Patriots Way Alive And Well Despite Crazy Offseason

The New England Patriots give the appearance of going "All In" to bring another trophy or two to Foxborough before Tom Brady and Bill Belichick decide to hang up their respective cleats and whistles - but is it at the expense of what has come to be known as the Patriots' Way?

The Patriots' Way is, in a manner of speaking, the template for success in the National Football League during the salary-capped era - an efficient business plan that combines fiscal responsibility with an unmatched feel for the open market, complete with a vibrant moral compass that factors heavily into personnel decisions.

But this offseason, the Patriots seem to have strayed from their team building methods, eliciting euphoria from the aesthetic crowd and genuine concern from the hard liners.

Euphoria for the folks who crave the big name elitists, but also concern in that the Patriots are willingly departing from a tried and true system that has brought unprecedented success to the franchise since Robert Kraft purchased the team back in the mid-90's and particularly since he hired Bill Belichick to run things for him at the turn of the century - because as the old axiom goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

To be fair, Belichick has pulled off his standard fleecing of other organizations in obtaining wide receiver Brandin Cooks, tight end Dwayne Allen and defensive end Kony Ealy, using their top draft capital to what in essence was "drafting" young players with NFL game experience on their resumes, perhaps acknowledging that players coming out of college in positions of need for New England are too far off from contributing on a team already loaded to the gills.

Which is as "Belichickian" as you can get, as is the Dark Master's obsession with defensive backs, so to hear that he had re-signed centerfielder Duron Harmon to neat little four-year deal in order to keep his favored Big Nickel package in play at all times was not in the least bit shocking or unwarranted, nor was the news that he had inquired as to the availability of Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman before free agency opened for business.

Belichick has historically been criticized for his seemingly odd behavior when it comes to signing defensive backs - Adrian Wilson, Brandon Browner and Darrelle Revis come to mind in free agency and selecting names like Tavon Wilson, Ras-I Dowling and Jordan Richards early in the draft - so it wasn't out of character for him to show interest in Sherman...

...but more recently the team has been in the news for their highly controversial  cup of coffee and physical with disgraced running back Adrian Peterson - and now for their rumored renewed interest in the abrasive and loquacious (not to mention expensive) cornerback Sherman.

Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald went a step beyond reason when reporting on both, suggesting that he wouldn't have a problem if the Patriots' front office were to toss aside their track record of avoiding players with domestic violence incidents, either past or present, and sign Peterson despite his well-publicized legal difficulties involving violence towards his then four-year-old son.

Howe's remarks sparked a heated debate with some other prominent Boston sportscasters and even fueled a dissenting and brutal response from the New York Times, who claimed that the Patriots were two-faced for even considering a deal with Peterson.

Needless to say, Howe is riding a very thin line with just about everyone who counts with the Patriots and their beat media, managing to look goofier than even Ben Volin in the process, and his response to the criticism making him appear even crustier than Ron Borges - something that is going to be tough for him to live down anytime soon.

Howe aside, Belichick did open up a can of worms when he opened up the vault in free agency to lure cornerback Stephon Gilmore away from Buffalo.

Gilmore is a luxury that came to pass after the Patriots reportedly approached and was subsequently rebuffed by the Seattle Seahawks in regard to their interest in obtaining the abrasive and loquacious Sherman - which in and of itself would have cost New England enough in future draft capital to effectively mortgage the franchise's future - so Belichick signed Gilmore to a five-year, $65 million contract that guarantees $40 million, $18 million of that in a signing bonus.

When is the last time the Patriots shelled out that kind of long-term scratch?

A better question may be, why give Gilmore that kind of money when you have one of the game's top corners already on your team who is up for a raise?  Losing Logan Ryan in free agency justifies bringing in another player, but to lay out starter's money to a guy not versed in the system over one that is - and who was rated higher to boot - goes against conventional wisdom.

But what people feel is wrong with Belichick in these situations is actually what is so right about him.  He has never been one to care what Howe or Volin or Borges has to say, and usually he laughs off criticism like most people brush snow off of their windshields - but being accused of broaching the Patriots Way for one thing brought up by the media has to have him fuming.

Belichick knew he was going to lose Ryan in free agency, and he figured he may lose Butler as well, which is most likely the reason why he tagged Butler with a first-round tender as a restricted free agent, protecting himself from everything except another team's desperation, and so to inquire about Sherman and signing Gilmore when he knew that Butler had interest from the Saints is called covering your butt.

Many felt that he could have avoided the whole fiasco with Butler by signing him to a long-term contract, but Belichick isn't about to let a player dictate his market, particularly one who was trying to broach protocol after just three seasons in the league, while everyone else in football has to wait until they've accrued four.

History tells us that the Patriots willingly wrap up their extraordinary players to contract extensions that are true extensions - meaning that they leave the remainder of the current contract be, the extension activated upon the expiration of the current deal.  One has only to look at tight end Rob Gronkowski's deal in 2012, Nate Solder's in 2015 and Marcus Cannon's last season to figure that out...

...and while we don't know the circumstances surrounding any offer made to Butler, nor why he has yet to sign his tender, all anyone can do is speculate - which is what gets people like beat writers into hot water.

As far as Sherman goes, most of the information coming out on him has been generated by the Seahawks themselves, who have been busy patting themseleves on the back by claiming to be transparent in their dealings with players and in the media in an attempt to deflect responsibility for the Sherman rumors, which have ramped up again with a report from the Miami Herald that it is going to take "a player and a high draft pick" to pique the Seahawks' interest in moving on from the three-time All Pro corner.

The Seahawks claim that "several teams" have initiated not just fact-finding discussions, but actual trade talks, which makes their claim about transparency look more like a tactic to drum up interest in Sherman throughout the league.

While the Patriots were interested in Sherman initially, there are reasons to believe that they have closed the book on their dealings with the Seahawks.

The Gilmore contract which, when added to what the team would have to absorb to acquire Sherman and the salaries of the rest of the starting defensive backfield, would take up a full one-quarter of the Patriots' salary cap this season, and almost a third of it next season - and that is without Butler in the mix, who would likely be the one headed to Seattle as part of the compensation for a Sherman deal.

That would make them the most expensive secondary in the league by a large margin, but also the most talented, in theory - but it just doesn't make sense when the Patriots could use that cap space on expiring contracts for next season, with names like Solder, White, Lewis, Burkhead, Edelman and Garoppolo up for extensions, as well as having to pick up a fifth-year option on Cooks.

The Patriots Way would not allow for the Sherman thing to happen.  It rubs against everything that the Patriots have stood for, against their philosophies on both sides of the ball and, again, against conventional wisdom.  Let the teams always chasing the Patriots have at him - after all, it's what makes those teams the one's perpetually chasing them in the first place.

The bottom line is, the Patriots' Way is alive and well, despite appearances to the contrary.

Patriots' Defense In Flux? Return To Big Nickel Proving Fortuitous

Quick, can you name the team that has a defense that during NFL action on Sunday allowed less than 300 yards in total offense, collected five sacks, forced five fumbles, held their opponent to five of fourteen in third down conversions and forced eight punts, including five three-and-outs?

Surely, you say, not the New England Patriots?

Any team facing the San Francisco 49ers would be expected to limit their anemic passing game, while struggling against their top five running game, and every team has.  One would expect that any team facing the 49ers would beat them handily, and nine of the ten teams they've faced in 2016 have  done just that.

The New England Patriots defense held the status quo in their 30-17 victory over San Francisco at Levi's Stadium on a soggy Sunday afternoon in the bay area, but also holding the 49er's to their second lowest scoring output of the season, only a last-ditch, desperation, garbage time touchdown keeping the 'Niners from establishing a new low water mark for offensive ineptitude.

But that is expected of the Patriots, to the point where their fans sometimes forget that the guys on the other side of the ball are professional football players as well, and are going to make plays.

