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Russell Wilson Tom BradySeattle Seahawks New England Patriots

Super Bowl XLIXSuper Bowl XLIX

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NO. NAME POS. HT. WT. AGE EXP. COLLEGE56 Avril, Cliff DE 6-3 260 28 7 Purdue78 Bailey, Alvin T 6-3 320 23 2 Arkansas89 Baldwin, Doug WR 5-10 189 26 4 Stanford72 Bennett, Michael DE 6-4 274 29 6 Texas A&M68 Britt, Justin T 6-6 325 23 R Missouri28 Burley, Marcus DB 5-11 185 24 2 Delaware77 Carpenter, James G 6-5 321 25 4 Alabama31 Chancellor, Kam SS 6-3 232 26 5 Virginia Tech67 Cohen, Landon DT 6-1 290 28 6 Ohio U.52 Coyle, Brock LB 6-1 243 24 R Montana5 Daniels, B.J. QB 5-11 217 25 2 South Florida95 Dobbs, Demarcus DE 6-2 282 27 4 Georgia79 Gilliam, Garry T 6-6 306 24 R Penn State49 Gresham, Clint LS 6-3 240 28 5 Texas Christian4 Hauschka, Steven K 6-4 210 29 7 North Carolina State84 Helfet, Cooper TE 6-4 240 25 3 Duke51 Irvin, Bruce LB 6-3 248 27 3 West Virginia7 Jackson, Tarvaris QB 6-2 225 31 9 Alabama State61 Jeanpierre, Lemuel OL 6-3 301 27 5 South Carolina23 Johnson, Jeron SS 5-10 212 26 4 Boise State15 Kearse, Jermaine WR 6-1 209 24 3 Washington70 King, David DE 6-4 281 25 2 Oklahoma20 Lane, Jeremy CB 6-0 190 24 3 N’western State (La.)65 Lewis, Patrick C 6-1 311 23 2 Texas A&M83 Lockette, Ricardo WR 6-2 211 28 4 Fort Valley State24 Lynch, Marshawn RB 5-11 215 28 8 California13 Matthews, Chris WR 6-5 218 25 1 Kentucky41 Maxwell, Byron CB 6-1 207 26 4 Clemson99 McDaniel, Tony DT 6-7 305 30 9 Tennessee33 Michael, Christine RB 5-10 221 24 2 Texas A&M66 Milton, Keavon OL 6-4 293 24 2 Louisiana-Monroe88 Moeaki, Tony TE 6-3 252 27 5 Iowa57 Morgan, Mike LB 6-3 226 27 4 USC81 Norwood, Kevin WR 6-2 199 25 R Alabama76 Okung, Russell T 6-5 310 26 5 Oklahoma State9 Ryan, Jon P 6-0 217 33 9 Regina93 Schofield, O’Brien DE 6-3 260 27 5 Wisconsin35 Shead, DeShawn CB 6-2 220 26 3 Portland State25 Sherman, Richard CB 6-3 195 26 4 Stanford27 Simon, Tharold CB 6-3 202 23 2 LSU53 Smith, Malcolm LB 6-0 226 25 4 USC64 Sweezy, J.R. G 6-5 298 25 3 North Carolina State26 Terrell, Steven FS 5-10 197 24 2 Texas A&M29 Thomas, Earl FS 5-10 202 25 5 Texas46 Tukuafu, Will FB 6-4 280 31 4 Oregon22 Turbin, Robert RB 5-10 222 25 3 Utah State60 Unger, Max C 6-5 305 28 6 Oregon54 Wagner, Bobby LB 6-0 241 24 3 Utah State19 Walters, Bryan WR 6-0 190 27 5 Cornell94 Williams, Kevin DT 6-5 311 34 12 Oklahoma State82 Willson, Luke TE 6-5 252 25 2 Rice3 Wilson, Russell QB 5-11 206 26 3 Wisconsin50 Wright, K.J. LB 6-4 246 25 4 Mississippi State

NO. NAME POS. HT. WT. AGE EXP. COLLEGE48 Aiken, Danny LS 6-4 255 26 4 Virginia6 Allen, Ryan P 6-2 215 24 2 Louisiana Tech80 Amendola, Danny WR 5-11 195 29 6 Texas Tech25 Arrington, Kyle CB 5-10 190 28 6 Hofstra55 Ayers, Akeem OLB 6-3 255 25 4 UCLA29 Blount, LeGarrette RB 6-0 250 28 5 Oregon38 Bolden, Brandon RB 5-11 220 24 3 Mississippi82 Boyce, Josh WR 5-11 205 23 2 Texas Christian12 Brady, Tom QB 6-4 225 37 15 Michigan97 Branch, Alan DL 6-6 325 30 8 Michigan39 Browner, Brandon CB 6-4 221 30 5 Oregon State21 Butler, Malcolm CB 5-11 190 24 R West Alabama61 Cannon, Marcus OL 6-5 335 26 4 Texas Christian52 Casillas, Jonathan LB 6-1 227 27 6 Wisconsin23 Chung, Patrick S 5-11 210 27 6 Oregon91 Collins, Jamie LB 6-3 250 25 2 Southern Mississippi63 Connolly, Dan OL 6-4 305 32 9 SE Missouri State46 Develin, James FB 6-3 255 26 2 Brown65 Devey, Jordan T 6-6 317 27 1 Memphis43 Ebner, Nate DB 6-0 210 26 3 Ohio State11 Edelman, Julian WR 5-10 200 28 6 Kent State71 Fleming, Cameron OL 6-6 325 22 R Stanford58 Fleming, Darius LB 6-2 255 25 3 Notre Dame10 Garoppolo, Jimmy QB 6-2 225 23 R Eastern Illinois3 Gostkowski, Stephen K 6-1 215 30 9 Memphis35 Gray, Jonas RB 5-10 230 24 1 Notre Dame87 Gronkowski, Rob TE 6-6 265 25 5 Arizona30 Harmon, Duron DB 6-1 205 23 2 Rutgers54 Hightower, Dont’a LB 6-3 270 24 3 Alabama47 Hoomanawanui, M. TE 6-4 260 26 5 Illinois95 Jones, Chandler DE 6-5 265 24 3 Syracuse94 Jones, Chris DT 6-1 309 24 2 Bowling Green State67 Kline, Josh OL 6-3 295 25 2 Kent State19 LaFell, Brandon WR 6-3 210 28 5 LSU32 McCourty, Devin DB 5-10 195 27 5 Rutgers90 Moore, Zach DL 6-6 275 24 R Concordia (Minn.)50 Ninkovich, Rob DE 6-2 260 30 9 Purdue24 Revis, Darrelle CB 5-11 198 29 8 Pittsburgh26 Ryan, Logan CB 5-11 195 23 2 Rutgers96 Siliga, Sealver DT 6-2 325 24 3 Utah18 Slater, Matthew WR 6-0 210 29 7 UCLA77 Solder, Nate T 6-8 320 26 4 Colorado66 Stork, Bryan OL 6-4 310 24 R Florida State84 Tyms, Brian WR 6-3 204 25 2 Florida A&M72 Vellano, Joe DL 6-2 300 26 2 Maryland34 Vereen, Shane RB 5-10 205 25 4 California76 Vollmer, Sebastian T 6-8 320 30 6 Houston62 Wendell, Ryan OL 6-2 300 28 6 Fresno State59 White, Chris LB 6-3 238 26 4 Mississippi State28 White, James RB 5-10 205 22 R Wisconsin75 Wilfork, Vince DL 6-2 325 33 11 Miami (Fla.)27 Wilson, Tavon DB 6-0 215 24 3 Illinois81 Wright, Tim TE 6-4 235 24 2 Rutgers

