Super Bowl 49: Lombardiave staffers predict …
OK, Green Bay Packers fans, this is a tough day for us all.
More from Lombardi Ave
- 5 things the Packers must do to win with Jordan Love
- Packers free agency update: All the moves Green Bay has made so far
- Packers: Pass rusher at No. 15 of recent PFF mock draft
- Packers: How has Aaron Rodgers fared against Jets’ 2023 opponents?
- Packers: A look back on Aaron Rodgers’ crazy moments in the media
However, we have to deal with it.
The Packers aren’t in their rightful place in this year’s Super Bowl 49, but we’ll look forward to Super Bowl 50 next season.
In the meantime, we’ve put together our best efforts in picking the winner of today’s Super Bowl 49 between the New England Patriots and those dreaded Seattle Seahawks
Enjoy our predictions and enjoy the game … the best that you can …
Josh McPeak
Josh McPeak: I’m just her to give this prediction so I won’t get fined.
Bill Belichick may be the smartest person in the entire NFL. Although the Packers had an epic collapse to close the game, they dominated nearly 97 percent of it. I think that was far more than Belichick needed to see in order to prepare for the Seahawks.
Russell Wilson is not blessed with much more than a mediocre receiving squad. You can bet your house that the Patriots will be loaded to stop the run and allow Darrelle Revis and company to shut down the anemic passing game of the Seahawks.
I had a vibe going into Super Bowl 48 that the Seahawks would win going away. This time it’s not the greatest “Regular Season” quarterback Peyton Manning across-the-way.
The Patriots defense was ninth overall against the run, allowing opponents to just a shade over 104 yards-per-game. They will keep Marshawn Lynch bottled-up, in what I believe will be his last NFL game.
This one may shock some as it will lack in the dramatics category similar to last year’s Super Bowl.
Tom Brady will win the game MVP as he will likely put the ball in the air nearly 40 times for at least 3 touchdowns in order to capture his fourth ring.
Patriots 35 Seahawks 13
Jamie Wright: I don’t usually get into predictions because I generally am terrible at foreseeing anything.
However, I am invested in this one: My hope is that New England wipes the field with the Seahawks, but that is unlikely to happen two weeks in a row (minus the final 3 minutes, you know …when it counts most).
I do see Tom Brady solidifying his legacy with a win here. He has been to and lost in horrible fashion, two bowls against the Giants since 2007 – he is not likely to have forgotten what that feels like. He wants vengeance and I believe he will get it.
Wilson, Lynch and all the rest of the 12th man are in for a surprise on Sunday if they think they are “destined” for this. Belichick will have some new wrinkles for the ‘Hawks and it will prove to be too much on Super Sunday.
I predict Marshawn Lynch will avoid the media once again after a devastating loss and will jettison from Seattle to make room for Russell Wilson’s huge contract that will gut their entire team, 60 minutes away from earning a 2nd ring…not this year.
Seahawks 22 Patriots 34
Coalter Hansen
Coalter Hansen: As much as it’s going to hurt to watch this game, it is our last chance to watch football until August.
Between “deflategate” and the way circus around Marshawn Lynch, i’m just ready to see them hit the field.
I think this game will be close. The Packers gave Bill Belichick a blueprint on how to disrupt the Seattle offense, but like the Packers, can he score on the Seahawks?
The Patriots are going to have to give a healthy dose of LeGarrette Blount if they want to win this game. Outside of Rob Gronkowski, the Patriots lack any elite weapons and even against a dinged up secondary, it will be a struggle.
I expect Russell Wilson to bounce back from his horrendous outing against Green Bay and for Marshawn Lynch to have one final “Beastmode” moment with the Seahawks.
Packers fans won’t like this and I don’t like this but:
Seattle 27 New England 17
Kevin Gibson
Kevin Gibson: Wait, there’s another NFL game? My editor emailed me and asked for my prediction.
News to me.
OK, well, I took a quick look at the matchups, and apparently some East Coast team that wears blue and red uniforms will be taking on some West Coast team that wears blue and silver with some weird puke-green thrown in.
Not sure what the Vegas line is; that would have taken too much time to look up.
So I’m going to call it from my gut …
Blue and Silver and Green team 26, Blue and Red team 22
Kenn Korb
Kenn Korb: The crux of the 2014 season is upon us: Super Bowl 49. Green Bay may not be participating, but this should be an excellent matchup between the (based on seeding and general consensus) top teams each conference has to offer.
What is interesting to me with this particular contest is just how much most the well-known strengths of these teams may end up being more-or-less nullified by a lack of opportunity; by that I mean the opposing side isn’t particularly reliant on those areas to win games. This is especially true on the defenses.
Take Seattle’s ‘Legion Of Boom’, which works well in covering passes everywhere, but particularly at taking away deep shots as well as the top passing option a team has. New England lessens the effects of that since they do not attack deep and don’t have a functional #1 receiver. The closest they have to that is Gronkowski, but unless the Seahawks plan to put one Sherman or one of their safeties exclusively on him – therefore removing them from their usual high-efficiency Cover-3 base defense – he shouldn’t be considered in the same light.
New England has a bit of the same conundrum on defense. They’ve vastly improved their coverage capabilities with the additions of Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner, but Seattle is another team void of a dominating presence at wide receiver. For someone as good as Revis, having him shadow a player of Baldwin’s caliber is a waste of talent, though turning the game into a 10-vs-10 still has some advantages.