That said and true, the rhetorical question that emerges in regard to the Patriots' defense is a three-part query: First, why do they look so confused at times and, secondly, was trading off linebacker Jamie Collins the talisman for the aforementioned look of confusion?

The third question is perhaps the the most poignant of all, that being, have our expectations as fans clouded our vision?

All of us bought into the preseason banter that the Patriots sported a top ten defense to compliment a juggernaut offense, and there was really no one that could beat them except themselves, which they did against the Seattle Seahawks last week by the offense turning the ball over twice to the at-the-time sixth-ranked Seahawks' passing game...

...and by shying away from the Big Nickel defensive alignment, a move that many decried as being a harbinger of things to come, when in reality the sloppiness can be attributed to different looks in an attempt to ascertain where the linebacker coverage skill sets lie in a real-world setting in order to make up for the loss of Collins.

They figured to have an easier time of it on Sunday - and they did - but as is often the case against teams with mobile quarterbacks and well developed passing backs, the Patriots struggled at times, because when a mobile quarterback escapes the pocket, more often than not he's looking for his hot read, which is almost always a back or a tight end.

The key to keep this from happening is for the defensive ends and outside linebackers to set the hard edge and funnel everything back to wards the center of the field, where bigger bodies await - but if the quarterback does escape and gets to the edge, the corners, safeties and linebackers have already been in coverage for four-to-five seconds, an eternity in pass coverage.

That's where the Big Nickel (three safety) alignment comes in so importantly,  as it gives the team a better chance to both set the edge and to get on top of backs and tight end in the pattern - the keys, of course, being that strong safety Patrick Chung reduces down to become, essentially, a weak side linebacker.  Chung, despite being undersized in the box at 5' 11" and 215 pounds, is one of the premier tacklers in the league and can set a hard edge by being faster to the spot than the offensive linemen.

That skill was on full display against San Francisco, and didn't escape the attention of head ball coach Bill Belichick.

"When you are coming out of space like that, you can't let the quarterback get outside when they are as athletic as Kaepernick or Tyrod Taylor." Belichick said after the game, adding, "It's a tough open field tackle, Chung is one of our best tacklers, he's got to be one of the best tacklers in the league whether he's in line or in space or whoever he's tackling."

Collins "free-lanced" his way out of New England by abandoning the edge and allowing too many plays to get outside of him, and the film on Jabaal Sheard the past few games suggests the same tendency, which is most likely why he didn't make the trip to San Francisco - so the Patriots made due at Levi's Stadium with greybeards Rob Ninkovich and Chris Long responsible for the edges...

...and the results were mixed as 49ers' quarterback Colin Kaepernick still managed to pick up his hot read on a few occasions - though not nearly the debacle New England suffered at the hands of the Seahawks - and Kaepernick managed to pick up a couple of first downs by scrambling up the middle.

So it's safe to say that the Patriots' defense is a work in progress, but when hasn't it been?

"When you get into the season we know things change - personnel, scheme, whatever the case may be." Defensive Coordinator Matt Patricia offered up on Tuesday. "That's where we go in and try to adjust. You don't get too high, you don't get too low and you try to stay consistent."

Not much has been made of the timing of the Collins move - other than fans loudly wondering why the Patriots would trade away a premiere defensive talent in the middle of what was supposed to be a Super Bowl run - but coming off of the bye and facing two non-conference opponents in a row gives us a clue.

The non-conference record is far down the list on tie-breakers to determine conference seeding, so a loss isn't as devastating as an in-conference or in-division loss would be, so never would there have been a better time to get some game film on pieces like Shea McClellin, Barkevious Mingo or newcomer Kyle Van Noy than having two consecutive games against the NFC West - and both games against mobile quarterbacks who are dangerous in space.

None of the aforementioned players have had a large presence on the defense thus far - though all have seen significant time on special teams - but we have seen them with more of a role on the second level the past two games, and that should continue on a part-time basis.

Part-time, because there is not a team in the league that can run the Big Nickel like the Patriots can, and with the post-Thanksgiving stretch filled with danger - three divisional games and contests against the always tough Ravens and Broncos - fans should expect to see the New England defense back to their normal bend-but-don't-break philosophy.

Next up: The New York Jets, who have had a tough time scoring points and have one of the worst passing games in the NFL, but who rely heavily on their short passing game to - you guessed it - their running backs.  The Jets have had less than a 50% success rate at getting the ball to their downfield receivers, one of the worst rates in the NFL, so the onus will be on the Big Nickel to shorten the field and keep the backs in check.

Turnovers, Curious Play Calling Doom Patriots To Beating Themselves

Ball security is paramount to any football team's success, and on Sunday night in Foxborough, the entire country got a live tutorial on how negative an impact poor ball security can have.

For a moment, try to forget the Patriots' seemingly horrid pass defense and the curious play calling on both sides of the ball, and think about what transpired when wide receiver Julian Edelman put the ball on the ground with the game on the line against the Seattle Seahawks at Gillette Stadium.

In a see-saw affair that had seen six lead changes between two Super Bowl quality squads, the Seahawks were nursing a 25-24 lead on the strength of a Steven Hauschka 23 yard field goal with just over eight-and-a-half minutes remaining in a classic track meet that had produced just two punts for each team, both teams moving the ball seemingly at will...

C.J. Prosise burns Patriots' Elandon Roberts to set up a Seattle score

...and with excellent field position courtesy of butter-fingered rookie return man Cyrus Jones, who showed excellent burst to get the ball almost to Seattle's forty yard line before coughing it up - and the Patriots had seemed to have dodged a major bullet when alert safety Nate Ebner recovered the ball and the Patriots were in business just 5 yards out of field goal range.

Two plays later, Edelman laid an egg, giving the Seahawks the ball at midfield, and with neither defense being able to stop the opposing offense, no one in the stadium or watching at home were surprised when Wilson led the Seahawks right down the field for a touchdown and a seven point lead - nor were they surprised when Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady let his team right back down the field and poised inside the two yard line with a first and goal.

For reasons that may never be known, power back LeGarrette Blount, who had already found paydirt three times in the game, was given only one shot at the end zone from that spot, as a Brady sneak failed before he fumbled an exchange with center David Andrews, then overthrew tight end Rob Gronkowski, who was in full-grapple with Seahawk safety Cam Chancellor and fighting through a hole in his lung...

...so when the smoke cleared, Seattle walked off the field with a 31-24 win, a score that could have been reversed had New England not turned the ball over at the most critical of times.

The Seahawks scored on seven of their nine possessions, racking up an obscene 420 total yards but the Patriots' defense, true to form, allowed only the three Baldwin touchdowns in six red zone trips, forcing Seattle to have to settle for three Hauschka field goals after stalling inside the ten - while the Patriots scored on just four of their nine possessions, the result of not only being stonewalled on the goal line on the final drive, but also because of Edelman's gaffe and a what-the-hell-were-you-aiming-for Brady interception in the first half.

In short, the Patriots succeeded in beating themselves.

And that's been the thing all along, right?  That the only team capable of beating the Patriots are the Patriots themselves?

The Seahawks came into the game ranked in the bottom third of the league in total offense, leaning on their defense to propel them to a 5-2-1 record, but it had only been for the past three weeks that Wilson had been anywhere close to healthy, and the Patriots' win was the second week in a row that Seattle's offense had put up 31 points.

"This is what we've been talking about, trying to take this turn" Seattle ball coach Pete Carroll said after the game when asked about the uptick in offensive productivity. "We had been waiting to just get healthy, and maybe we waited a couple of weeks too long, but we had been waiting on Russ (Wilson) to get right, and we kicked it in last week.

"You saw the change," Carroll continued "all the offensive coaches seized the opportunity to go ahead and go."

And the weapons that Wilson has at his disposal are NFL-tested on the biggest stage the sport has to offer, all except at running back, where rookie C.J. Prosise has grasped the reigns and is making a strong case to keep the job permanently as he is proving to be an every down back.  His running between the tackles will never be confused with what the now-retired Marshawn Lynch offered...