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JANUARY 28 AND 30, 2015 3PENINSULA DAILY NEWS and SEQUIM GAZETTE Duel in the DesertDuel in the Desert

Great matchup Sunday, broMany storylines make Seahawks-Patriots pairing a pick ’em

BY GREGG BELLMCCLATCHY NEWS SERVICE

This Seahawks-Patriots Super Bowl pairing fits in almost as many storylines

as Richard Sherman has insightful/clever/inflammatory/entertaining quotes.

Wait, you don’t agree?What, “You mad, bro?”That’s what Sherman directed

at New England quarterback Tom Brady on Oct. 14, 2012, after Seattle rallied from being down 23-10 with 8 minutes left.

Two touchdown passes from a rookie third-round draft choice named Russell Wilson beat Brady and the AFC-champion Patriots, 24-23, in a Northwest downpour.

That’s the last time these teams met heading into Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday.

But wait, there’s more. Much more:

■ The NFL finding the Patriots left 11 of 12 footballs they used in the rain during last week’s AFC championship game illegally under-inflated, appar-ently for better gripping and throwing, according to an ESPN report Jan. 20.

■ There are the Seahawks trying to become the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls since . . . the 2003-04 Patriots.

■ Pete Carroll having coached the Patriots from 1997-99 to 10-6, 9-7 and 8-8 seasons; in the first two he reached the playoffs.

He and happy hoodie man Bill Belichick are the only two head coaches New England owner and influential NFL power broker Robert Kraft has hired.

And they are the two most polar-opposite coaching personas in the sport, maybe any sport.

“It was a real challenge. It’s a great place to be in sports — a great town, a great following, much like it is here,” Carroll said in Seattle last week of his time in and around Boston leading the Patriots.

“Just tremendous support and all, really heartfelt.

“It didn’t work out. We did some good stuff while we were there, but it didn’t work out. And time to move on.

“All of a sudden I sound like Bill [Belichick].”

Belichick, by the way, is 61. That’s two years younger than Carroll.

■ Wilson is attempting to equal Brady’s torrent of success so soon.

This result could signal some-thing of a changing of the NFL championship-QB guard.

Wilson, 26, is trying to join the now-37-year-old Brady in win-ning two Super Bowls in his first three seasons as a starting quar-terback.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman asked an irked New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, “You mad, bro?” after the Seahawks’ won in 2012.

IntroductionIntroduction

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

■ Wilson becoming the first quarterback to start two Super Bowls in his first three years in the league.

■ Revisiting Sherman’s feud with New England’s Darrelle Revis over who is the best NFL cornerback.

That included this tweet from Sherman in February 2013: “So I have 8 picks 3 ff and a sack. My season stats looking like Revis career stats.”

■ Doug Baldwin having an international media contingent at which to spew a rant — rather than the mere national one that got an expletive-dotted earful about writing off and otherwise disrespecting the Seahawks before and during last week’s miraculous NFC championship game.

■ And we haven’t even men-tioned Sherman having an elbow injury that left him unable to raise his arm throughout the NFC championship game’s fourth quarter.

Or fellow Seahawks All-Pro safety Earl Thomas having his left shoulder separated from its socket during the win over the Packers.

Or the keys to how Seattle or New England can win what many Nevada oddsmakers were calling a “pick ’em” Super Bowl after the conference champion-ship games.

(The Super Bowl has never kicked off as a “pick ’em” game — that being for recreational pur-poses only, of course).

Sherman has been asked about beefing on Brady in his previous, and only, 2012 meeting with the Patriots a time or three

over the past few weeks.What does Carroll remember

about that previous game against New England?

“It was raining really hard. It was raining really hard. Tom Brady and somebody were yell-ing back and forth a little bit,” Carroll said, coyly.

“Everybody was into it. It was a huge game. It felt like a cham-pionship game against a great team.”

It was Wilson’s sixth career start — and the beginning of his reputation as a clutch rally maker.

His 46-yard pass to Sidney Rice with 1:18 left won it. Wilson was 16 for 27 for 293 yards pass-ing and a 133.7 passer rating that day.

Brady was 36 of 58 for 395 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions and a passer rating of 79.3.

Bobby Wagner had 14 tackles while Thomas and Sherman had the interceptions of Brady in what became Seattle’s 11-5 regu-lar season, before a wild-card playoff win at Washington and then a last-second divisional-round loss at Atlanta.

That game with the Patriots was the day Sherman began get-ting noticed nationally for what he says as much as how he plays.

He jawed with Brady during the game.

Brady’s retort: looking at the scoreboard while leading 23-10 early in the fourth quarter.

After Seattle rallied to win, Sherman thrust his mug at Brady, who was walking off Century Link Field with his head and eyes straight ahead toward the tunnel and the Patriots’ locker room.

Soon after, Sherman tweeted a picture of him getting into Brady’s face postgame with the now famous “U MAD BRO?” that became a national catchphrase.

“Every TV timeout, I went up and said it right to [Brady], ‘Please keep trying me. I’m going to take it from you.’ That was when they were winning,” Sher-man said in editions of The News Tribune of Tacoma the next day.

“He just gave me that look and said, ‘Oh, I’ll see you after the game.’ Well, I made sure I saw him after the game.”

Chances are, Sherman’s rheto-ric before this Super Bowl won’t be nearly as heated as it was fol-lowing that previous meeting with Brady and the Patriots.

And if it isn’t, will you be mad, bro?

Pairing: Classic matchup for Sunday’s game

WHAT A BALL!WHAT A BALL!Seattle Seahawks’ Jermaine

Kearse celebrates by throwing the football into the stands after catching the game-winning touchdown during overtime of the NFC championship game at CenturyLink Field on Jan 18.

Far right, Izaiah Alonzo of Port Angeles holds the ball thrown by Kearse. A Monroe man who had caught the ball in front of Izaiah and his grandfather, Tom Foley, at right, let the boy hold the ball for this photo.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DENISE FOLEY

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BY JOHN BOYLE

THE [EVERETT] DAILY HERALD

One of Russell Wilson’s favorite cliches, and there are many, is that he tries

to be the calm in the storm.That has been a focus of his

for so long that, when asked if he could every think of a time when the moment was too big for him — perhaps in high school or col-lege — the Seattle Seahawks quarterback was at a loss to

come up with a single example.“I hope not,” Wilson said. “I

can’t really remember.”And while that is a really bor-

ing answer, it’s also a rather tell-ing one about what has made Wilson so impressive through three seasons, and during this time of year in particular.