There are still some strengths and weaknesses both will rely on; within those is where I look for the answer to who wins. New England is elite in the passing game, relying on many short-to-intermediate throws, while also being above-average at running. They have no single contributor in either outside of Gronkowski who is elite; they are all key cogs that contribute a decent percentage to the production of the unit. They’ll need to mix things up between stacking routes on top of each other and running the ball into the teeth of the defense to have a good chance at victory. No guarantees there, but they are as equipped as any to do so with efficiency.
As for Seattle, they can just resort to what brought them back offensively against Green Bay as well as led to a majority of their offensive success this season: running the ball. The Patriots are above-average in defending the run and aren’t prone to over-pursuit, but these Seahawks have Marshawn Lynch going full-on Beast Mode; that is not something you want to bet against. Beyond that they also have the option of Wilson running on read-option plays, where he is deadly (if you can stomach it, go back and watch those last couple offensive drives before OT vs the Packers; brutally beautiful how well it worked).
If biases and hurt feelings can be put aside, this has the potential to be one of the best Super Bowl matchups any of us get to witness for a long time. It really breaks even for who should have the edge. In the end, unless injuries play a major part (I don’t expect any prior ones to do so, while I admittedly cannot foresee any new ones occurring in the game itself), I cannot reasonably see the Seahawks losing here.
The biggest reason Seattle even had a shot at coming back to beat Green Bay was their defense making a major impact against the Packers’ offense and forcing multiple field goals while letting in only one touchdown. And statistically, the Green Bay offense was better than New England’s this season. That doesn’t mean this is automatic – particular matchups in each game played factor largely in those rankings – but it does show that even against the offense that had produced the most points during the season, Seattle could dominate with their defense. I think matchup-wise New England can be more successful than Green Bay was, but not enough to give Brady a 4th Super Bowl.
A new dynasty is officially born, and it has an affinity for rainy days and Starbucks.
Seattle 27 New England 23
Jerry Bulone
Jerry Bulone: I honestly could care less.
The Packers should be in this game.
Seattle is getting all this praise as the next dynasty.
They are not. It took an absolute miracle, the type that only comes around once in a lifetime for them to even get to the Super Bowl.
My hope is that for whatever reason, they do not play the Super Bowl this year and in the annals of history people will look back and say “Wow, that’s weird, they had a Super Bowl 48, and then skipped right to Super Bowl 50.”
As for a prediction, Idena Menzel will rock the National Anthem, and yet I still will not be able to “let it go.”
Let me know if my prediction is rich,t guys – I won’t be watching.
Go PACK 4Life!
Darryl Krejci
Darryl Krejci: All season I relied on the Power of the Tutu to bring the Packers a victory. It worked for all the home games and the game at Soldier Field that I attended. I take full responsibility for the NFC Championship loss as I could not be in Seattle with the tutu to guarantee a victory.
The loss had nothing to do with Special Teams or failed opportunities. It was all my fault and I beg for forgiveness.
With that said, I want to make it clear that I am boycotting this game. I know that the dark powers that be have complete control of the outcome of the game and it has already been decided.
Deflated footballs, Marshawn Lynch and his refusal to act like a decent human being who is paid millions to entertain are all part of the conspiracy to keep us distracted from the truth.
There will be a big snafu (like another power outage) that disrupts the game and there will be events that seem so out of sorts that nothing but alien intervention can be used to explain them away.
The truth about Pete Carroll and his cybernetic implants will finally be on full view when he blows a gasket and his head pops off showing all his wires and circuits right before halftime.
This will be attributed to North Korea hacking into the live feed of the game and implanting a digital hoax to confuse America. Bill Belichick will show his true colors at the end of the game as he stands at midfield with his arms raised in his best Richard Nixon impression as he mutters, “I am not a cheat!”
Tom Brady will be forced to show the world that he is mortal as a big zit appears on his forehead and this ends any possibility of him strutting on the cat walks of Milan.
With all this being said, I have concocted a tutu curse on both the Seahawks and Patriots. This curse will last 100 years and will cause all those involved to experience great pain and sadness.
Skittles will be replaced with Reese’s Pieces and Gillette Stadium will be renamed Bic Stadium.
In the end, the game will end with the Patriots winning, mankind as we know it will collapse and dinosaurs will once again rule the Earth … If only I would have been in Seattle, I could have prevented this.
BEAM ME UP SCOTTY!
Patriots 24 Seahawks 17
Dan VerDuin
Dan VerDuin: Not a fan of the Seahawks, so I’m going with the Pats.
If they can play to their talent level that they have on paper, then this could be a blowout. From an offensive perspective, they have a lot of above average players who could toy with the Seahawks’ defense.
Defensively is where my concern lies with the Patriots. They have good players in certain spots, like Ninkovich, Wilfork, Collins and Revis, but it’s a matter of putting the players on the field that have an impact, and that scares me.
For the Seahawks, if they can stop Gronk and Blount, and their safeties can limit LaFell and Edelman, then this will be a tough game.
Either way, I do not look forward to watching this game of “what-ifs” for my Packers.
Pats 28 Seattle 24
Ray Rivard
Ray Rivard: I can only hope for the worst when it comes to the Seattle Seahawks. Call me a sore loser, a spoil sport, whatever … I don’t care. And I really can’t bring myself to care about this game … in fact, you might want to tool around our site today as I’ve put up posts that focus in on each of the Packers’ Super Bowls here on lombardiave.com … check them out.
In the meantime, there is a game to play, commercials to watch and even a halftime show that might be somewhat entertaining.
Pass the chips.
Oh yeah, the game.
Pass the beer.
Oh yeah, the game.
Pass the salsa.
Oh yeah, the game …
Patriots 26 Seahawks 22 … pass the barbecue sauce … and I can’t wait until the Seahawks visit Lambeau Field in 2015. That might be my favorite day in recent memory.
GO! PACK! GO!