The Super Bowl Will End One of Three Ways

We got like 10 minutes left.

Uh, give me, we're gonna do 5 minutes on each team.

How?

They can win the Super Bowl.

What kind of game needs to take place for both of these teams to win the Super Bowl?

And we'll start with New England, Albert.

I think we watched, um, At least the attempted formula set up in, uh, in that game in Denver before the weather.

They wanted to be able to take Drake May out of situations where he was in 3rd and forever because you put Drake May in 3rd and forever, he's gonna get sacked.

That offensive line just can't, it, it can't hold up right now.

It's not good enough to, to, it was during the season when you're playing lesser pass rush now.

You're seeing teams attack it like in different ways, and Seattle will, Seattle is gonna throw a lot of ball.

There's gonna be a lot of different looks, you know, Mike McDonald, you know this, Mike McDonald is going to constantly change the picture on, on him, yeah, I mean, this is gonna be a huge, by the way, have you seen the graphic?

It's just so funny, and I have to read it, um, that speaking of the Patriots schedule, so, um.

Here are their opponents, uh, in just kind of a different context, OK.

Uh, week 1 versus a fired, a coach who's been fired.

Week 2 versus a coach who's been fired.

Week 3 versus a coach who's been fired.

Week 4 versus a team from the NFC South.

Week 5 versus a coach who's been fired.

Week 6 versus a team from the NFC South.

Week 789.

Fired coaches.

Week 10, NFC South.

Week 11, Jets.

Week 12, Bengals without Joe Burrow.

Weeks 1314, 15, fired head coaches.

Week 17, Jets, week 18 , fired head coach.

What a run.

Um, anyway, this team has more than proven that they're more than the schedule.

I'm not saying that, but I just thought that was hilarious.

Um, but we saw in Denver that they're just trying to keep Drake out of 3rd and long.

A lot of inside zone stuff, a lot of, they were just trying to get.

That running game moving against the Broncos, and that was a struggle, but it was a struggle for both teams.

And I think in an ideal world, this Patriots game is like a 20 to 14.

It's a, it's, it's a really muddy affair where, you know, maybe, Maybe some Darnold turnovers.

We get the bad Arnold game and we can just kind of control the clock.

The Patriots, so I think there are really a couple of things here, like , so I think they have to run the ball well.

Like I think, and, and maybe that's self-explanatory, but the Seahawks, if there's one crack there, it's interesting.

I kind of, I look back at this, right?

So, both the, both the teams that they played against thus far in the playoffs have gone over 100 yards rushing.

Now, the Niners is a little bit more cause that game was out of hand so fast, you know.

And to some degree, like the quarterbacks made plays with their legs in those games, right?

So, you had Brock Purdy, he rushed for 37 yards on 5 carries.

Stafford had the, the 4th and 1 run where he really gutted it out.

He had a 13-yard run, he never runs, and he had a 13-yard run.

Um, and the Patriots have made it happen to some degree with Drake May, you know, as a runner in the playoffs too.

So, I think they're gonna have to be able to make plays on the ground both conventionally and off schedule, um, because that'll help manage those, those longer down and distance situations.

And this is gonna sound simple, but The Patriots are a really good defense when they're in 3rd and long.

The Seahawks, for one reason or another on offense, haven't been great on 3rd and long.

And so, you know, I think, you know, finding a way to get the Seahawks off schedule is gonna be really important.

And I, the one thing I, I look at like the Seahawks' roster is so well balanced, and, you know, across the board there are just aren't holes except for in the interior of the offensive line, right.

And so I like where you're going with this.

Yeah, so I, I like look at their offensive line.

So Grace's Abel has been phenomenal, all pro at, at, at left guard.

Alan Bradford and, and Sundell at center, uh like that to me is like where I'd be a little worried if I were the Seahawks, cause the Patriots have Christian Barmore, Milton Williams, Kyris Tonga, and so like I think it's the interior of the pass rush pushing the pocket and that happening on 3rd and long when you're not doing everything off of play action, you know, and so, um, I think that's sort of what it is, is like for the Patriots, it's, it's running the ball effectively to create the sort of game you're talking about, right, muddy it up and create the sort of game you're talking about.

