Picking the season-opener between Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers
The Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers kick off the 2014 NFL season Thursday night in a rematch of the infamous "Fail Mary" game. Who has the edge? Don Banks makes his pick below.
For the sake of everyone involved, I sure hope this game doesn’t come down to the Seahawks winning on a last-second controversial call in either end zone. I mean, we’d have to come up with a whole new nickname for the way it all went down, and who needs that? Let’s all keep our “Fail Mary’’ memories from that calamitous night of two years ago and leave it at that. Although I wouldn’t mind in the least if Golden Tate decides to live-tweet the game from wherever he’s watching in Detroit. That’d be fun.
Two elements about this matchup intrigue me most: how the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers-led no-huddle offense, which seems primed and ready to roll based on its preseason showing, will be handled by Seattle’s supremely confident defense; and the unleashing of a fully healthy Percy Harvin in the role of home-run threat for the Seahawks offense. I get the feeling both teams are going to give us plenty of offensive highlights to enjoy in this highly anticipated season-opener.
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Other than the recent history factor when it comes to repeating, it’s hard to argue that Seattle isn’t headed for another Super Bowl title. But it’s still far wiser to cool the wildly premature dynasty talk that surrounds these Seahawks. In times like these, I always like to recall the priceless quote by then-Packers general manager Ron Wolf, in the moments after heavily favored Green Bay was upset by Denver in Super Bowl 32, denying his club the back-to-back rings that would have signaled another Packers dynasty: “We were a one-year wonder, just a fart in the wind,’’ Wolf said, memorably.
You can’t get much more profound than that. Always the motivator, maybe Pete Carroll will even work that one into his pregame speech.
