Super Bowl XLIX: Pats-Hawks will be one for the ages
Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday, Feb. 1 in Arizona has the makings of a championship bout with the winner properly setting their legacy in NFL history.
Russell Wilson was just 13 years old when Tom Brady led the Patriots past the St. Louis Rams on his first of three game-winning Super Bowl drives in 2001. Wilson was about 16 when the Patriots won their third title in four years in 2004, establishing their dynasty.
In two weeks, Wilson will have the opportunity to do what Brady did when he was in his early-mid 20’s: help continue a legacy. And the best way to do that is to defeat the old dynasty, head-to-head, on the gridiron, with the world watching, for the Lombardi trophy.
Talk about spotlight right?
But if there’s any two quarterbacks who were made for this kind of spotlight, it these two original non-first round picks.
Wilson and the Seattle offense had the worst day on the field at the worst time possible for 57 minutes. However, as the football gods would have it, fate again proved that it loves the fearless.
Down 19-7 with less than three minutes left, Wilson led a pair of touchdown drives in 44 seconds, supported by Marshawn Lynch’s 157 yard game. Wilson was picked off four times in the game, all while trying to throw to wide receiver Jermaine Kearse and after Seattle won the coin toss in overtime, he threw a 35-yard touchdown to Kearse on a skinny post to seal the improbable, walk-off 28-22 win.
Kearse beat Packers corner Tramon Williams on an inside break off of the snap to get open for the game-winner.
“If we’re going to go down, I’m going to go down swinging,” the third-year Seahawks quarterback said after the game.
Meanwhile on the other side of the country, Tom Brady and the Patriots made easy work over the Indianapolis Colts, taking down Luck and company 45-7 in the AFC title game nightcap to head to their sixth Super Bowl in the Brady-Belichick era.
The Pats beat the Colts so bad that backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppollo came into action with just under three minutes left.
Brady didn’t just beat the Colts on Sunday night in Foxboro, he did so in historic fashion. His Super Bowl berth put Brady ahead of John Elway for most Super Bowls by a quarterback and tied him with defensive lineman Mike Lodish for most by any player. Brady also surpassed Peyton Manning as the all-time leading passer in the postseason, eclipsing Peyton’s 6,800 yards in January.
While one had a near-perfect day and the other had the equivalent of a smooth night, both are on the verge to face each other for just the second time.
Both Brady and Wilson went head-to-head in October 2012, Wilson’s rookie year, with Seattle winning 24-23 as Wilson orchestrated a 14-point rally, capping the comeback win with a 46 yard touchdown pass to Sidney Rice with 1:27 left and properly prompting Richard Sherman to get in Tom Brady’s face.
While the Seahawks come in on a Super Bowl hot streak, winning it all last year, the Pats haven’t won it all since 2004 and haven’t been to the Super Bowl since the 2011 season where they lost (again) to the New York Giants at the Lucas Oil Superdome in Indianapolis. If it counts for anything, they lost their first Super Bowl of their dynasty to the Giants at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, the site of Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday.
Former Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes was kind to remind the Pats of their recent past.
The Pats have learned to celebrate the hell out of those AFC Championships because the know what comes 2 weeks later. #0-2inGlendale
— Lawrence Tynes (@lt4kicks) January 19, 2015
Seattle is looking to win back-to-back titles for the first time since the Patriots did it in 2003-04 and a win over New England could be the passing of the torch of sort between Brady and the Pats and Wilson and the Hawks.
Both quarterbacks come into Sunday’s big game with many similarities if you think about it: Neither quarterback was drafted in the first round, neither were thought to be good enough both physically and mentally and neither were expected to even be starters ever in the NFL. Brady replaced the beloved Drew Bledsoe in 2001 while Wilson “stole” the job from both Matt Flynn (who thought he was starter material) and Tavaris Jackson (who knows he’s not starter material but gave it a shot anyway).
Both Seattle and New England come into Super Bowl XLIX at different points in their franchise timeline. While Wilson, 25, and Seattle are at the beginning of their legacy and possible dynasty run, Brady, 37, and the Patriots are coming toward the possible end of their run.
When Super Bowl XLIX kicks off on Feb. 1, it will be 60 minutes of “the old vs. the new,” past vs. present, one team looking for the perfect ending with one team looking to continue theirs. It could also serve as a passing of the torch per say if Seattle can pull off the win.
The big game could be the biggest game of our time — perfect.