...but his receiving ability out of the backfield is far more prolific than BeastMode, which goes to figure for a guy who runs a sub 4.4 in the forty and was a wide receiver at Notre Dame until injuries in their backfield dictated that Prosise fill in, for lack of a better choice - and with covering backs in the pattern out of the backfield a perpetual albatross for New England to begin with, Prosise was going to be problematic.

So why leave a guy that fast and that experienced in the pattern to a linebacker ill-suited to cover him with any chance of success? A better question might be, where the hell is the Big Nickel alignment that is structured just for the scenario that the Seahawks present?

And an even better question is, what is the use of having all the pieces for the Big Nickle defense, if you are not going to use it?

For the uninitiated, the Big Nickel defense employs five defensive backs, but unlike a standard nickel which calls for a third cornerback to replace a linebacker in obvious passing situations, the Big Nickel employs a third safety to replace the linebacker.  It may not sound like such a huge deal as both are defensive backs, but the difference between the two in the Patriots' scheme are like night and day.

In the Patriots' defensive scheme, weakside linebackers are devalued in favor of strong safeties in an effort to present a more difficult matchup for the opposing offense due to increased athleticism at the position to handle running backs, both curling out into the pattern and in the running game, where the strong safety will fill the gap much like a downhill-style linebacker would.

That leaves two safeties to fill in where needed, most often with free safety Devin McCourty reducing down to cover the double slot or to double on the outside, and hybrid Free/Strong centerfielder Duron Harmon patrolling the back end sideline-to-sideline - but Harmon played only a third of the snaps, and when he was in the game, he shadowed tight end Jimmy Graham, who was targeted only with linebacker coverage, mostly against Hightower

So on Sunday night against the surging Seattle Seahawks, with the Big Nickel conspicuously absent, Prosise caught seven out of seven targets for 87 yards against mostly linebacker coverage, including a 38 yard bomb that set up a Seattle score, an absolute nightmare scenario for the Patriots' defense.

Six of Prosise's seven catches converted third downs for Seattle - as a matter of fact, Prosise was on the receiving end of every single third down conversion for the Seahawks, with all but two with coverage provided by either Dont'a Hightower or Elandon Roberts, neither of whom with the wheels to stick with the sleek rookie.

Many will point to the cornerbacks, Malcolm Butler, Logan Ryan and Justin Coleman, as the goats in this scenario - and lord knows they could have played better, and have played better - but what they gave up in critical errors would not have been possible without Prosise converting third downs - and that is true in every single instance when Seattle scored.

One also has to wonder why New England didn't do the same thing on offense with passing back James White, who is even more prolific than Prosise, and with a developing NFL pedigree - but that is to be addressed at another time, along with the shakeup at defensive end.

But even with all of that happening and combined with an anemic pass rush, it came down to putting the ball on the ground in a critical moment that made the difference in a win or loss.

"Plus two in a game like this..." Carroll said with a smile, reflecting on Brady's first pick of the season and Edelman's egg, "it's fitting that a plus-two game would get you the win."

Fitting indeed.

Patriots' Butler The Hero In Classic Super Bowl Victory

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way..." Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities


Indeed, the other way.

Poised to rip the hearts out of the New England Patriots and their legion of fans on Sunday night, the Seattle Seahawks were on the threshold of football nirvana, a mere yard away from the Elysian field known as the end zone...

...armed with 26 seconds and one time out, the Seahawks had the fate of both teams in the capable hands of quarterback Russell Wilson - soon, almost every football fan on earth figured, to be in the arms of a feisty, skittle-eating, media-loathing load of a running back Marshawn Lynch, who would surely punch through the exhausted charges tasked by panic and desperation to stop the irresistible force.

Butler (21) falls forward after intercepting Wilson to seal the win

They had everything before them then, suddenly, they had nothing before them.  Instead of going direct to football heaven, the entirety of the Seattle Seahawks went direct the other way, as instead of handing the ball to their star running back, Wilson stepped back and fired a pass toward an unknown journeyman receiver whom had gone undrafted three years earlier and bounced around three different teams' practice squads before finding the field as a Seahawk.

But instead of connecting with reserve receiver Ricardo Lockette, instead of the ball falling harmlessly to the turf setting up a third and goal from the one yard line, Wilson instead found another undrafted rookie free agent - this one adorned in the silver, white and blue of the enemy.

For New England Patriots' reserve cornerback Malcolm Butler, the final play in Sunday night's Super Bowl surely was the best of times, but only after having to endure the worst of times - and in the end, all of the football world looked upon that play with all due incredulity, unwilling to accept the truth of the moment as it was laid out before them in either their spring of hope or their winter of despair.

Two plays earlier, Butler had given up a long reception to Seahawks top wideout Jermaine Kearse to set Seattle up inside the Patriots' five yard line - not because the rookie had a rookie moment, nor because the veteran Kearse high-pointed the ball over the shorter Butler - but because the venom of fate once again was flowing through the veins of the seemingly eternally snake-bitten Patriots...

...just as it did when seldom-used New York Giants' receiver David Tyree trapped an Eli Manning wobbler on his helmet while being given the business by safety Rodney Harrison in Super Bowl XLII after the 2007 season, and also when the youngest Manning threaded a perfect sideline shot to Mario Manningham on his way to the winning score in Super Bowl XLVI after the 2011 season.

Kearse's catch may go down in history as the best of them all - some would say luckiest - as Butler competed for the ball and was able to get a fingertip on it, defelcting it just enough that Kearse couldn't handle it at the high point, but not enough to keep it from landing in the receiver's lap after it bounded off of his knee - a circus catch in any definition.

The worst of times.

"This is going to be my fault" Butler thought to himself as he repaired dejectedly to the sidelines after the play. "I don't want this to be my fault."

Consoled by teammates on the sidelines, Butler still watched in horror as Lynch was stopped just short of the goal line on the ensuing play, then the rookie was sent back in on the next as the Seahawks loaded up the right side with pass catchers in a bunch formation that Butler knew all too well from coach Bill Belichick's relentless instruction.

A rub route, where the the inside receiver - the flanker - pushes upfield into a cornerback playing press at the goal line, escorting the corner backwards into the path of the corner covering the outside receiver, freeing the receiver to make an uncontested catch, this time for the World Championship.

The rookie readied himself, knowing that the rub was coming but also buoyed by the knowledge that fellow corner Brandon Browner, his large and physically imposing compatriot in the secondary had the flanker.  The ball was snapped, but instead of being pushed back into the scrum, Browner jammed the inside receiver, leaving a clear path for Butler to Lockette, who had squared his shoulders in anticipation of the quick strike...

...meeting Lockette just as the ball arrived with enough force to nudge his way into perfect position to grasp the ball out of the air, securing it with two hands and falling forward to the two yard line as his jubilant teammates danced  the dance of a champion.

Most assuredly, the best of times.

After all had settled down, after all of the red, white and blue confetti has stopped falling on the natural grass at University of Phoenix Stadium, and after the Lombardi Trophy was securely in the hands of a stoic and melancholy team owner Robert Kraft, Butler's teammates pondered his dance with destiny.

"Malcolm" asked veteran defensive lineman Rob Ninkovich. "Where were you one year ago today?"

Butler couldn't remember in the middle of the carnage of lights and microphones being thrust in his face, but there is a chance that he was sitting in a literature class at West Alabama University, pondering another night of greasy, mindless labor at his job at Popeye's Chicken, his attention waning between that and Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities...

...a story that he doesn't have to read now that he is no longer a college student and is, in fact, a hero and destined for Patriots' lore - but he should read it, because he's lived it, and there's nothing like knowing what's coming whether it be in classic literature or on a rub route.

