Panthers’ Luke Kuechly predicts Seahawks win Super Bowl 2015
By Ryan Lehrman
Sticking with the defensive side of the ball, Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly forecasts the Seattle Seahawks to win Super Bowl 2015.
As the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly knows a thing or two about lights-out defense.
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The two-time Pro Bowler led the league in tackles his rookie year, won the Associated Press 2012 Defensive Rookie of the Year and became the youngest recipient of the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year award.
In a recent FanSided interview sponsored by the DICK’s Sporting Goods Jersey Report, Kuechly said he’d pick the Seattle Seahawks to top the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX.
“I’m a defensive guy and I think Seattle’s defense is playing extremely well right now, so I think they got the nod from me,” Kuechly said.
Although the “defense wins championships” motto has been widely disputed, Kuechly is sticking with the Legion of Boom and the rest of Seattle’s hard-hitting D.
Sunday’s Super Bowl will be a beautiful ying-yang matchup: Tom Brady’s elite vertical passing-game offense against a hard-hitting, stingy defense.
Bolstered by cornerbacks Richard Sherman — despite being on baby watch — Byron Maxwell, and safeties Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor, the Seahawks have led the league in scoring defense. Not to mention, they have the fewest points allowed (15.9 per game) and yards allowed (4,274, 267.1 per game). And you can bet Kuechly will be particularly zeroed in on his linebacker counterpart, Bobby Wagner, who has 104 tackles and two sacks in the 2014 season.
However, the Panthers defensive star said you can never rule out Tom Brady.
“Anytime you have Tom Brady as your quarterback — and the Patriots that have been there before — I think they got a legit shot.”
This will be Brady’s sixth trip to the Super Bowl and, should the Pats take the cake once again, it’ll be the quarterback’s fourth ring.
While Keuchly is siding with the Seahawks this weekend, he’ll certainly have something to say about defensive end Michael Bennett’s claim that Seattle is now home to the best defense “ever to play football.”
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Carolina Panthers’ Luke Kuechly ranked third in jersey sales for the season and was the only defensive player in the top 25. The Panthers were third in jersey sales overall and were the most popular jersey in team sales in Hawaii.
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