Super Bowl 2015: Against the backdrop of 'deflategate', New England Patriots can puncture Seattle Seahawks

 
Star man: Brady, 37, has the experience to outwit Seattle
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Kenneth Elliott29 January 2015

The ‘Deflategate’ mystery is all about the pressure being off. The pressure’s back on in the NFL in Arizona on Sunday, and not just in the game balls.

The New England Patriots take on the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl with the Patriots under investigation by the League following allegations of ‘ball-tampering’ in the previous round, the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts.

The Patriots thumped the Colts 45-7 but it came to light that of the 12 Wilson game balls allocated to the New England sideline, 11 of them had mysteriously lost considerable pressure after the kick-off but returned to the correct psi by the end of the game.

The change in pressure is claimed to help ball handling by the team on offence but there were few complaints from the Colts’ sideline, where their balls remained at the same pressure throughout the game.

Hence Deflategate has been the main talking point in the run-up to Sunday’s showdown, eclipsing anything else to do with the game itself, with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and star quarterback Tom Brady denying any knowledge of how it may have come about.

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It was the same last year, when the Seahawks arrived in New York to subsequently squash the Denver Broncos to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy, with their preparations being overshadowed by one of their players being too pumped as opposed to under-inflated.

Cornerback Richard Sherman let rip at an opponent on national TV during a post-match interview following the Seahawks NFC Championship win over the San Francisco 49ers. It caught out the Fox Sports interviewer Erin Andrews and the rest of watching America but was more about passion than malice from a player who had just reached the pinnacle of the game. Nevertheless, his outburst dominated the run-up to the big game, as Deflategate has this year.

So, assuming a level playing field at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, come Sunday, which team will be left deflated?

The Seahawks totally dominated the Denver Broncos 43-8 to win the Super Bowl for the first time in their history in New York last February and after a slow start this year, when they were 3-3 after six games, rallied to win nine of the next 10 regular season games and two play-off rounds to get to the Super Bowl. Pete Carroll coached them to success last year and is in charge again, directing his quarterback Russell Wilson, who also picked up a Super Bowl winner’s ring in the Big Apple.

The Patriots arrived in Arizona on the back of a 12-4 regular season record and their two play-off wins, so there is little to choose between them, unless one suffers a catastrophic off day like the Broncos of 2014.

Seattle picked up some knocks in their tough 28-22 NFC Championship game win over the Green Bay Packers but have had time to heal their wounds.

The Seahawks must stop Brady connecting with tight end Rob Gronkowski, leading to yards gained and touchdowns. The Patriots have to limit running back Marshawn Lynch’s running game, forcing Wilson to throw from the pocket. But he is agile enough to move out of the pocket and find killer passes, so they will need to get to him as well as hauling down Lynch, which can often take four or five players to achieve.

The Seattle defense is hard to crack, particularly at the goal-line, as the Packers found to their cost, so Brady has to find ways of out-passing Seattle before it gets to the need to power through a pile of bodies.

Brady has played in five Super Bowls, winning three, and at a young and fit 37, has the experience to outwit Seattle, more so after they were exposed by Green Bay. Brady has the power to puncture them, let alone deflate them.

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