Prelude To A Title - Part 7: Revis Is Patriots' 12th Man

"The real value of having a shutdown corner like Revis on the field is that it allows the defense to run with a single high safety that will shade to the corner opposite Revis in support of the direction that the ball will probably be going, which would allow the Patriots to run with four corners in a nickle without sacrificing run support.

Obviously, none of the Patriots' corners are in the same class as Revis, but they are of quality cloth and all would be starters or the first nickle option on other teams - so the dynamics would change and the single high safety idea would probably fade into oblivion, but the Patriots are more able to maintain integrity in the secondary that any of those other teams." Foxborough Free Press, August 31, 2014

Without question, this New England Patriots' defense is the best to haunt Foxborough since the Championship days, and even the most casual of fans should have been aware of this the moment the Patriots signed cornerback Darrelle Revis to a rich free agent contract in the offseason.

Sure, having a healthy Vince Wilfork to plug the middle of the defense was key as well, as was signing Brandon Browner and trading for linebackers Akeem Ayers and Jonathan Casillas midseason - but nothing made the difference on the New England defense like having a true shutdown corner.

Revis is the best cover corner in the game today

And not just a true shutdown corner, but the best shutdown corner in the business.

Seahawk fans can argue all they want about Richard Sherman being the best, but when it comes to total value and diversity on the playing field, most knowledgeable fans would take Revis every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Why?  Simply because of the aforementioned versatility.  While Sherman shuts down one side of the field, that is pretty much the limit of his effectiveness.  Revis can shut down one side of the field, but he can also take the flanker on the rub, the tight end up the seam and the quick twitch slot man on the crosser, each with equal success.

The trickle down effect of having such a stopper is akin to having an extra man on the field, as his presence means that the Patriots are able to employ a single high safety and either drop the other safety into the box in run support or replace him with a nickle cover corner.

In essence, he is the Patriots' 12th man.

This is one of the main reasons why the New England Patriots are going to be walking out of University of Phoenix Stadium on Sunday night with the Lombardi Trophy firmly in tow.

With all due respect to the other 50 players on the Patriots' roster, only Revis, quarterback Tom Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski reside in such rarified air, players that have such an impact on the outcome of a game that they become keys by default, players whose skill at their given craft far exceed anyone else at their position.

Collins could end up garnering some MVP votes...

With Gronkowski, it's sheer physical ability combined with excellent size-speed ratio and gargantuan hands that swallow footballs, while with Brady it's merely playing at such a high level for such a long time that it's second-nature - though having a rocket launcher for an arm and the intensity of a speed freak doesn't hurt.

But it's a bit different with Revis, if only because the defense doesn't have to follow such stringent rules for formations and such like the offense must, and Revis' versatility is the perfect weapon to take advantage.

The main beneficiary of his presence on Super Bowl Sunday is the front seven, the linebackers in particular, and even more so against a team like the Seattle Seahawks, who have very limited depth among their pass catchers and rely mainly on the running game and the play-extending abilities of quarterback Russell Wilson.

What Revis' versatility does for the front seven is it allows the linebackers to concentrate on defending the read option by "spying" Wilson, which also enables them to move laterally down the line of scrimmage - essential for squaring up and tackling the illusive and powerful running back Marshawn Lynch.

Along with defensive backs Brandon Browner, Devin McCourty and Kyle Arrington, the Patriots have enough in the secondary to account for whatever the Seahawks can throw at them - pardon the pun - and all are exceptional in run support - but where the Patriots could get into trouble is if they allow Wilson to extend plays outside of the pocket...

...because while his receivers are not household names and will probably have trouble in separating from the Patriots' defensive backfield initially, no cornerback can hold coverage forever, and the strength of Seahawk receivers Jermaine Kearse and Doug Baldwin are in finding holes in the coverage once the pass rush breaks down and Wilson is in his element outside of the pocket.

To prevent this from happening, look for the Patriots to attack the Seahawks' offensive line right up the middle, while ends Chandler Jones and Rob Ninkovich float in their gaps to prevent Wilson from getting outside.  The interior rush should be keyed by Vince Wilfork's ability to tie up two blockers, and if New England runs with a five-man line and two linebackers - essentially a cloud defense - there's going to be a gap somewhere for either Jamie Collins or Dont'a Hightower to exploit.

The hug blitz will be huge in this game.  For the hug blitz to be effective, the linebacker who has the assignment on Lynch or whatever back is in the game, must maintain his spy station until the back engages a defender in pass protection - which is where the interior rush becomes so important - and provided he's not just chipping and curls out into the pattern, the free linebacker then sprints through the gap right into the quarterback's face.

And if the ends are doing their job and presses to contain the edges, Wilson will have no place to run and will either have to get rid of the ball in a hurry or take a sack.

That said, there is no excuse for the ends to not contain Wilson.  The coverage down the field should be solid and the Patriots have the advantage along the line of scrimmage, particularly rushing from their left because of the injury status and inexperience of the Seahawks' right guard and tackle - so all the ends have to do is maintain their gap integrity and not get pinned inside or escorted around the top of the pocket.

In theory, this is plausible - but when the game starts, theory ends and practical application rules - and whichever team handles reality best will end up winning the Lombardi Trophy.

If that ends up being New England, the MVP of the Super Bowl may very well come from the defensive side of the ball.

The idea is to keep him in the pocket and force him to throw over and around both his own offensive linemen and the rushing defenders, all of who have a significant height and size advantage over the demure (5' 11") third year signal caller.

Prelude To A Title - Part 6: Patriots' Offensive Diversity Too Much, Even For Seahawks

"Within the scope of the Ehrhardt-Perkins scheme that Belichick employs, balance is so crucial that to tip the scales to one focus on the offense - in essence, to put all of your eggs in one basket - makes the offense easier to defend, particularly when facing an elite, attacking defense that can take away what you do best. So the best way to attack an entity like that is to do everything well, and to have as many weapons as possible to rotate onto the field - and in theory, this Patriots' offense will be able to do that in a fashion that is going to be described as 'Dizzying'." Foxborough Free Press, July 31, 2014

The New England Patriots are nothing if not diverse.

Indeed, these Patriots on offense are simply whatever they need to be in order to win.  Because of head ball coach Bill Belichick's philosophy that the 53rd man on the roster is just as important as the top gun, New England sports the type of depth chart that allows him to prepare game plans that can take advantage of his foes weaknesses simply by making minor tweaks from week to week...

...not just in personnel, but by having players on the roster that do multiple things well, identifying how their skill set fills the need to take advantage of his opponent, then building each players' strengths into the game plan.

The onus is on the Seahawks to find an answer for Gronkowski

Take the Patriots' offensive line for example.All three interior starters have professional experience at center, while left tackle Nate Solder is a former collegiate tight end and rookie tackle Cameron Fleming is athletic enough to play tight end and pull to the inside in the running game.  We've seen them all in those capacities at various points of the season

At receiver, both Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola are prototypical slot receivers, but they have the speed and separation ability play both inside and out, and Brandon LaFell does the same, but at five inches taller to assume more of a possession receiver role.

But that's the thing with the Patriots' offense, and there's really no getting around it, no matter how much people wish for the big play: The Patriots are a ball-control, possession heavy, four-minute offense that relies on three yards and a cloud of rubber tire pellets from their passing game as well as their ground game.

The short, timing-based passing game that allows quarterback Tom Brady to get the ball out of his hand quickly also affords the receivers the opportunity to juke defenders and pick up extra yardage after the catch, a staple of the four-minute offense as it can be construed as an extension of the running game in that it forces the defenders to react rather than to be aggressive and dictate the pace...

...so you can be sure that the Seattle Seahawks will push the envelope by trying to jam the Patriots' pass catchers at the line of scrimmage to disrupt Brady's timing with them - but they can't pick everyone, and with the threat of an established running game dancing in their brains, the Seahawks will be forced to read and react.

