Bill Barnwell wrote: I just think the Seahawks are going to be able to run the ball to their heart’s content, and that’s going to yield long drives and successful trips to the red zone. I’m also skeptical the Patriots will be able to get Gronk going the way they do when their offense is truly clicking, and without a 100-yard game from Gronkowski, this offense suddenly looks a lot more ordinary. The Seahawks will transition from champions to budding dynasty, and Pete Carroll will get a healthy dose of revenge on Robert Kraft. Seahawks 24, Patriots 20.
I agree with Barnwell, the Seahawks have a good chance of rushing the ball successfully.
New England, during the regular season was maybe the 12th to 14th ranked defense, about the same for rushing defense. Of course, for rushing, they did not face teams with anywhere near the running power of Marshawn Lynch and Russell Wilson.
Belichick is going to stack his defense and commit to stopping the run more than any other team we have seen, but if we get both Lynch and Wilson going, we should be successful.
As I have mentioned elsewhere,
for the last part of the season and the playoffs, Marshawn Lynch is the best he has *ever* been. This is not the Marshawn Lynch of a year ago or even at the start of this season -- he is now much, much better. The impressive thing about him is not the physical -- although he has great power and cutting ability and balance that is almost unmatched. It is the unmatched mental side -- the vision and intelligence -- that have supercharged his game and are making him, over the last few games, one of the best running backs I have ever seen.
The only question is how conservative the coaches are going to be with Russell Wilson. They often start games very conservatively, taking very low risks with offensive turnovers, hoping for a low scoring defensive battle. They often shackle Russell Wilson at the beginning of the games, not letting him run or scramble much. This results in two things: 1) the defenses focus more on Lynch, limiting his effectiveness and 2) forcing Wilson to throw risky passes under pressure either from the pocket or when he is scrambling for his life after having waited too long. This has happened in every game where we have fallen behind, including Green Bay in the championship game.
Overall, If the coaches encourage Wilson to run (which contrary to their thinking, are about the lowest risk plays we have), the running game will open up and the Seahawks should win.
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