's. That's what I was saying.


Seattle tried to give the game to Aaron Rodgers and still won. That's a dam good offense. Broncos had a dam good offense.

Bellicheat is going to need some video which i'm sure he has.

Actually, the Packers pass blocking was pretty damn good the entire game

 

[jakedog56]

What pressure? Seattle's front 4 looked terrible against Green Bay and that is an inferior OL compared to New England's. That is something Seattle is going to have to fix because you don't want to be forced to blitz Brady to create any sort of pressure.

....and Blount does not = Lacy. Lacy is a top RB in this league. Blount is a journeyman who does well once every 25 games when he has a good matchup. Seattle is NOT that matchup. I bet Blount doesn't even touch the ball 10 times during the SB.

??? What I read is that GBs OL is rated higher than NEs. I will have to check some sources and see what the different analyses say on this.

 

[MISKO]

Belichick should start with watching game tape of Dallas at Seattle and go from there.

he already has his own tape of that game doesnt he ? so im sure he has already studied it











J/k lol

 

[TxHeat]

he already has his own tape of that game doesnt he ? so im sure he has already studied it











J/k lol

 

[sonnyblack65]

he already has his own tape of that game doesnt he ? so im sure he has already studied it











J/k lol

Yeah his wife DVR'd it, but more importantly he has video of their defensive signals and walk-through

 

[TxHeat]

Yeah his wife DVR'd it, but more importantly he has video of their defensive signals and walk-through

i hope so because it sure would suck if we didn't have something extra to talk about.

 

[Dolemite censored]

Belichick should start with watching game tape of Dallas at Seattle and go from there.

Seahawks should watch both Giants SB games against Patriots.

 

[BF4L]

Seahawks should watch both Giants SB games against Patriots.

I am sure they will.

 

[BF4L]

OMG I may have to fly out 1-Feb to San Jose CA for work. Fuck

 

[SonnyCID]

OMG I may have to fly out 1-Feb to San Jose CA for work. Fuck

That would suck.

 

[NEhomer]

Get this, my son's robotics team has a meet scheduled out across the state on SB Sunday and he's going to miss the game. The poor dude's been waiting for the Pats to win a SB since he was a wee lad. He's PISSED.

WTF are they thinking?

 

[sonnyblack65]

Seahawks should watch both Giants SB games against Patriots.

Just pressure the shit out of Brady. Giants sacked Brady 5 times in the first SB. Seattle had 0 sacks vs Peyton in last years SB, but Denver's O line was/is much better than NE's

 

[TxHeat]

Seahawks should watch both Giants SB games against Patriots.

Pretty sure Pete Carroll has those cued up already.

 

[ducky]

Just pressure the shit out of Brady. Giants sacked Brady 5 times in the first SB. Seattle had 0 sacks vs Peyton in last years SB, but Denver's O line was/is much better than NE's

That's a lot easier said than done.

Seattle couldn't blitz Rodgers on Sunday. He's simply too good to blitz even hobbled. I doubt you see them blitz Brady much either for a lot of the same reasons. Those two are simply too smart and too slick in the pocket (and Rodgers, even hobbled) you have to worry about breaking the pocket and really burning your coverage.

Which means you have to get pressure from your front 4. And as we saw from Sunday's game, Seattle's front 4 is far from a dominating unit.

The Giant's in those SB's were so successful because their front 4 was so good that they could supply constant pressure without having to blitz. That first SB was actually probably one of the most dominating postseasons we have ever seen from a front 4 (and that is saying A LOT when you consider the DL's that have played in the playoffs over the history of this league).

Seattle has no chance of supply that type of pressure with only their front 4. So they do have to rely on their secondary a lot more. Luckily for them their secondary is as good as it gets.

 

[ducky]

I bet coaches don't really watch SB's from 3 or 4 years ago. What's the point? The teams are entirely different now. Any defensive scheme that worked then probably wouldn't work now because the Pat's are an entirely different team. Hell watching the Pat's game tape from last season is pointless because Gronk wasn't there.

 

[PatsFan2003]

So people are complaining that there is not enough football talk on this board, and admitably there is a lot of sniping going on back and forth so I will put forward this post to try and stimulate a little conversation:
The Pats and the Seahawks go into the Super Bowl as possibly the two best teams in the NFL over this season, so it is a true monumental matchup. But based on last weeks performance, the Seahawks had better not come out slow or the Pats will roll over them like Seattle themselves did to the Broncos last year.
Note that I am not all that familiar with the details on the Pats so I would appreciate a knowledgeable Pats fan (or other) to chime in and enlighten us-
Key matchups:
Tom Brady vs. Seattle secondary: Seattle's defensive philosophy in the passing game is to not blitz much and play as much man to man coverage as possible. They don't allow the long ball but rely on giving short routes and then making the receivers pay. This is countered by the Patriots who are near the bottom of the NFL in long passes (over 20 yards) but are at the top in the shorter passing game.
Seattle allows receptions on 72% of short passes and that seems to play right into Brady's hands but a lot of QBs have tried and struggled when they attempt to take advantage of this.