The Patriots certainly have the potential to bust a big play on any given possession, but the anatomy of the team philosophy dictates that it is best to control the clock with long, clock-eating drives, preferring to lull a defense to sleep with their methodical and predictable play calling, then hit them over the top or up the seam when they least expect it.

This benefits everyone.  It keeps the offense in a groove, their opposition off balance and their own defense rested and ready on the sidelines - so don't expect a game plan that varies from this recipe for success.

But as much as one would like to see the two teams compete on a level playing field, the fact that 3/4 of the vaunted Legion of Boom secondary are hobbled with a variety of injury, so the first thing that has to happen for New England is to assess the limitations - if any - of the injured birds.

Big strong safety Kam Chancellor is reported to have injured his left knee in Friday's practice, landing him on the injury report with fellow safety Earl Thomas (separated shoulder) and cornerback Richard Sherman (torn elbow ligaments) - but it would be foolish for the Patriots to go into this game assuming their level of limitation, as New England has been done in by sandbagging entities before (see Super Bowl losses to Giants).

So if Seattle is trying to lure the Patriots into a false sense of security, it would be prudent for the offense to conduct their own examination and come up with their own diagnosis - and do it early enough in the game to be able to adjust as needed.

One school of thought from the experts is that Chancellor will be matched up against New England's Rob Gronkowski, who is widely considered to be the best tight end in the business, given Chancellor's size and aggressive nature, not to mention his coverage ability.

If Chancellor is indeed in Gronkowski's face, the best idea would be to send Gronk off the line as the Flanker or set up out wide to the right in the formation where an inside move by Gronkowski will test the strong safety's injured left knee as he will have to plant and stick on an aggressive inside move to hang with Gronkowski.

Same idea if Sherman ends up on Gronkowski.  Sherman is a great perimeter defender in that he is an expert at gaining inside position on receivers and squeezing them out using the sideline as an immovable object.  The way to beat Sherman is to take him either inside or to properly execute back shoulder throws along the sidelines.

Sherman has proven to be an adept defender on the back shoulder throws because of his penchant for pinning the receivers to the sidelines and cutting off their angle, but Gronk's size and hands, Brady's accuracy and velocity on the ball, and Sherman's injured elbow all factor in to this being an advantage for New England.

I doesn't even have to be Gronkowski running the pattern, as LaFell and Tim Wright are big targets for the back shoulder throws.  It's a tight window for sure, but keeping everything to the outside on Sherman where he is forced to use his injured left arm to extend to the ball might have the Seattle defensive coaching staff rethinking and adjusting on the fly.

Add into the mix the probability that the Patriots will be able to wear down the small front seven with both the running game and Brady's quick release, there is no reason to think that New England won't score 30 points against the Seahawks' defense.

Prelude To A Title - Part 5: Blount Where He Belongs, Ready For Shot At The Title

"Pittsburgh had a golden opportunity to feature the heftiest, most powerful running attack in the NFL with both Bell and Blount, but once the season started and Bell became the "Bell Cow", it was just a matter of time before the lack of playing time for Blount became a problem - and it came to a head on Monday night when Blount received no carries, on top of getting just two the week before." Foxborough Free Press, November 20, 2014

If the Pittsburgh Steelers had not knee-jerked their way to releasing backup running back LeGarrette Blount in late November, there would have been a very good chance that it would have been them - not the Baltimore Ravens - that the New England Patriots would have hosted in the Divisional round of the AFC playoffs.

Not for any reason, though, other than when their lead back Le'Veon Bell went down with a knee injury shortly after Blount's release, they had no other big back to carry the load - and it likely cost them a win over the Ravens in the wildcard round of the playoffs with a trip to New England at stake.  It was a calculated risk by the Steelers and a decision that perhaps they would have liked to have back...

Blount (29) and Gray (35) are big backs key to a Super Bowl victory

...because it was them.  They are the ones that went back on their word to Blount, the word that enticed him to sign with Pittsburgh in the offseason with the vision of he and Bell running roughshod over their opponents, a promise that disintegrated slowly after the first few weeks of the season gave the league a glimpse of what it could be with a two-headed monster in their backfield.

After rushing for 118 yards on just 10 carries against the Carolina Panthers in week 3 - part of a 246 yard rushing day for the Steelers in which Bell rushed for 147 yards on 21 carries - Blount's touches and production dipped dramatically, barely eclipsing that yardage total in the next seven games combined.

The low point, of course, was the Steelers' 27-24 win over the Tennessee Titans on November 17th, when Blount unceremoniously departed for the locker room ahead of his teammates while the game was still going on, then departing the stadium without showering nor talking to the media - and the next day, he was released from his contract with Pittsburgh - and at least one of his teammates on the Steelers bid him good-riddance.

"We're fine." center Maurkice Pouncey said to reporters a few days after the incident, when questioned how the move would affect the team. "We have our starting running back. It's probably a good thing it happened.  If it was a cancer (in the locker room), he ended up leaving on his own. That's a blessing for us, we don't need him."

Pouncey is far from being innocent of transgression, and he was certainly mistaken when he announced that the Steelers didn't need Blount.  As it turned out, they did need him in a big way - and now Pouncey and the rest of his teammates are going to be watching Blount play in the Super Bowl against the defending world champions Seattle Seahawks.

This has been a point of contention for a variety of folks, particularly in the wake of the stupid and wrong "Deflate-gate" mess, and something that was brought up by a rouge reporter on Media Day, who ambushed Blount on how it all went down and insinuating that it seemed pretty convenient that Blount essentially got himself fired from a team that wasn't using him and ended up on a team that was in the midst of a very proper run toward the Super Bowl...

...the very team that he left in free agency during the offseason after racking up nearly a thousand yards for New England last season in tandem with Stevan Ridley - and perhaps motivated by need after Ridley's season ending knee injury early this season, the Patriots took advantage of how things shook out for Blount, and were thrilled to be able to bring back a guy that had been so productive for them in the past, but also a guy that was well-liked by his New England teammates.

Perhaps most importantly, however, was that Blount already knew the system and the language, and was able to step right in like he hadn't left at all.

So in response to the media's ambush, Blount could do nothing but smile, knowing that the subject of acquisitions and contracts were taboo in Patriots' Nation - but his silence fueled the conspiracy driven media into a firestorm of indictment in the name of collusion.

As if the media hadn't pig-piled the Patriots enough in the past dozen days, now they are up in arms about how it all came to be with Blount and the Patriots, asking him whether he knew that he had a job waiting for him in Foxborough were he to get himself "fired" from the Steelers - and perhaps he did know that he would end up back with the Patriots, but there was still a matter of how.

Upon his release, Blount appeared on the league-wide waiver wire wherein any team in the league could have put in a claim on him - but no one did.

Calculated risk by head ball coach Bill Belichick?  Well, it couldn't have been much of a risk, given Blount's checkered (albeit misunderstood) past, rife with confrontation from the college level on up - and when combined with the thought that Blount "abandoned" his teammates when he headed for the locker room that fateful night, it was a pretty good gamble on Belichick's part that most teams would steer clear of him...

...and when they all did - even the running back needy Broncos who knew first-hand what he brought to the field -  Blount suddenly appeared in the Gillette Stadium locker room where he was greeted with hugs and smiles from his former-now-present teammates.

"We were like, 'LeGarrette's back'!" said Patriots' safety Devin McCourty of the morning that Blount surprised everyone in the Patriots' locker room. "He honestly picked up right where he left off.  What happened in Pittsburgh doesn't matter.  What you did on a previous team, that doesn't matter.  It's all about who you are on the Patriots."

Who Blount is on the Patriots is perhaps the queen piece in a chess match between the league's best and most diverse offense against the leagues' best defense - a defense defined by violent intent, speed, intelligence and toughness - but also a defense that lost every game that their opposition ran the ball more than 27 times.

The 6' 1", 250 pound Blount is certainly capable of carrying that kind of work load, and his syrup-on-waffles running style will wear down any defense, if given that type of opportunity - but Blount really doesn't have to do the running all by himself, though that would appear to be the plan.