“When you’re in those moments, you either live for them or you fall off,” Wilson said. “And for me, I look forward to those moments. I visualize myself ever since I was a little kid to be in these moments. I’ve visualized it being fourth-and-7 and visualized third downs and red zones.”

While the thought of a grade-school-aged Wilson picturing a random third-down situation sounds a little funny, whatever he did to get himself to this point allows him to be at his best when the stage is its biggest.

While Wilson has played incredibly well throughout his three-year career, he has been even better in big moments.

Following Seattle’s win over Carolina in the divisional round, Wilson said, “Sometimes, I think I’m meant for these situations.”

That would sound rather braggadocios if not for the fact that it’s also rather accurate.

“Like great competitors, these opportunities really bring out his

best,” Carroll said. “He has great habits and they come together.”

Ever since Wilson led come-backs in his first two playoff games as a rookie, a victory in Washington followed by a loss in Atlanta, it has been clear that he possesses whatever intangibles

lead to an athlete being described as clutch.

There are some who argue that there’s no such thing as a “clutch gene” or whatever you want to call it, but Wilson’s post-season success seems to indicate otherwise.

“I think that’s something that I tried to pride myself on,” Wilson said.

“I think any great player has to be clutch . . . You can’t shy away from those moments.”

Russell Wilson’s visualizationsSeahawks’ dangerous quarterback covets clutch moments

Cover StoryCover Story


Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson celebrates a victory over the then-division-leading Arizona Cardinals in November.

TURN TO WILSON/6

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And what might be more sig-nificant for Seattle’s offense heading into Sunday’s game isn’t what Wilson has done in past playoff games, but what he has been doing over the past six or seven games.

With the Seahawks putting an increased emphasis on the quick passing game, Wilson has, more than ever, been deadly as a quarterback who can make a pre-snap read, find a mismatch to exploit, then make a quick throw for a big play.

Wilson’s ability to buy time with his legs and connect on a big play when coverage breaks down will always be a big part of his game, but recently he is becoming a more complete pocket passer.

“I think he’s in a growth spurt again,” said offensive line coach/assistant head coach Tom Cable.

“Just his command of protec-tions and putting people in the right place, using his hots the right way.”

One example of Wilson’s improved use of his hot reads came against the Panthers ear-lier this month.

Russell noticed Carolina bringing pressure, which would require a quick throw, but would also leave Baldwin one-on-one with a safety in the middle of the field.

With pressure bearing down on him, Wilson quickly floated a high pass into the middle of the

end zone that left his hand while Baldwin was still at the 10-yard line.

It was a throw that took anticipation, and trust, which have become bigger parts of Seattle’s passing game this sea-son.

It’s a throw Wilson might not have made earlier in his career, or one he would have felt the need to buy more time in order to make.

“I think he does [make that throw in the past], but I think it comes out a little bit later. I think he wants to see it more sometimes, but he’s grown in the aspect where he just lets it go,” Baldwin said.

“He trusts the guys around him, trusts his offensive line that they’re going to hold it up for him, the tight end, that they’re going to make their adjustment.

“And obviously he trusted me to throw the ball up well before I got to my break and trusted me to make the play.

“So I would say he would have made that throw, but not as con-sistently as he’s been making it this year.”

Consistency added to clutch? That sounds like a dangerous

combination for a quarterback who has already put himself in heady company when it comes to postseason play.

Russell Carrington WilsonRUSSELL WILSON WAS selected by the Seahawks with

the 12th pick in the third round of the 2012 NFL draft.

Born: Nov. 29, 1988 (age 26), Cincinnati, Ohio

Education: University of Wisconsin-Madison (2011-2012)

Parents: Harrison Wilson III (deceased), Tammy T. Wilson

Game Cmp% Yds TDs Int RatingPlayoffs1/18 vs. Packers 48.3 209 1 4 44.31/10 vs. Panthers 68.2 268 3 0 149.2

Regular Season 63.1 3,475 20 7 95.0

Career (2012-2014) 63.4 9,950 72 26 98.6

Wilson: Clutch play leads to quarterback consistency

New England Patriots vs. Seattle Seahawks

AP

OFFENSE

PLAY SELECTION

DEFENSE

SCORING

Regular season Postseason Regular season Postseason

PASS RUSH PASS RUSH

58.2 41.8 61.9 38.1

First downs

Postseason

Postseason

Postseason

Total yards Passing

Yards allowed 344.1Passing

Passing Penalty

Points for

Points allowed

Points for

Points allowed

Postseason

37

4

239.8 104.3

209.0

29.2

19.6

40.0

19.0

109.5

314.0 95.5

96 228

18

35

257.6 107.9

First downs

Postseason

Postseason

Postseason

Total yards Passing

Yards allowed 267.1Passing

Passing Penalty

Points for

Points allowed

Points for

Points allowed

Postseason

15.9

15.9

15 20

1

185.6

200.5

24.6

29.5

203.1

225.5

144

172.6

147.0

160 24

81.5

133.5

53.6 54.846.4 45.2

PASS RUSH PASS RUSH

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BY WILLIAM C. RHODENTHE NEW YORK TIMES

Before Muhammad Ali fought the imposing George Foreman in their

Rumble in the Jungle in 1974, one of Ali’s trainers told him that there comes a point in every champion’s life when he has to go into the lion’s den and snatch the meat from the lion’s jaw.

Ali upset Foreman, regaining the heavyweight title and secur-ing his legend as one of the greatest champions of all time.

On Jan. 18, Andrew Luck faced a similar challenge.

The lion’s den was Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., and the lion was Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

Unfortunately for Luck, he and his Indianapolis Colts were devoured once again.

It was a humbling end for Luck and the Colts, who won 11 games in the regular season and two more in the playoffs but lost 45-7.

Afterward, down a corridor near the Colts’ locker room, Luck huddled with his father, Oliver, who tried to help his son put the defeat in perspective.

After father and son said their goodbyes, I asked Oliver Luck what he had been thinking as he watched the game slip away.

Luck smiled. His son had just dropped to 0-4 in his career against Brady and Patriots coach Bill Belichick.

A few hours earlier, Luck had caught the end of the breathtak-ing NFC championship game in Seattle.

He had seen Russell Wilson, Seattle’s young quarterback, pick

himself and his team up off the canvas and deliver a knockout blow against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

Wilson was a member of the illustrious quarterback class of 2012, along with Luck and Rob-ert Griffin III.

In the years since, the order — in terms of reverence — had always been Luck, who had been the first pick that year, and then Griffin, the No. 2 choice.

Wilson, taken in the third round, was actually the sixth quarterback drafted, long after players like Brandon Weeden and Brock Osweiler.

After an award-winning rookie year in Washington, D.C., ended in injury and a playoff loss, Griffin has endured two nightmarish seasons.

In that time, Luck and Wilson have risen above the other picks from 2012.