And then it's gonna be, uh, I think, finding a way to exploit the matchup on the interior there by putting the by, by knocking the Seahawks off schedule.

Yeah, I, I mean, this is going to be such a game for uh Christian Barmore, for Milton Williams, um, you know, and they had, they got such a performance out of that interior defensive line against Denver, and they were able to make just a couple massive plays that completely changed the, that completely changed everything, right?

And I think that that needs to, you know, it's like, it's hard to say, OK, do this again.

But when you're facing a Shanahan style system, the one thing that does really eff up the rhythm and the timing of everything is interior pressure, right?

And so, can you have the Milton Williams game of his life, the Christian Barmore game of his life in the Super Bowl?

Like, let's say they're running outside zone, 2nd and.

5 on the first drive, and then one of them just gets through early and causes a fumble and all of a sudden, the Seahawks lose their first possession and this goes from a surefire blowout to, whoa, let's wait and see what happens.

Um, because the flip side of this, Albert, is obviously, I just see more paths to victory for Seattle, right?

I don't think that's a that's a controversial, yeah, uh, I don't think that that's a controversial thing.

I know I said this on Tuesday.

I sort of feel this way like I.

I think there are 3 possible outcomes here.

Patriots went close, Seahawks went close, Seahawks blow out.

OK, yeah, I could see that.

I don't think it'll be a Patriots blowout.

I think the other three are possibilities, and like, I I, I, I just like I, I, I don't think we, you know, when we did talk about this earlier in the weeks, we don't need to go too in depth into it, but like I do think that there's a possibility that this is the game where we find out just how good they are, you know, we've been playing in that division and they beat the Rams twice and they beat the crap out of the Niners in the divisional round and like you just look at the amount of young players and the talent they have, right?

Like and I just I, I, I really think that Seahawks roster is, you know, we, we talked about this in the summer, right?

I went back and I looked at some of the stuff I wrote in the summer and um I, the one thing I, I, I, I, I did, that, that, that I, that I could remember vividly was telling a lot of people like that I, I was grouping the Packers and Seahawks together, right?

And my, my premise there was they both have a lot of very good players.

This is before the Packers traded for Parsons, right?

So, they both have a lot of very good young players, and what's gonna really make the difference for them is whether or not those very good young players can become great players.

If they all become great players, this team could be really good.

And I remember saying that over the summer, and what happened.

great tackles in football.

Byron Murphy's evolving into a great player.

Devin Witherspoon's a great player.

Nicky Minwari, Grace Zel, home runs with their first two draft picks, right?

So like I, I look at it like this is like, yes, it's about Sam Darnold, but it's also about like this amount of young players on their roster that elevated all at once.

And I mean JSN was a really good player in 2024, right.

But I don't know that anybody thought he'd be the best receiver in football.

Kenneth Walker, really good player.

He's been dynamite in the playoffs, you know, dynamite, and like, and, and such a good big game player.

So like I just kind of like look at them across the board.

It's like.

Are we maybe missing the boat the same way where we were, we were on the 13 Seahawks, where the, those Seahawks beat a 49ers team that had been in the Super Bowl, um, that, um, the year before, right?

And then a 49ers team, and that was a war like in the 13 NFC championship game.

The Seahawks finally get it done, they get over the hump, they beat the 49ers, and then it was like punch the gas and go.

Is that the same thing that's happening now?

Yeah, I mean, I think that's, I, I, I think that's totally realistic.

I mean, the team is built that way.

I think it makes sense.

And again, it's, it, you know, I hope I'm wrong.

Um, for Patriots fans who've been upset with me, I've picked against them literally every single week of the playoffs.

Patriots fans who've had, who've had to wait so long.

To be on the stage.

I know this is tough for them.

Everything they've been through, yeah, I know they haven't gotten a chance to be a haughty asshole in what, 4 years, and, uh, so you're a sports radio host here who I love.

Mike Felger is his name.

I you're familiar with Felger, right?

Of course, yeah, yeah.

So Mike Felger made the comment last week.

It's like, The country, he's like, he, he said, he's like, this is a very likable Patriots team.

He's, you know, talking to the audience.

He goes, they don't hate that, they don't hate the team.

The rest of the country doesn't hate the team, they hate you.