There is also overnight sensation turned flash-in-the-pan Jonas Gray, whose lone claim to fame was steamrolling the same Indianapolis Colts' defense in November that Blount did not even two weeks ago - which means that with Blount and Gray working in tandem, the Patriots can always have fresh legs in the backfield - and not just fresh legs, but twin battering rams that could relentlessly pound the Seahawks into oblivion, should New England gain a lead.

But no matter how it shakes down, if both men are on their game, they represent a huge challenge for the speedy-but-small Seattle front seven - particularly now that the Patriots have their starting offensive line intact with the return of center Bryan Stork - meaning that the Patriots now have everything that the Steelers could have had, but failed to capitalize on.

About that, LeGarrette Blount still just smiles, happy to be back where he belongs.

Prelude To A Title - Part 4: Patriots Should Test Sherman And Thomas Early

Under normal circumstances, Richard Sherman is best left alone.

But these are less than normal circumstances, as the Seattle Seahawks are going into the Super Bowl with their best cover corner on the mend with torn ligaments in his left elbow - so the New England Patriots would be crazy to not go after him early, perhaps bogging him down with the likes of Brandon LaFell or even get him isolated on Rob Gronkowski.

Especially with back shoulder throws along the sideline, bringing his injured wing into play when he has to spin to locate the ball and try to make a play on it - and a crosser or two from either side of the formation should be in the mix as well, perhaps a screen or three to force him to come up and tackle.  A healthy Sherman would take all of that in stride and probably be gone the other way with at least one of them...

Sherman played the balance of the NFC Title game one handed...

...but a wounded Sherman is a different story.

A wounded Richard Sherman is not going to have the reach that he otherwise might enjoy, and in fact may be further inhibited if wearing a brace of some sort - and, of course, he might take an injection or two in the process of preparation on game day that will allow him to play more pain-free - but even then, there is no miracle cure that would allow him to stretch that arm out enough to exhibit his normal Condor-like range.

The Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) is the structure that keeps a normal attachment of the humerus bone (upper arm) and ulna (one of the forearm bones) and is usually seen on athletes that hit the turf hard with their arm stretched out in front of them, but in Sherman's case, his arm was stretched out to try to make a tackle along the sidelines, where it was impacted and pinned against the ball carrier by teammate, safety Kam Chancellor.

Traditional symptoms of a UCL tear include the inability to straighten the elbow joint, numbness and tingling of the ring and pinkie finger and throughout the hand, and weakness of hand grip.  If Sherman were a receiver, he would be useless in this game, but since he on the opposite side of that spectrum, he's going to give it a go.

This could be a real problem for the Seahawks' secondary, because if the Patriots are able to find success on him early in the game, it will force Seattle to either give him safety help over the top or replace him altogether if the injury turns out to be as limiting as it should be.

Thomas injured his shoulder when he couldn't wrap up this tackle

Sherman is on record as saying that it feels better every day - but, really, what is he supposed to say?

Indeed, Sherman and the Seahawks are taking a big chance with one of the best cornerbacks in the league, as any trauma to the area could result in injury to the Ulnar nerve, which could cause protracted numbness, tingling and weakness of the hand, and in severe cases these symptoms could become permanent.

Perhaps the bigger issue, however, is the degree of separation in the shoulder of safety Earl Thomas, whose injury forced him from the NFC Championship game against Green Bay, and then returned once the shoulder was stabilized by the Seahawks' medical staff - and just like Sherman, Thomas vows to play in the Super Bowl.

Upon arriving in Glendale for the Super Bowl, Thomas declared his shoulder 100%, a farce by any stretch of the imagination, but it apparently got the attention of the NFL league offices, who selected Thomas for a "random" test for Human Growth Hormones, an occurrence that Thomas called a "league office distraction."

Human Growth Hormones, or HGH, can significantly accelerate the healing process in virtually any injury, and while the league insists that the testing done on the Pro Bowl free safety was of random selection, it seems plausible that the testing was in response to Thomas' assertion that his shoulder was healed.

A shoulder separation occurs when when the ligaments that act to stabilize the shoulder joint stretch or partially tear, causing intense pain, arm weakness and limited range of motion in mild cases.  An athlete who suffers a mild separation can recover and be back in action in two to three weeks, but just like with Sherman's elbow issue, the injury can become significantly worse - something that Thomas apparently isn't thinking about.

"When I come alive, nothing is limited." Thomas said on Tuesday in Arizona in response to questions about having to tackle the likes of the Patriots' tight end Rob Gronkowski and running back LeGarrette Blount. "I can still play fearless and throw my body around, and whatever happens, happens."

"It's a lot to deal with, my first major injury." Thomas continued, "I got the big picture."

So do the Patriots, who would be wise to test Thomas' shoulder stability early in the game as well - perhaps not in the manner that cornerback Brandon Browner suggested, that being to break his arm, but in spreading the Seahawks out and throwing the aforementioned crossers, wheel routes and screens, forcing the 5' 10", 200 pound Thomas to either square up to the receiver looking for extra yardage or be reduced to grasping for him, which would give a clear definition of the impact of his injury.

This will be even more effective if the Patriots can implement the running game early, which will draw strong safety Kam Chancellor up into the box and leave Seattle even more vulnerable in the secondary.

Browner's comments notwithstanding, New England should test the entire Seahawks' secondary, but not do it just to do it.  Balance is the key, and to arrive at a diagnosis on the two defensive backs should be quick work, but they must be careful not to sacrifice what got them to the Super Bowl just to ascertain if either player is handicapped beyond effectiveness.

Certainly, the Seahawks will try to protect them with an aggressive pass rush and by playing perhaps more zone coverages than they normally would - and whether this turns out to be the case or not, the Patriots needn't alter their game plan either way, but if Sherman and Thomas are indeed hurting, it opens up their play book just that much more.

Prelude To A Title - Part 3: Gap Discipline Key To Patriots Limiting Seahawks' Options On Offense

Patriots' defenders Arrington (25), Chung (23) and Collins are keys to stopping Seattle's read option offense

The Seattle Seahawks rank dead last in number of passing attempts in NFL during the 2014 season - but when you have the type of ground game that the Seahawks' possess, there is really no need to air it out.  Besides, to say that the Seahawks are undermanned at the pass catching positions would be kind of an understatement anyway.

But don't mention anything like that to receiver Doug Baldwin, who is very vocal in his resolve that the Seahawks have one of the best corps in the league and is staffed with "Elite" receivers.

Known as "Angry Doug" to many, particularly after his Rodney Dangerfield-style rant after the NFC Championship about the Seahawks not receiving any respect, Baldwin is way off in his perception of the Seahawks having one of the best receiving corps in the NFL, but it suits what the team wants to do on offense - which is giving quarterback Russell Wilson perhaps a more diverse set of options than usual to move the ball downfield.

That said and true, Wilson is the heartbeat of the Seattle offense, which makes him the number one priority for the New England Patriots to defend.

Notice how that statement didn't translate to stopping Wilson from doing what he does - rather, to take away the options that Baldwin and his fellow pass catchers represent so that the Patriots' front seven can concentrate on limiting what Wilson does on the ground together with running back Marshawn Lynch, and New England may have the perfect defense to do just that...

...what with shutdown corner Darrelle Revis, physical menace Brandon Browner playing opposite him and quick-twitch slot man Kyle Arrington masterfully denying slot receivers access to the crossers and the seam, the Patriots are experiencing a surplus of quality defensive backs, meaning that they are in decent position to defend and perhaps limit what the Seahawks are able to do on the ground.

This is not to mean that Seattle's passing game should be taken lightly, as they factor in the Seahawks' overall balance, albeit run-heavy balance, but the fact remains that due to injury and attrition, Seattle's pass catching corps is far from elite - which can be a true advantage for New England so long as they defend Seattle's read option attack with gap-intensive discipline.