Luck, who stepped seamlessly into Peyton Manning’s shoes with the Colts, has generally been regarded more highly than Wilson, who has been marginal-ized as a game manager blessed with a great team around him.

Even after Wilson led Seattle to a Super Bowl victory last year in his second season, he was rarely mentioned in the discus-sion of the league’s so-called elite quarterbacks.

The Jan. 18 performance — forgettable for 58 minutes and then flawless when it mattered most — may not change that, since most observers are likely to point out that Green Bay

defeated itself.So it goes.It has become a matter of

course for experts discussing the hierarchy of NFL quarterbacks to draw up a list with some order-ing of Brady, Manning, Rodgers, Drew Brees and Philip Rivers.

Luck, who plays half of his games under a dome in ideal con-ditions, is routinely acknowl-edged as the prince in waiting.

But if Luck is the prince, what does that make Wilson?

Wilson has as many Super Bowl rings as anyone on the above list except Brady.

Wilson is also 10-0 against Super Bowl-winning quarter-backs: 3-0 against Rodgers; 2-0 against Brees and both Eli and Peyton Manning; and 1-0 against Brady.

Why has it been so difficult to change the Russell Wilson narra-tive? Is it because, at 5 feet 11, he is considered small for the position?

Are his achievements all over-shadowed by the Seahawks’ out-standing defense?

Or is it perhaps because — even in 2015 — experts still find it difficult to shower an under-size African-American quarter-

back with the heroic, Paul Bun-yan-type accolades long reserved for traditional drop-back passers like Brady and Manning and, lately, Luck?

Wilson, who led all passers in rushing yardage this season, is marginalized as a running quar-terback, even though in Seattle’s offense he often looks to pass first, and his well-timed runs usually emerge from that.

On Jan. 18, Wilson’s day started a lot like Luck’s. In fact, it might have been worse.

While Luck has shown a ten-dency to throw interceptions (he had 16 in the regular season), Wilson (who had only seven) has not. Yet he had three in the first half against the Packers and four overall.

While New England pum-meled the Colts with simple arithmetic, Green Bay forced Wil-son to take a succession of calcu-lus quizzes by dropping seven and sometimes eight defenders in coverage.

For most of the afternoon, Wil-son flunked those tests, but — unlike Luck — he was fortunate to have a defense that kept the game close.

All comebacks require a bit of

luck and a sub-stantial amount of help from the oppo-nent. Wilson and Seattle received both.

He cut into the deficit first with a 1-yard touchdown run.

Then he got a boost when

Green Bay, in quick succession, failed to field an onside kick; allowed a long touchdown run by Marshawn Lynch; and then failed to stop a 2-point conver-sion on a pass that could have been intercepted.

Seattle then won the overtime coin toss — that’s the luck — and Wilson soon hit Jermaine Kearse for a 35-yard touchdown that sent Seattle back to the Super Bowl.

In doing so, Wilson separated himself from contemporaries like Luck. He had found a way to snatch the meat from the lion’s jaw.

For all the comparisons to Luck, Wilson has more in com-mon with Brady.

Both were second-level draft picks who had to prove them-selves. Each has the gift of lead-ership and a knack for making the right decision at the right time.

When it comes to collecting Super Bowl rings, Wilson has pulled even with the likes of Brees and Rodgers.

He can close the gap on Brady this Sunday.

________William C. Rhoden is an award-winning

sports columnist for The New York Times.

Wilson goes to the head of the Class of 2012CommentaryCommentary

Russell Wilson is 10-0 against these Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks, from left: Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning — and Tom Brady.

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511230590


BY CIAN FAHEYSPECIAL TO PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

A fter an impressive perfor-mance, NFL players like to point out that they’re

proving the doubters wrong. Oftentimes, those doubters

are imaginary. They don’t exist. These are NFL players, and

the ones that win are typically accustomed to winning despite the efforts that push the league toward parity.

One player you will never hear talk about proving the doubters wrong is Marshawn Lynch.

That isn’t because he doesn’t have any doubters. It’s simply because Lynch doesn’t like to talk.

Lynch would be the rare example of someone who can actually claim to have proved his doubters wrong without simply shouting at straw men.

Entering this season, he had two years left on his contract. He held out of training camp before having the deal reworked but not extended.

Because of Christine Michael’s presence on the roster as a recent high draft pick at his posi-tion, there was already specula-tion that this might be Lynch’s last season in Seattle.

When the Seahawks traded Percy Harvin early in the regular season, the speculation surround-ing Lynch’s future grew.

At 28 years of age, Lynch isn’t necessarily old, but he’s at the age where running backs may start to decline.

With Lynch expected to count $8.5 million against the cap next year, there is some logic that sug-gests moving on from the run-ning back now would be prudent to avoid overpaying a player who is not what he once was.

The problem with that logic is, Lynch hasn’t shown any signs of decline.

With Adrian Peterson side-lined, Lynch was arguably the best running back in the NFL this season.

Le’Veon Bell and DeMarco Murray were both fantastic, but Lynch’s well-rounded skill set and consistency while working behind a relatively poor offensive line made him stand out once again.

Against the Green Bay Pack-ers in the NFC championship game, the Seahawks turned to Lynch late when quarterback Russell Wilson was struggling to keep his composure.

Needing two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter, the Seahawks called up a play that was designed to put the ball in Lynch’s hands, but it wasn’t a run.

Keep the Beast in SeattleLynch, the strong and silent type, is a key component

CommentaryCommentary


Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch applauds his teammates on defense during the Jan. 10 divisional playoff game against Carolina.TURN TO LYNCH/9

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Instead, Lynch was going to be the primary receiving option on a wheel route running out of the backfield.

He began the play next to Wil-son in the shotgun.

As he had done for much of the first four quarters, Wilson failed to be sharp on this play.

He didn’t hit Lynch in stride, instead forcing the running back to extend slightly to catch a pass that was too close to the sideline.

Lynch made an impressive reception before sidestepping one defender and breaking the tackle of another to get to the end zone.

The touchdown was taken away because Lynch had just stepped out of bounds after adjusting to Wilson’s pass.

He still made an impressive catch in space, something that wasn’t always considered a strength of his, to convert a cru-cial 2nd-and-10.

The running back followed that up with a five-yard run where he dragged defenders with him downfield before Wilson ran in a touchdown.

The run came on a read-option play that saw the quarter-back keep the ball while Lynch ran toward the other side of the offensive line.

Lynch’s presence opened up the opportunity for Wilson to score.

Wilson opened the following drive with a 15-yard run when Julius Peppers focused com-pletely on Lynch in a similar sit-uation.

A three-yard run where Lynch fought his way through two tack-lers followed before Wilson found his tight end for a first down over the middle of the field.

From there, Lynch entered “Beast Mode.”

Using Pro Football Focus’ numbers, Lynch broke his own playoff record against the Pack-ers on Jan. 18.

He broke 15 tackles in that game while gaining an 111 of his total 157 yards after contact.

Over the past three years, Lynch has accounted for 992 reg-ular-season touches.

