It’s a bit of deja-vu once again for the Super Bowl as two opponents face each other once again. The Seattle Seahawks last appeared in Super Bowl XLIX (49) and were one yard away from taking the lead with 26 seconds left in the game. However, they were intercepted and ended up losing the game and a chance at winning back-to-back titles. That opponent that Seattle lost to was the New England Patriots. New England returns to the Super Bowl this year after a seven year hiatus. This time they don’t have QB Tom Brady or head coach Bill Belichick. Seattle doesn’t have QB Russell Wilson or head coach Pete Carroll either. New players and new coaches for both franchises as they both look to regain the top spot they once had in the NFL.

Coaches

Seattle’s head coach Mike Macdonald is one of the younger head coaches in the league at 38 years old. In two seasons he has won 24 games and lost only 10. He has an established background of running some of the best defenses the last few seasons. Being that he was the defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens before being hired by Seattle. This season he has Seattle reminding its fans of the Legion of Boom from their back-to-back Super Bowl appearances. Offensively the Seahawks are clicking in every facet as offensive coordinator Clint Kubiak is getting the most out of QB Sam Darnold. It’s all come together at the right time for the Seahawks as they are setup to have sustained success for many years.

Just like Seattle, the New England Patriots are in a prime spot for sustained success going forward. First year head coach Mike Vrabel inherited a down trodden franchise that longed for the days when Vrabel was a player in the earlier days of the Patriots dynasty. The Patriots spent a lot of money to re-tool the roster and build around their second year QB Drake Maye. You can rightly criticize the Patriots for their very easy schedule in why they ended up winning 14 games. However, you can’t deny that they went through a gauntlet in the AFC playoffs against some of the best defense’s in the league. A win is a win no matter how you slice it up. Vrabel brought in Josh McDaniels as the offensive coordinator who has once again brought the best out of a Patriots quarterback in Drake Maye who nearly won the MVP award. New England’s defense saw vast improvements from what they were just a season ago. This is what the Patriots expected from a former player under Bill Belichick.

Players to Watch

While Seahawks QB Sam Darnold has been the best story of their season so far, he hasn’t been doing it all alone. He’s had one of the best receivers this season in Jaxon Smith-Njigba making numerous plays all year long. Cooper Kupp has done an admirable job when healthy to complement the play of Smith-Njigba. TE A.J. Barner had a breakout season for Seattle and is a favorite target for Darnold in the redzone. The loss of RB Zach Charbonnet to an injury in the Divisional Round is gonna hurt, but RB Kenneth Walker III hasn’t slowed down one bit. Behind a run first offensive line the Seahawks have done a tremendous job of establishing the run during most of their games. WR Rashid Shaheed has been a wild card for them on offense since he was acquired in a trade. He can provide a spark with his returns and must be accounted for at all times. The Seahawks defense has four players who recorded at least six sacks; Byron Murphy, Leonard Williams, Dexter Lawrence and Uchenna Nwosu. Seattle doesn’t need to blitz very often because of the consistent pressure they can generate from those four. Their run defense is where this defense’s strength is as LBs Ernest Jones and Drake Thomas do an excellent job of roaming the middle behind the line. Jones has excelled in the pass defense as well leading the team with 5 interceptions. Their secondary is fantastic with the likes of Devon Witherspoon and Coby Bryant leading the way. Rookie safety Nick Emmanwori has been playing his best in the playoffs for the Seahawks. Riq Woolen is a very talented corner, but he does make boneheaded plays that end up making him a liability at times. Darnold wasn’t going to get a lot of accolades for awards, but he is playing his best football of his career so far which has them in the Super Bowl once again.

Patriots QB Drake Maye had one of the biggest turnarounds in NFL history. New England used their first round pick to draft a left tackle to protect Maye and also added a speedster at running back in the second round. They signed WRs Stefon Diggs and Mack Hollins in the offseason. Those two have added reliable targets for Maye who didn’t have a whole lot of them in his rookie season. TE Hunter Henry became a favorite of Maye’s and led the team with 7 touchdown catches. Maye’s ability to accurately throw the deep ball became apparent during the season as WRs Kayshon Boutte and DeMario Douglas benefited from those throws. That speedster at running back is TreVeyon Henderson who had a stretch of long touchdown runs that put the rest of the league on notice. Fellow back Rhamondre Stevenson recovered from a mid-season injury and his case of fumblitis (too many fumbles) to establish a potent one-two punch in the backfield for the Patriots. They only had two players get a significant amount of sacks during the season in K’Lavon Chaisson and Harold Landry who had 7.5 and 8.5 sacks respectively. However, they do have others who can get after the quarterback in Milton Williams and Christian Barmore. The secondary will get involved in blitzing the quarterback as well with very exotic blitz schemes that have left opposing offense’s flustered. It should be noted that Chaisson, Landry and Williams were prominent free agent additions in the offseason that have helped immensely in this units turnaround in one year. LBs Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss have done a great job manning the middle and helping in run support. The secondary is led by a solid cornerback duo in Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis. Gonzalez is becoming a top tier cornerback in the league and Davis has had success before at this spot winning a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay while they had Tom Brady. Marcus Jones is a solid nickel corner who does blitz with some frequency and is a dangerous return man for the Patriots. The safeties are unheralded, but have impressed their doubters with some impressive play, especially rookie Craig Woodson. His running mate Jaylinn Hawkins led the team with 4 interceptions. Some of the ingredients were already in place for this team, but with the arrival of head coach Mike Vrabel he has built a team that wants to return to its former dominance.

Key of the Game

Even though both team’s quarterbacks had very good seasons, both teams want to establish the running game right from the start. It sets up their offense’s perfectly for play-action which they both use with precision. Seattle is going to want to get Kenneth Walker III involved early and often. Not having Charbonnet is going to hurt their short yardage play-calling, but that doesn’t mean Walker isn’t capable of doing it as well. QB Sam Darnold is at his best when the play-action is working full swing. For New England if Rhamondre Stevenson is finding running lanes and gets involved in the passing game as well, the Patriots have another body to account for on offense. TreVeyon Henderson is the wild card where if he gets loose it will be a long day for the Seahawks defense to stop their rushing attack. Not to mention that Drake Maye is a very capable runner and if Seattle doesn’t account for him with a spy then they will pay dearly for it. Both defense’s are adapt at stopping the opponents run game. Whoever does it best will most likely be hoisting the Lombardi trophy when the game is over.

Who Will Win?

Drake Maye hasn’t been able to show that he can throw an accurate deep pass very much in the playoffs. It’s mostly due to the opponents defense that he has been up against in the playoffs. That will probably be the case in this matchup as Seattle doesn’t allow that to happen very often this season. The Patriots defense has done a great job of stymieing their opponents offense in the playoffs and that could be difficult with this matchup. Whoever puts the most pressure on the quarterback and whoever doesn’t turn over the ball will be in the best position to win the game. With all of that said I believe that the New England Patriots will be able to accomplish the feat of defeating the Seattle Seahawks in this contest. Drake Maye will be named the MVP of the Super Bowl by throwing for over 300 yards and two touchdown passes, completing one long one to WR Kayshon Boutte. The final score will 24-13 in favor of the New England Patriots.