Similar to what the Patriots faced in the divisional round against the Baltimore Ravens, the Seahawks employ a zone blocking scheme that relies on cut blocks from the back side tackle and cut backs by the running back.  What makes Seattle's variation of the scheme more dangerous than Baltimore's is the not just the quality of the running back in Lynch, but also in the masterful execution of their read-zone attack.

Relying on the stretch run to set up their blocking zones and to create a floating pocket off the play action, quarterback Russell Wilson has the option to hand off to Lynch, keep the ball and dart through or around the line of scrimmage, or keep the ball and boot to the outside to look for his sneaky pass catchers which, if the read option is running correctly and efficiently, may have become a dangerous afterthought.

Wilson may be the best read-option quarterback in the National Football League, and can make every throw required of an elite signal caller.  He is a master of deception and as tough as they come, but he is painfully short for the position, so the way to combat Wilson's highly effective execution of the read-option is maintain gap discipline, to get hands up in the passing lanes and to keep the speedy third-year man confined to the pocket.

In the read-option, as we know, the quarterback keys on the weakside defensive end and his movements to decide what he's going to do with the football.  If the end starts to break laterally down the line of scrimmage, it usually means that he's playing the running back and the quarterback should keep the ball and run to where the end vacated, but if the end maintains the integrity of his gap and dances in unison with the movement of the quarterback, he should hand off to the back.

If going left, which the Seahawks prefer to do, the backside end will be Rob Ninkovich who is rarely caught out of position and seems to have a knack for getting to the ball - but if they go to the right, the backside end is Chandler Jones, who has been known to allow himself to be escorted out of the play whether up and around the pocket or trapped inside, and is vulnerable to the backside cut block.

Perhaps in this instance the Patriots may think about supplementing the front seven with safety Patrick Chung, or with a mixture of Akeem Ayers and Jonathan Casillas as nickle linebackers - but regardless of how they intend to defend in the box, the defensive line must control the interior linemen and not let them get to second level.

In a game where gap integrity is crucial, keeping linebackers Dont'a Hightower and Jamie Collins clean and unencumbered by rouge linemen allows them to flow to the ball and, perhaps even more critical, to play sideline to sideline in setting a hard edge.

One thing that could make this a little easier for the Patriots is the fact that both right guard J.R. Sweezy and right tackle Justin Britt are questionable for the game, meaning that neither will be at 100% if they play in the game as expected - and if they can't go Ninkovich and linebackers Hightower and Collins will be able to feast on their backups...

...and if the Patriots rotate their defensive tackles effectively to keep them fresh, well, the read option won't have as big an impact, given the quality of the Patriots defense overall and the limitations and injury status on the Seahawks' side.

Another element to this offense is the quick pitch to the outside, where a receiver comes in motion and crosses the face of the play just at the snap of the ball, which accomplishes two things.  First, the reaction of the cornerback assigned to the receiver off the line will tell the quarterback if the defense is in man coverage - if the corner follows the receiver laterally across the formation - or in zone coverage...

...and also gives the quarterback a pitch option in case the hole left vacated by the defensive end closes quickly and he needs to get rid of the ball.  The Seahawks ran this option many times with receiver Percy Harvin, but when Harvin was traded earlier in the season, that element of the offense suffered, though it still remains an element.

This is a weak spot for the Seahawks.  At the start of the season, Baldwin may have been accurate regarding the receiving corps being among the "Elite" in the league, what with Angry Doug, fellow undrafted wideout Jermaine Kearse, Harvin, rookie speedster Paul Richardson and tight end Zach Miller...

...but the Harvin trade and season-ending injuries to Richardson and Miller has left the cupboard mostly bare.  Names like Ricardo Lockette and tight end Luke Willson have picked up the slack somewhat, but not enough to dig the Seahawks out of their abyss in the passing game.

Does this mean that Seattle is doomed if they have to go up top?  Anyone who saw the end of either of the Seahawks' playoff victories knows that Wilson can lay a football into his receivers with the best of them, but it's no secret that to stop Lynch and Wilson from getting the ground game going is key.

The Patriots should easily be able to blanket Kearse on the outside and up the seam while slot corner Kyle Arrington takes on Baldwin.  Willson has made a few big catches in recent games and is murder in the red zone, so if his former teammate Brandon Browner gets involved and manhandles the big tight end off the line, that leaves the Patriots' linebackers and the strong safety to concentrate on preventing Lynch and Wilson from generating a running game.

Again, just as the Seahawks' defense is not without shortcomings, their offense is limited by a lack of quality depth among the pass catching options, which should translate to New England being able to concentrate on stopping the run and keeping Wilson in the pocket, where his movement is limited and his size becomes a detriment - because if he gets outside of the pocket, he is as dangerous as they come.

This is the same thing that the Denver Broncos did to defeat the Patriots in last season's AFC Title game, but it's important to remember that Seattle's offense is keyed by the running game and, even as limited as they are in depth among the pass catchers, they still aren't as bad off as New England was in that game...

...but if the Patriots remain disciplined, stay in their gaps and do their jobs that have been assigned to them, there's no reason to believe that the Seahawks will be able to exert their will on New England's defense.

Prelude To A Title - Part 2: Winner Of Super Bowl Will Be The Best When It Counts The Most

"Great teams aren't great all the time; they're just great when they have to be."

Legendary NFL Films narrator John Facenda coined that phrase over thirty years ago, but he may as well have been talking about both of the entrants of Super Bowl 49.

For those who don't know of Facenda or are too young to even have an inkling as to who he is, his voice could only be described as deep as a bass drum, his appearance that of Rick from from the television show Pawn Stars, his prose as elegant as that of Grantland Rice - "The Voice of God" as was proclaimed by legions of football fans, a voice so iconic that to this day it is often parodied and replicated...

Kam Chancellor and the Seahawks have been stout on defense...

...and were he alive today, I suspect that he would again dip into this most poignant of quotes to describe both the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, who both endured turbulent starts, then turned on the afterburners to run roughshod over the rest of the National Football League.

In fact, were Facenda somehow resurrected and put behind the microphone to narrate the 2014 NFL Season, there would probably be a hint of marvel in his voice, for when he passed away in 1984 of Lung Cancer, the Patriots has a combined three playoff appearances in their 24 year history, while the Seahawks were still relative infants with two playoff appearances in their eight years.

Things change.  Times change.  Now the Patriots are about to appear in their eighth Super Bowl and the Seahawks their third, both eschewing their previous monikers of doormats and indeed entering the game as the unquestioned top two teams in the National Football League.

And how they got to this point are two amazingly similar stories, at least as far as statistics will take you.

...but so have Brandon Browner and the Patriots.

It has long been held by the Seattle media and perhaps by the team itself that the turning point in their season was a distressing loss at Kansas City in Week 11 that left the Seahawks with a mediocre 6-4 record and in second place in the tough NFC West Division, a full two games behind the Arizona Cardinals, and amazingly being counted out of the running for the division title.

The Seahawks won six straight down the stretch to finish out the season, eclipsing those fading Cardinals for the division title and eventually securing the number one seed in the conference, and have since won two home playoff games to find themselves headed to Glendale, Arizona to face a New England team that also counts a 41-14 drubbing at the hands of those same Chiefs as a turning point to their season...

...tearing off a very proper seven game winning streak after that loss and winning 10 of 11 to secure the AFC's top seed in week 16 before coasting home with a loss to the Bills on a meaningless final Sunday of the regular season.

But to properly appreciate what these teams have done to get to Super Bowl 49, one must jump inside the numbers - and what one finds there suggests that football fans around the world may just be in for the treat of a generation.

In the eight games since their loss to Kansas City, the Seahawks' offense has put up 155 points on the scoreboard, an average of 19 points per game - which is ok, because they have allowed only 78 points, a mind-blowing average of just 9.75 points per game, while during the same time period, New England's offense has amassed 213 points, or nearly 27 points per game while their defense has yielded two touchdowns per game.