Those touches have gone for 5,032 yards and 43 touchdowns. He has averaged more than five yards every time he has touched the ball during the past three regular seasons.

Over the Seahawks’ last three postseason runs, Lynch has accounted for 149 touches.

Those touches have gone for 763 yards and seven touchdowns. He has averaged more than 5.1 yards per touch in that time.

If the Seahawks decide to release him ahead of next season, they will save $7 million. That’s a significant amount, but it won’t replace his value to the team.

Regardless of how they do it, the Seahawks simply have to hold onto Lynch for as long as they possibly can.

________

Cian Fahey is a freelance sportswriter who writes for Fox Sports and the New York Guardian, among others.

Lynch: 5,032 yards, 43 TDs in 3 years


Marshawn Lynch (24) runs into the end zone for a touchdown during the second half of the NFC championship game against Green Bay on Jan. 18.

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BY DAVE BOLINGMCCLATCHY NEWS SERVICE

Before he became the myth-ical dark-visored mer-chant of punishment, Kam

Chancellor had to sit and watch.Before he could fly over oppo-

nents, and deliver hits that no longer merely left bruises, they “damage people’s souls,” he had to study at the knee of a master.

Before he could intercept a pass in three consecutive playoff games, he had to rise above the scouting reports that said: “. . . Doesn’t possess the coverage skills, ball skills and instincts to be consistently relied upon against the pass.”

In his fifth season, the Seahawks’ strong safety contin-ues to secure his place in the pantheon of physical defenders, as well as the nightmares of NFL receivers.

He dominated the Carolina Panthers so completely in the Seahawks’ divisional playoff win, coach Pete Carroll said, “I don’t know that a strong safety can have a better game than Kam had tonight . . . it was just an amazing football game.”

It makes it hard to remember that, in 2010, he was such a raw prospect out of Virginia Tech that the Seahawks could get him with a fifth-round pick they got from Detroit in exchange for guard Rob Sims.

That first season, Chancellor’s hunger for contact was sated

with extensive special teams duties, but when the defense was on the field, he had to stand on the sideline and watch how the position was played by vet-eran Lawyer Milloy.

Milloy, the Tacoma native, Lincoln High grad and Univer-sity of Washington All-American, was 37 years old and in his final season.

He’d been to four Pro Bowls with the Patriots, and earned a reputation as a student of the game and a ferocious competitor.

Pete Carroll was Milloy’s coach in New England for three seasons, and knew he’d be the perfect role model for the raw Chancellor.

“That was an invaluable opportunity for him,” Carroll said of Chancellor being mentored by Milloy.

He could learn, Carroll said, from Milloy’s “approach to the game, his toughness, that unbe-lievable competitiveness that Lawyer always had.”

Carroll said he never saw Mil-loy back away from a challenge, a

tough play, or a chance to deliver a big hit.

“You’ll never see Kam back off, either,” he said.

It’s a fact that’s been obvious to NFL opponents the past sev-eral seasons.

When he first took over in Milloy’s place, Chancellor said the main thing he adopted, was Milloy’s attitude.

“He always wanted to take people’s heads off,” Chancellor said at the time.

Chancellor has been able to play with similar extreme preju-dice as well, but mostly within the structure of the new regula-tions that protect receivers.

But he’s nonetheless devel-oped a reputation that has caused receivers’ arms to shorten in his presence, and others to consider their future in the game when their routes enter his area of coverage.

He has become Chancellor of the Gut-Checker.

For instance, his hit of Den-ver’s Demaryius Thomas, on a short crossing pattern early in last year’s Super Bowl, estab-lished a tone of toughness that may have served as the trigger to the lopsided win.

Thomas, a big man himself, caught the ball at the 40-yard line, but after Chancellor sent him airborne, he landed back on the 35.

He’s so good, he had a LawyerChancellor learned under expertise of former Patriot Milloy

LegacyLegacy

Milloy


Kam Chancellor salutes the CenturyLink Field crowd during the Jan. 10 playoff game against Carolina.TURN TO KAM/13

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BY JOSH HOFFNER


The Super Bowl location in sunny Arizona will present a dilemma for league offi-

cials as they grapple with a ques-tion that is faced by many pro sports teams in an era of retract-able roofs: whether to play the game with the stadium open or closed.

In the week before the Super Bowl, the NFL said it plans to keep the retractable roof open at University of Phoenix Stadium for Sunday’s game between the

Seattle Seahawks and New Eng-land Patriots.

But the plan can change as the league gets a better read on the weather forecast for game night.

If there is a sign of inclement weather, the roof will be shut.

The fact that the question is even up for debate may seem strange given the location.

The game will be played in a place where tens of thousands of

visitors flock each winter for the sole purpose of basking in the warm sun, and last year’s Super Bowl took place in New Jersey with the temperature around 40 degrees at kickoff.

But the occupants of the sta-dium and the other three NFL teams with retractable-roof stadi-ums actually play many more games indoors than with the roof open, even if their counterparts in cold-weather cities like Buf-falo, Green Bay and Chicago get by in open-air facilities.

The Cardinals did not play a single game with the roof open this season, despite spectacular weather for some late-season games.

Since the Cardinals’ stadium was built in 2006, the team has played 22 games with the roof open and 71 with it closed.

The need for retractable roofs has played a role in recent public debates over stadium projects, especially those relying on scarce public money.

A retractable roof typically adds $25 million to $50 million to a domed stadium project, and it typically costs a few thousand dollars to open and close the structures each time, said Mark Waggoner, a structural engineer who has had a hand in several pro sports stadiums.

The roof dilemma for the Ari-zona stadium is complicated by the vast swings in weather the Phoenix area sees over the course of the football season.

For the preseason and first month of the season, tempera-tures are in the unbearable range of 100 to 110 degrees, making it an easy call to close the roof.

By season’s end, the tempera-ture can dip into the 50s. In the middle of the season, the temper-ature is fabulous but fans on one side of the arena complain that the setting sun is too bright.

“For a quarter or more of the game you’re staring right in to the sun. And [fans] have frankly made us aware loud and clear that that’s not an optimal experi-ence for them,” said Mark Dal-ton, vice president of media rela-tions for the Cardinals.

The Super Bowl host stadium has not only a retractable roof but a movable field that is the only one of its kind in the U.S.

The field slides inside and outside with an intricate set of rails, motors and wheels.

The natural-grass field is fre-quently voted by players around the league as their favorite play-ing surface, Dalton said.

The field remains outside

about 350 days a year and is wheeled indoors for games, Dal-ton said.

For the Super Bowl, the teams on the field aren’t the only ones affected by the roof decision.

The halftime show relies on elaborate rigging and lighting that can be adversely affected by gusts of wind with the roof open, Waggoner said.

For this year’s Super Bowl, NFL vice president of football communications Michael Signora said the league is planning a show that can be “executed with a closed or open roof and will be prepared either way.”

As for the fan experience, many believe the closed roof makes it louder inside and cre-ates a powerful home-field advantage that was on full dis-play this season when the Cardi-nals went 7-1 at home. The Car-dinals are 12-10 at home with the roof open.


