(Photo by Elaine Thompson/Associated Press)
by Dakota Antelman
The combatants who will battle in Super Bowl XLIX were decided Sunday afternoon when the Seattle Seahawks toppled the Green Bay Packers by a score of 28-22 and the New England Patriots routed the Colts 45-7.
As their February 1 date at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale Arizona nears, the Patriots and Seahawks prep for each other's scheme riddled play calling and power heavy offences.
Below are some initial observations and storylines made at the very beginning of these team's Super Bowl preparations...
The Patriots and Sehawks are alike in the sense that they both finished the season with the best record in their conference and proceeded to win their conference championship. Aside from that, they are two teams with vastly different paths to this season's Super Bowl.
Seattle started the year with a record of four and three and took much longer to find its identity in 2014 than the Patriots did. Furthermore, once they did start winning games, they were only doing so by 7 to 10 points. The Patriots on the other hand scored 40 or more points on five different occasions during a stretch where they won 10 of 11 games between Week 5 and Week 16.
Lastly, in the AFC Championship game, they blew the Colts away with ease while the Seahawks needed a last second drive from Russell Wilson and a stunning overtime hail mary to advance to the Super Bowl.
Pete Caroll faces his old team
Before Tom Brady was in New England and before Bill Belichick left the Jets to coach the Patriots, Pete Caroll spent three seasons as the Patriot bench boss.
He inherited the job from hall of fame bound Bill Parcels before the 1997 season and promptly led the team on a mediocre 27-21 three year run. Caroll was fired after the 1999 season and was replaced by Belichick.
As Belichick earned national recognition as one of the greatest coaches in the history of football, Caroll trundled around the college football ranks before breaking back into the NFL in 2010 as coach of the Seahawks.
He enters this rare meeting with the team that fired him looking to win his second Super Bowl as a head coach.
Brady and Belichick get yet another shot at 4th title
Over the course of 15 seasons, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have now been to six Super Bowls. Their last two appearances have not gone exactly to plan though with losses being handed to them by the Giants in 2007 and 2011.
In 2015, the Brady/Belichick duo are desperate to avoid having the same number of Super Bowl losses as wins.
As for their chances, this year's Super Bowl, according to Las Vegas is the closest in history. When betting opened on Monday, multiple lines offered a pick-em while still others favored either the Patriots or Seahawks by only one or two points.
If Brady can swing those odds in his favor on February 1st, he will win the Super Bowl and tie Joe Montana for the most Super Bowl rings in NFL history.
Doing that, for many, would erase much of the pain felt by those painful losses to the Giants.
Major injuries on both sides could effect game
The last time the Patriots got to the Super Bowl they did so with depleted forces.
In 2015, injuries will once again be a major storyline going into Super Bowl Sunday. This time though, the bug has bitten both teams.
Notably, eccentric Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman was limited in the NFC Championship game with a sprained elbow. Beyond him, teammate Earl Thomas was in a "dire situation" Sunday according to coach Pete Carrol after he dislocated his shoulder in the first half.
While both Sherman and Thomas had MRI's Monday and are expected to play in the Super Bowl, their injuries could have lingering effects two weeks from now and lead to an amended approach for the Patriots offence and secondary.
On the Patriots side of the ball, rookie center Bryan Stork was the biggest Patriots injury story going into the AFC Championship and will likely remain so for the next two weeks. He sprained his knee in the Divisional Playoff Game against Baltimore and missed Sunday's game vs. the Colts. The Patriots are yet to comment on his status for the Super Bowl.
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