FINALLY!! A real talk about THE game.

I bet Seattle gives up the short pass in order to prevent the big hit. Unfortunately the long ball is not a strength and/or Brady. A lot of his INT's are with long passes. I think he does it to keep the D honest but it seems counterproductive.

So the battle will be in the short and mid-range passing game. I don't know what will happen. Certainly Seattle D is really good and will likely try to shorten the field but the Patriots passing attack isn't bad either.

Also, Brady is one of the best against blitzing but, as mentioned above, Seattle does not blitz much.

They'll need to get to Brady somehow. Either with pressure up the middle or coverage type sacks.

Groz vs. Wright/Chancellor

: There is no doubt that Groz often looks like a man among boys when he is healthy (which it appears he currently is). Most people seem to think that Seattle hit machine Kam Chancellor will be covering him, but the truth is that a player that is not often talked about on the Seahawk's D will probably be on him the majority of the time. Wright is an excellent coverage LB with great speed and stands 6'4" with long arms. He has been instrumental in containing Jimmy Graham, Vernon Davis, Julius Thomas, etc. He was beaten badly by Antonio Gates earlier this year but that appears to be an anomaly. Look for the Pats to try to go to Groz often. The Seahawk's scheme against him could make or break this game one way or the other.

Nice write-up. Pretty interesting. It sounds like these guys are good and will be able to challenge Gronk. The question for me will be whether they can do that one on one or they'll need help.

Indy didn't do a bad job on Gronk (although people seem hold him a great deal) but then Edelman had a monster game as a result.

Seattle should be able to do a much better job than the Indy of course but that was supposedly one of their Indy's strengths.

That is why though the Gronk matchup is so critical. If Gronk can make some plays 1 on 1 again against either Chancellor or Wright that will be big.

BTW I think Jimmy Graham is overrated..

Seattle WRs vs. Revis/Browner: They may complain about not getting respect but the truth is that the Seattle WR's are not one of the better units in the league. You would think that Revis and Browner should be able to contain them, but the Pats pass D has struggled at times this year and Seahawk's WRs Baldwin is strong underneath while Kearse can make big plays over the top. I wonder if the Seahawks will challenge Revis island or if they will avoid throwing in his direction.

They've mainly struggled against tight ends and the like. I think they'll be ok against the Seattle WRs.
The key is how much help they'll need. If, as I hope, not much that will allow the Pats to concentrate on the running game AND Wilson creating with his feet.

They have to keep Wilson from extending plays. It's just vital.

Seattle running game vs Pats run D: The Pats have been strong against the run this year (9th in yards allowed) but the Seahawks have a formidable attack in the battering ram Lynch and the evasive Wilson. My guess is that Hightower or Collins will probably be assigned to spy on Wilson (just a guess here) but most teams have had a contain on him and still have struggled to stop the Seahawks.
My guess is that Lynch will get his yards regardless. Even if you sell out to stop the run, he eventually breaks some tackles and gains some ground. If the Pats can keep him at a reasonable level and keep Wilson from gaining yards with his legs then they will have accomplished a major step towards victory.

I think Lynch will get his yards. It's just a question of how impactful those yards will be.

Injuries to both Earl Thomas (dislocated shoulder) and Richard Sherman (sprained elbow) could be a major wildcard in this battle. I fully expect both to go but if they get reinjured, or are limited in their effectiveness then it could be a big blow to the Seahawks chances to repeat.
Note that the Seahawk's base D is an unorthodox 4-3 that is essentially a 3-4 with one of the LBs as a designated DL player (the LEO position). I won't go into details but they are fairly straightforward in their schemes and try to make teams adjust to them instead of the other way around. I know that the Pats run a 4-3, but also have a 3-4 package that they threw in early in the year but I am not sure if they are still using it regularly.
That's all I have time for at the moment. Hopefully this will be an informative, ongoing discussion throughout the next two weeks.

Sherman and Thomas probably be ok. I wish I could say the same about the Pats center Stork. I don't think he'll play.

The Patriots play all type of Defensive formations. They like running blitzes up the middle. Obviously keeping Wilson in the pocket is a big deal.

 

[R.J. MacReady]

That's a lot easier said than done.

Seattle couldn't blitz Rodgers on Sunday. He's simply too good to blitz even hobbled. I doubt you see them blitz Brady much either for a lot of the same reasons. Those two are simply too smart and too slick in the pocket (and Rodgers, even hobbled) you have to worry about breaking the pocket and really burning your coverage.

Which means you have to get pressure from your front 4. And as we saw from Sunday's game, Seattle's front 4 is far from a dominating unit.

The Giant's in those SB's were so successful because their front 4 was so good that they could supply constant pressure without having to blitz. That first SB was actually probably one of the most dominating postseasons we have ever seen from a front 4 (and that is saying A LOT when you consider the DL's that have played in the playoffs over the history of this league).

Seattle has no chance of supply that type of pressure with only their front 4. So they do have to rely on their secondary a lot more. Luckily for them their secondary is as good as it gets.

QB pressure without blitzing. Very few things can impact a game as much as this can.