At times, Chancellor’s reputa-tion alone is enough to cause opponents to try to avoid his whereabouts.

New Orleans tight end Jimmy Graham once made a blatant change of course, in the wrong direction, just to avoid a Chancel-lor hit.

Asked about his quick slide when he saw Chancellor nearing him one time, Rams quarterback Kellen Clemens said: “Kam Chancellor, have mercy. Do not be standing on the tracks when that freight train comes down the tunnel.”

Chancellor is half of the best safety tandem in the NFL, along with his close friend Earl Thomas.

Thomas is 25 years old and Chancellor 26. They have seven

Pro Bowl recognitions between them already.

Asked about the pair before last year’s Super Bowl, gold-stan-dard safety Ronnie Lott com-pared Chancellor to Seattle’s five-time Pro Bowl safety Kenny Easley.

“Chancellor is getting close to being in that community of greatness,” Lott said.

That’s high praise for a player who was once rated only the 27th best safety prospect in the 2010 draft.

Clearly, he learned a lot more from Milloy than a desire for primitive contact.

“I don’t know what Kam would have been like without [Milloy’s influence],” Carroll said.

“I just know what he is now; he’s a perfect strong safety, and Lawyer was exactly that [too].”

Kam: Gut-Checker

NFL plans to open roof for Super BowlVenueVenue

An aerial view of University of Phoenix Stadium in suburban Glendale, Ariz., shows the roof open.

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Super Bowl supernotes

“FROZEN” STAR IDINA Menzel will sing the national anthem before the Super Bowl kicks off Sunday.

The NFL said that John Legend will per-form “America the Beau-tiful” before Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Ariz.

Menzel has had a top-notch year, thanks to the success of “Frozen” and her worldwide hit, “Let It Go.” Her Broadway show “If/Then” closes on March 22.

Legend, too, has had a career-highlight-ing year. His song “All of Me” was one of 2014’s biggest hits, and he recently won a Golden Globe for his song with rapper Com-mon, “Glory,” from the film “Selma.”

Pop star Katy Perry and rocker Lenny Kravitz will perform during halftime.

In an interview for ESPN The Magazine, the pop star said she has some jitters about headlining the Super Bowl halftime stage.

“Honestly? I feel like I’ve outdreamt my dream,” she said. “I don’t get nervous about much, but I’ll definitely be a little tingly inside that day.”

BILL VINOVICH WILL be the referee for the Super Bowl, heading a seven-man crew that includes four officials working the title game for the first time.

The NFL said Vinovich, umpire Bill Schuster, head lines-man Dana McKenzie and back judge Terrence Miles will be working their first Super Bowl. The crew also includes line judge Mark Perlman, field judge Bob Waggoner and side judge Tom Hill. Mike Wimmer is the replay official and the assistant is Terry Poulos.

Vinovich is in his ninth season as an NFL official. He was the referee for the Patriots-Baltimore playoff game when New England confused the Ravens with a formation using a run-ning back as an ineligible receiver.

The Associated Press

LegendMenzel

Perry

Patriot Browner eager to see ex-teammates

BY DON RUIZMCCLATCHY NEWS SERVICE

N ew England Patriots cor-nerback Brandon Browner didn’t get his

Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks last season, but now he’ll get one against them.

Browner played with the Seahawks from 2011-13. How-ever, he was suspended late last season for violation of the league’s drug rules and didn’t play in Seattle’s 43-8 Super Bowl win over Denver.

In March, he signed with the Patriots as an unrestricted free agent, although still ineligible for the first four games of the past season.

Once free to play, he moved into the New England lineup and ended the season with nine starts, 25 tackles, six passes defended and one interception.

After watching the Seahawks rally past Green Bay for the NFC championship Jan. 18, Browner started at right corner as the Patriots took the AFC champion-ship with a 45-7 pounding of the Indianapolis Colts.

The winners will meet in Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday at University of Phoenix Stadium.

“It means a lot,” Browner said. “I missed the one last year.

“I’m fortunate to be back in that thing the following year with a good football team.

“And the bond that I’ve built with these guys is like the bond that I built with them guys [in

Seattle] for the last three years. It’s a good feeling.”

This will be Browner’s first Super Bowl appear-ance but not his first cham-pionship game.

He was part of the Calgary Stampeders’ CFL Grey Cup champions in 2008. That was after he had been signed and released by the Denver Broncos in 2006 and before he joined the Seahawks in 2011.

There, as an original member of the Legion of Boom, he tied a Seattle record with interceptions in four consecutive games, set a club single-season record with 220 return yards and was named to the Pro Bowl.

However, after starting all 16 games in 2011, Browner’s playing time decreased to 12 games in 2012 and eight in 2013.

The Seahawks let him go after that season, but allowed him to participate in the team’s Super Bowl victory celebrations.

He owns a Seahawks Super Bowl ring and said there are no hard feelings.

“Those are like my brothers over there,” he said. “Those are my best friends over there. But I’m trying to win. I’m headhunt-ing.”

Browner said he foresaw this

Super Bowl pairing from the day he switched teams.

“It’s crazy, man,” he said. “I really had that vision when I signed here — hopefully meeting up with my old boys — and it worked up that way.”

It almost didn’t.With the Patriots playing in

the evening, Browner was able to keep an eye on the Seahawks’ NFC championship game and wondered if his old team could advance after falling behind Green Bay 16-0.

“I didn’t think they were going to make it,” he said.

“But it’s inevitable. I envi-sioned us two at the end of the day, and that’s what it panned out to be.”

The Patriots had a much eas-ier time, taking a 7-0 lead in the first five minutes and leading to the final wire.

“We were ready,” Browner said. “Blood in the water; blood in the water.”

Now that the Super Bowl pairing is set, Browner doubts that he has a lot of secrets about his former team that will do his current team much good.

“I’d say a little bit, but very minimal,” he said.

“Those guys over there, they’re not champions for no rea-son. They’re going to draw up a game plan; they’re going to have things for me.

“They know my weaknesses. I’ll be ready for those guys, just like they’ll be ready for me.”

Browner

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BY TERRENCE MCCOY THE WASHINGTON POST

No team in the NFL is given less benefit of the doubt than the New Eng-

land Patriots. Retired players still fume over

long-past Super Bowls they claim the Patriots won through acts of duplicity.

Football stalwarts dream up nicknames for coach Bill Belichick, who Sun-day will lead the Patriots into another Super Bowl — “Beli-cheat,” Don Shula called him.

And big-time columnists con-tinue to plunk down voluminous dispatches that enumerate the Patriots’ many alleged transgres-sions.

These are the New England Patriots: the NFL’s least-trusted team.

It now appears that designa-tion is more warranted than ever.

On Jan. 20, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, long the NFL’s go-to writer for scoops, reported that the NFL determined that 11 of the 12 balls the Patriots used during the Jan. 18 beat-down of the Indianapolis Colts were sus-piciously deflated, raising ques-tions as to how that happened and whether the Patriots had an unfair competitive advantage.