So it's easy to see how both teams had success in the past two months, but those figures don't tell the entire story.

The two teams' opponents have done most of their damage on offense in the first half of games, with Seattle's foes scoring 49 points in eight games while the Patriots' nemesis' have hammered out over twice as many - which is neither here nor there for the purposes of this discussion.

Where the two teams have have shined the brightest, where these two great teams have been at their greatest is in the second half of their games, particularly in crunch time, and while the offenses remain incredibly consistent from the first half to the second, the difference in these games have come from the teams' defenses, and the numbers are staggering.

In the past eight games, the Seattle Seahawks have given up a ridiculous 29 points in the second half, 16 in the third quarter and 13 in the fourth, completely shutting out three of their foes and giving up just one touchdown, that to Carolina in the divisional round of the playoffs - they are, after all, the appropriately named "Legion of Boom".

But perhaps it's time to find a trendy nickname for the Patriots' defense because they have been even better.

In the same two month span, New England's defense has yielded but 22 second half points, 10 in the third quarter and only 12 in the fourth, shutting out four opponents, including the thrashing they gave the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship game - the only touchdown surrendered in that time frame was to Baltimore, again in the third quarter of the divisional round.

So, what are we to make of these numbers?  Well, on paper, the Patriots have a slightest of advantages, the math suggesting an 18-17 Patriots' victory - but these are just numbers and this is just paper.  When the whistle blows and play begins in what should be an epic Super Bowl, we will see what the two teams can do on grass...

...and the winner will be the one who may not be great throughout the entire game, but the one that is the greatest when they have to be.

Prelude To A Title - Part 1: Patriots' Running Game Could Resemble "Student Body Left"

"Blount is a glider who slips through holes and who is most dangerous once on the second level, where his low center of gravity and sheer mass makes him akin to a bumper in a pinball machine, defensive backs and linebackers bouncing off of him like a pinball...while Gray is pure power, a one cut downhill bruiser that picks up nearly half of his yardage after contact. Combine those two with a smaller yet more conventional passing back in Shane Vereen and the Patriots may suddenly have the best stable of running backs in the league." Foxborough Free Press, November 20, 2014

LeGarrette Blount ran through the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night like he was shot out of a cannon, sliced through them as if he was a hot knife to their butter, stomped through them like Hannibal through the Alps.

Why, even the normally demure and often-times befuddled color analyst Phil Simms committed a Freudian slip and called him Marshawn Lynch.  So does that mean that the Patriots' have some manner of "Beast Mode" happening for them right before they take on the namesake's team in the Super Bowl?

Blount and his offensive line have what it takes to dominate Seahawks

Certainly, we can all hope.  After all, it's not like the Seattle Seahawks have a trademark on it.

The New England Patriots earned the right to meet the defending champions Seahawks on Sunday night with an impressive display of power, hammering the clearly over matched Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game at Gillette Stadium by a count of 45-7 - delivering such a beat down that not even the controversy regarding supposed deflated footballs could dampen the deed.

How this translates to the Super Bowl matchup with Seattle is yet to be determined, as everything is on paper right now, but the prospect of the Patriots getting their rush on against the notorious "Legion of Boom" defense isn't quite as imposing at it may seem.  It is a well known fact that the Seahawks are the second-ranked run defense in all of football, allowing a scant 3.4 yards per carry on the season.  But, as always, there is more to the story than just the generic interpretation of that ranking.

First of all, only three teams were rushed against less than Seattle, as the Seahawks faced only 380 attempts on the season, the result being that just five teams topped 100 yards against them, those being the Chargers, Cowboys, Rams, Chiefs and 49ers, which, not coincidentally, account for all four of the losses the Seahawks absorbed on the season.

Their lone win in that scenario was the week 15 victory over San Francisco, most of that yardage due to the scrambling ability of Colin Keapernick and a 28 yard run by backup running back Carlos Hyde.

After Seattle slipped to a 6-4 record when Kansas City dropped nearly 200 rushing yards on them, the Seahawks faced an Arizona team twice, who started two different backup quarterback, a 49ers team that couldn't throw the ball to save their lives (or their season), a Philadelphia team that was working with Mark Sanchez under center and a Rams' team that was playing out the string.

Regardless of the level of competition, the Seahawks gave up a minuscule 3.1 yards per carry in those last six games, winning all and qualifying for the post-season as the NFC's number one seed.

But that's where things get interesting.

Against Carolina in the divisional round and Green Bay in the NFC Championship Game, the Seahawks surrendered 132 and 135 yards respectively, with each team running the ball 30 times a piece, an aggregate of 4.5 big yards per carry with the Panthers' Jonathan Stewart and the Packers' Eddie Lacy doing the majority of the damage.

In fact, the Seahawks opponents in their last five games overall have rushed for at least 130 yards three times, with only the 20th ranked Rams and the abysmal 31st ranked Cardinals not following suit.  The others?  The 4th ranked 49ers, 7th ranked Panthers and the 11th ranked Packers - but where does that leave the 18th ranked Patriots?

Well, the Patriots are different animal than the others in that they have proven that they can beat anyone regardless of how they are defended.  New England has perhaps the preeminent quarterback in the game in Tom Brady with a plethora of talented pass catchers to throw to and an offensive philosophy that adheres to the tried and true axiom of the Erhardt-Perkins offense, "Pass to score, run to win".

If a team devotes extra men into the coverage to try and take away the passing game, the Patriots are able to attack the lighter box that is left with 250 pound running back LeGarrette Blount - and if they load up the box to try and stop Blount, Brady shreds them over the top.  It's a recipe for success that New England has enjoyed the majority of the season...

...which should translate to the Super Bowl against the Seahawks lighter than normal - yet very quick - front seven, particularly running to the left, where the Seahawks are vulnerable to power backs going off guard.

All season, Seattle's opposition have tried the left with success to the tune of 4.4 yards per carry, running right at undersized defensive end Cliff Avril, who is backed up on the second level by weak side linebacker K. J. Wright.  Teams have even had success running right at the Seahawks' tackle tandem of Kevin Williams and Tony McDaniels, neither with the bulk that you would traditionally find in a run stuffing tackle.

And that's because the Seahawks rely on middle linebacker Bobby Wagner and strongside 'backer Bruce Irvin to stymie the run, with strong safety Cam Chancellor sneaking down into the box for run support.

Teams have not had much success running to the right at big defensive end Michael Bennett, with the aforementioned Irvin on his backside, nor are teams very successful trying to gain the corner against the speedy Seahawks.  Power football is what is required, and New England has shown a propensity to play exactly that when when there is a tactical advantage...

...and since Blount seems to enjoy running left with the nimble feet to cut back against the grain up the middle, that seems to be the tactical advantage that New England needs to gouge the Seattle defense.

And make no mistake: The Seahawks are not invincible on defense despite their cute nickname.  Just like any other unit in the league, if they are run on enough to make them respect the ground game, they can be worn down, and with Brady flinging the ball to his receivers to mix things up, it becomes a guessing game for the defense if they have to keep at least seven in the box...

...and any time that you keep a defense guessing, that affords the offensive line the advantage of an extra split second to either pull and isolate on a particular gap in the running game or to anchor themselves against the pass rush, and with how precisely Brady can sell the play action - see his touchdown pass to Nate Solder against the Colts - it allows his receivers to gain extra separation.

So there shouldn't be any question as to the recipe for taking advantage of the Seahawks' lighter-than-normal, yet extra-speedy front seven: Hammer the ball to the left and force the Seahawks to commit an extra man to the box, eventually wearing them down.

Left, left, left - lull them to sleep, then hit them down the seam or on an intermediate crosser or a wheeler to the flat - because once New England has the defense committed to stopping the run, Brady will have them right where he wants them: Chasing the play - and, indeed, the scoreboard - from behind.