{"id":1493,"date":"2015-01-27T23:03:17","date_gmt":"2015-01-27T23:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/?p=1493"},"modified":"2015-01-27T23:03:17","modified_gmt":"2015-01-27T23:03:17","slug":"patriots-will-hoist-their-own-flag-over-the-seahawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/?p=1493","title":{"rendered":"Patriots will hoist their own flag over the Seahawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Terry<\/a><\/p>\n

TERRY MOSHER<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As you might know having read me before, I have a sense for things. I don\u2019t know why. But I do. And right now I\u2019m sensing this Super Bowl won\u2019t go well for the Seahawks. I get the feeling that the LOB will be exposed.<\/p>\n

Then again it might just be my anti-bandwagon part of me at work. I read a lot, listen a lot, and see a lot of things, but I try not to be influenced by what is on the surface as many people do. I look for underlining things when I try to predict what is going to happen.\u00a0 So here goes.<\/p>\n

My first thought is that you can\u2019t give Bill Belichick two weeks to prepare. Whatever you think of Belichick, and a lot of media types find it difficult to get along with him, the man is a genius when it comes to developing a team and building a game plan for opponents.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019m looking underneath all the garbage that is being thrown about right now, and that includes deflategate.\u00a0 Forget that junk. That will have no bearing on this game. It\u2019s better to focus on what Belichick can do to expose the Seahawks.<\/p>\n

I think Belichick will try to run the ball on the Seahawks. He has a foursome of running backs he can use \u2013 Jonas Gray, Shane Vereen, Stevan Ridley and LeGarrette Blount. Vereen is the \u201clookout\u201d guy because he has more yards receiving (447) then he has rushing (391). He\u2019s caught three touchdown passes.\u00a0 But with four capable runners he would be foolish to not use them all. And Belichick is not foolish.<\/p>\n

Of course, when you have Tom Brady at quarterback you don\u2019t go away from what he does best \u2011 throw the football.\u00a0 This year Brady threw for over 4,000 yards. So the combination of four runners coupled with Brady\u2019s arm makes for a dynamic offense.<\/p>\n

That means the Patriots will score points. Don\u2019t think that the LOB will shut the Patriots down completely. They won\u2019t. Belichick will devise a strategy to neutralize the LOB.<\/p>\n

How does he do that?<\/p>\n

The Patriots\u2019 main receiving weapon is Rob Gronkowski. The man is an animal. Seattle needs to take him away as much as possible. All season the Seahawks have been weak on covering tight end on seam routes and Gronkowski does that well.<\/p>\n

Its possible Belichick may use Gronkowski more as a decoy, and then I can see Brady throwing deep against the Seahawks. That will force Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas out of their thundering hits in the middle if they are asked along with corners Richard Sherman and Bryon Maxwell to defend deep.<\/p>\n

Going deep with any success will open up running lanes for Gray, Vereen, Ridley and LeGarrete, plus create space for slants and out patterns for the running backs.<\/p>\n

In short, I don\u2019t see the LOB stopping what is arguably the best offense in the NFL. The Patriots will score and score enough to topple the Seahawks.<\/p>\n

Defensively, the Patriots will do what Green Bay did with success \u2013 keep Russell Wilson in the pocket and make him make throws from there. They will use a spy to ensure Wilson doesn\u2019t get away on a big run if he does escape the pocket. But keeping him in the pocket is key. Teams have learned its best if Wilson is contained. The mantra is to make Wilson beat you with his arm. Can he do that? We\u2019ll see, but I don\u2019t think he can because he really doesn\u2019t have a deep threat at wide receiver to give him a chance to do it.<\/p>\n

I predict the Patriots will slow down Marshawn Lynch, keep Wilson at bay, and move up and down the field almost freely to beat the Seahawks like a drum. The Seahawks stunned Green bay with an improbably comeback to advance to Super Bowl 49.\u00a0 I don\u2019t see them pulling off another miracle.<\/p>\n

Final score: Patriots 38, Seahawks 24.<\/p>\n

Be well pal.<\/p>\n

Be careful out there.<\/p>\n

Have a great day.<\/p>\n

You are loved.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TERRY MOSHER   As you might know having read me before, I have a sense for things. I don\u2019t know…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-column","category-mosher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1493"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1494,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493\/revisions\/1494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}