According to Mortensen, the balls had 2 pounds per square inch less air pressure than what’s required by NFL regula-

tions, which would allow players to grip, throw and catch the ball with greater ease.

“Under NFL rules, each team provides balls each game for use when its offense is on the field,” Mortensen noted.

“The balls are inspected before the game by the officiating crew, then handled during the game by

personnel provided by the home team.”

As of this writing, it remained unclear how the balls were deflated, considering that refer-ees are supposed to check the balls 2 hours and 15 minutes before kickoff.

Details and stuff about Super Bowl XLIX

Teams: AFC champion New England Patriots vs. NFC champion Seattle Seahawks

Date: Sunday, Feb. 1

Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. PST

TV: NBC (KING, channel 5, on the North Olympic Peninsula)

Where: University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Ariz.

Home team: Seattle

Away team: New England

Record in previous Super Bowls: New England is 3-3; Seattle is 1-1

Last Super Bowl appearance: New England XLVI (21-17 loss to New York Giants); Seattle XLVIII (43-8 win over Denver Broncos)

University of Phoenix Stadium fast facts: 63,400 seats, can expand to 74,000; 88 luxury lofts (three party lofts); 7,400 club seats; two 39,000-square-foot club lounges

Player pay: Game winner, $97,000 each; game loser, $49,000 each

TV commercials: Rate for a 30-second spot during Sunday’s Super Bowl game: $4.5 million.

The numbers games: The NFL began using Roman numerals with Super Bowl V to prevent confusion between the calendar year of the regular season and when the Super Bowl is played. However, the 50th Super Bowl in 2016 will bear the Arabic numeral 50.

Future Super Bowl locations: 2016, Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, Calif.; 2017, Reliant Stadium, Houston; 2018, Vikings Stadium now under construction, Minneapolis

Boston Globe

How Patriots became NFL’s least-trusted team

StatureStature


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The Patriots are a squad that has long navigated a minefield of fines and scandals.

“The Patriots are suspected of cutting so many corners, their home field should be an oval,” wrote Sports Illustrated columnist Michael Rosenberg.

“It starts in the parking lot, extends to the locker room, goes right to the field of play, and makes opponents look all over Gillette Stadium, wondering what Belichick will pull next. . . . There is resentment of the Patriots in the NFL, and all the winning only partly explains it.”

The Patriots are suspected of many misdeeds. Some have been proven. Others not.

As Rosenberg explained, smart opposing coaches put locks on every entrance to their locker rooms when they’re visiting Gillette Stadium lest some wayward aide walk in and lift an illuminating document.

“There are well-founded whispers in the NFL that the [Patriot] underlings who supply towels in the visiting locker rooms sometimes run back to the home locker room to share what they heard,” Rosenberg said.

How accurate are these rumors? Who knows.

But numerous coaches said they don’t trust how the Patriots go about their business — complaints that go back to the beginning of Belichick’s tenure as head coach in 2000.

According to The New York Times, before even his first preseason game as a head coach, he came up with an idea that would eventually balloon into one of the biggest scandals to hit the league in the past decade: illicitly videotaping an opposing team’s signals.

The practice would continue through the 2007 season, when

Belichick was caught and fined $500,000 — but not before his team racked up three Super Bowl victories and a postseason record of 12-2.

It’s uncertain how much the practice, which violated league rules, benefited the Patriots.

Under what some observers call suspicions circumstances, NFL Commissioner Roger

Goodell destroyed the evidence of what took the name “Spygate.”

Belichick, for his part, claimed he had misunderstood the NFL rules. But that excuse struck other coaches as disingenuous.

“The rules are very, very clear,” then-Tennessee Titans and now St. Louis Rams coach Jeff Fisher told The New York Times in 2008.

“There is no need to be more specific or clarify any rules whatsoever.”

Whatever the cause — or the effect — some players allege the tactic may have tilted pivotal games in the Patriots’ favor.

Among them is Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk, who played — and lost — against the Patriots in the 2002 Super Bowl. He says there’s no way the Patriots could have known about some of the plays they ran — but they seemed to.

“I’ll never be over being cheated out of the Super Bowl,” he told CSNNE.com last year.

“We had some plays in the red zone that we hadn’t run. … And a couple of plays on third down that we walked through, also. … And they created a check for it.

“It’s just little things like that. It’s either the best coaching in the world when you come up with situations that you had never seen before — or you’d seen it and knew what to do.”

The Patriots’ reaction to such allegations has been to chuckle. Other teams are just grasping, the thinking goes. They’re just jealous.

Trust: Reputation dates back long time


New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick holds the championship trophy after the AFC championship game in which the Patriots defeated the Colts 45-7 to advance to the Super Bowl against the Seattle Seahawks.

Watch the game on your

computerNBC WILL ALLOW

viewers to watch 11 hours of Super Bowl coverage online for free, including the game and halftime show.

The amount of program-ming being streamed is more than has been made available in previous online offerings. NBC was first to stream the Super Bowl, in 2012.

NBC, which is a unit of the nation’s largest cable operator Comcast, typically requires online viewers of its shows to prove that they have have a subscription with a pay television ser-vice (cable or satellite).

But by allowing online viewing of the most popu-lar day of programing with-out proof of a subscription, NBC is hoping to encour-age more viewers to sign up for cable service in the future.

Last year it unveiled an app called TV Everywhere to try to capture more online viewers, and it will be promoting that offering for viewers watching the game online.

The game will not be available for free on mobile devices such as smart-phones and tablets. Verizon has the mobile streaming rights to the game.

CNNMoney

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NEWS SOURCES

It will be an old-school vs. new-age Super Bowl XLIX quarterback duel when Tom

Brady, leader of the last dynasty, meets dual-threat quarterback Russell Wilson.

Three-time Super Bowl win-ner Brady is driven to win his fourth Super Bowl title after los-ing to the New York Giants in 2007 and 2011 in his bid to join boyhood idol San Francisco 49ers Hall of Famer Joe Montana and Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw as the only quarterbacks with four Super Bowl rings.

Wilson is out to become the first quarterback ever to win two Super Bowls in his first three years.

Brady, 37, is considered the best quarterback of his genera-

tion. Wilson is the winningest quarterback ever through the first three seasons of his career.

Both are driven by their draft slights, Brady as a sixth-round pick out of Michigan in 2000 who uses his 199th overall selection as his motivational fuel to win more titles.

Wilson was a third-round selection in 2012 out of Wiscon-sin.

Brady remains a classic pocket passer who will use play action off LeGarrette Blount’s power running to spread the ball to match-up headache tight end Rob Gronkowski and receivers Julian Edleman and Brandon LaFell against Seattle’s No. 1 scoring defense.

Old-school Brady still drivenNew England quarterback in quest for fourth Super Bowl win

IconIcon

Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. TOM BRADY WAS selected by the Patriots in the sixth

round of the 2000 NFL draft.

Born: Aug. 3, 1977 (age 37), San Mateo, Calif.

Education: University of Michigan

Parents: Thomas Brady Sr., Galynn Patricia Brady

Factoid: In Brady’s 13 seasons as a starter, he has also won two Super Bowl MVP awards and two league MVP awards.


New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) hands off to running back LeGarrette Blount (29) during the divisional playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens on Jan. 10.

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NEWS SOURCES

Film sessions with the Seat-tle Seahawks’ secondary are sophisticated, high-

level football. Players

at the team’s Renton training center study manner-isms of a wide receiver from the huddle to the line of scrimmage and deconstruct a quarterback’s hand signals.

Then, a man named Rocky Seto pulls up videos he found on YouTube. The Seahawks’ defen-sive passing game coordinator mixes it up with the focus often on the team’s “6-inch punch” emphasis.

A quick jab, a strike of any variety is showed on the screen.

A video of Bruce Lee shocking a person backward.

A kangaroo punching a man in the face.

Then for a tip on tackling, Seto found a man wrestling an anaconda.

“If he can wrestle an ana-conda,” backup safety Jeron Johnson said, “you can take down a human being.”

All the turnovers, all the text-book tackling has Seattle in the Super Bowl this Sunday.

The self-titled Legion of Boom — just see the designed mats at the lockers of the training center — is different from any other

secondary in the NFL. The quartet of Richard Sher-

man and Byron Maxwell at cor-nerback and Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas at safety ranked No. 1 vs. the pass for a

second straight season.The past three seasons, play-

offs included, Seattle has 70 interceptions and 69 forced fum-bles.

Everything happens faster

here. User error is rare. There are no secrets.

The LOB’s main attraction is the one quarterbacks avoid most.

At 6 feet 3 inches tall, 195 pounds, Sherman is athletic,

aggressive and a pseudo-wide receiver — he played wideout three years at Stanford — when the ball’s in his radius.

Three words: Legion of Boom Seahawks’ defensive backfield remains most feared in NFL


Two of the Legion of Boom, Richard Sherman (25) and Kam Chancellor, react over a pick-6 scoring interception in an October game.

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Boom: Defensive backfi eld’s chemistryCONTINUED FROM PAGE 18

His 24 interceptions rank No. 3 all-time for a player in his first four years.

Yet, from the left side of the field, Sherman is often ignored by quarterbacks for three, four, five drives at a time.

Off the line, he can stun-gun receivers off track. Sherman maximizes his 5 yards of leeway better than any cornerback in the game.

When the NFL made it clear to all 32 teams in training camp that they’d be cracking down on illegal contact, the general con-sensus was that Seattle (and Sherman) would suffer.

Yet before the season began, Sherman said he was glad the league emphasis was in place “because it’ll give people less excuses.”

He was right. Sherman was flagged for one defensive holding and one pass interference all sea-son.

“It’s always been our empha-sis,” Seahawks secondary coach Kris Richard said.

“So all the nonsense that comes from outside of this build-ing really doesn’t matter to us. We coach within the rules. We don’t coach people to hold, to cheat and illegal contact.

“We know we want to be up there, we know we want to be aggressive. We know we want to get our hands on wide receivers. So we have to do everything that they won’t call.”

Branding the brash Sherman as a loudmouth who simply mugs receivers play-to-play would be incorrect.

In the Super Bowl last year, he deciphered Peyton Manning’s hand signals.

Seattle, as a team, knew which routes Denver preferred on which downs.

By knowing what the wide receiver is doing, thinking, Sher-man can make a play on the ball if that ball is ever thrown his way.

Said Johnson, “He watches unlimited amounts of film.”

Brandon Browner’s departure for New England last offseason never slowed this unit down.

“It’s what we expect around here,” Maxwell, Browner’s Legion of Boom replacement, said.

“That’s the standard those guys had way before I even got in here. . . . It’s that level that forced you to raise your game.”

Chancellor isn’t even in view on the screen in the Seahawks’ viewing room.

On this third and 8 against Carolina in the division playoffs, the strong safety creeps near the line of scrimmage, says some-thing to a slot cornerback, then shoots back at least 12 yards off the line of scrimmage.

Panthers running back Mike

Tolbert — generously listed at 245 pounds — takes the draw, curls up a wide alley and No. 31 blasts through him with a vicious shoulder.

“There’s certain things you don’t expect in this world, this league,” Maxwell said.

“Tolbert to get hit like that and crumbled basically. It was an enjoyment to watch.”

Carolina settled for a field-goal attempt and, on back-to-back tries, Chancellor leaped over the offensive line.

He’s the true “boom” behind the name. A “presence,” team-mates repeat.

Chancellor is revered as the soul of this secondary. He’s the one that answers the most ques-tions on defense, the captain.

His violent game shouldn’t be confused with a menacing per-sonality.

Gray says he’s a “flip the switch” player.

And when Chancellor and Thomas roomed together as rook-ies at the hotel, Thomas thought Chancellor was weird for watch-ing “Family Guy.”

They’ve been brutally honest with each other since.

What allows Chancellor to lurk in the box — where he has 375 tackles, eight interceptions and five forced fumbles the past four seasons — is a centerfielder — Thomas — in command.

As coach Pete Carroll explained last month, the Seahawks lived with mistakes early.

“Earl gave up hundreds of yards trying to make plays,” Car-roll said.

“Hundreds of yards trying to make a break on the football, steal a ball and all that in his early days. It’s comical to see how crazy he was about trying to help us win in the wrong ways.”

Through the errors, Carroll said, Thomas gained “wisdom.”

“We see the same thing over and over because we don’t change who we are as a defense,” Thomas now says, “so that actu-ally makes it easy on us prepara-tion-wise because they can only attack us like this. We make it hard for a lot of teams.”

And on themselves.The Seahawks defensive

backs have a self-imposed fine system.

Whenever someone makes a mistake — a dropped intercep-tion, speaking while a coach teaches, a missed assignment — they add money to the pot.

At season’s end, they divvy it up. They exchange dinner, gifts. Everyone repeats how tight they are.

From Sept. 12, 2010, to this Sunday, starting 89 of 89 games, Thomas now rarely takes a wrong step.

And Seattle’s secondary is now the most feared in the NFL.

The Seattle Seahawks’ Legion of Boom consists of, from left, cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Byron Maxwell, and safeties Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor.

Oldest Hawk finally makes the big game

KEVIN WILLIAMS IS the elder statesman on the Super Bowl-bound Seahawks roster.

He’s the oldest and longest-tenured player, but after 11 sea-sons in Min-nesota and only making one NFC champion-ship game with the Vikings, Williams is finally getting a trip to the title game.

Williams’ role has changed significantly from when he signed with the Seahawks in the offseason. Williams was supposed to be part of a rotation at defensive tackle.

That all changed when Brandon Mebane was lost for the season to a torn hamstring and Williams became Seattle’s option at nose tackle.

It was an unfamiliar position, but a challenge Williams was willing to take on.

And his improvement as a nose tackle, especially stopping the run, was evi-dent on two key plays late in the fourth quarter of Seattle’s rally against Green Bay in the NFC champion-ship game Jan. 18.

The Associated Press

Williams

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