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Super Bowl Sunday - 5th February 2006 |
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The Seahawks have been in training for 8 months and are finally ready for the biggest challenge of their lives...carrying a victorious Mike Holmgren off the field at the end of the game.
Holmgren is without doubt a big guy but don't forget the moustache factor. Bill must cower at the very sight of that magnificent hazel lip piece whilst making sure that his own caterpillar doesn't crawl off back to the swamp. Has a Super Bowl ever been contested between 2 coaches with moustaches? I don't think so but advantage Holmgren on this one.
There will now be a short intermission whilst I gloss over the relative hairiness of Matt Hasselbeck and Ben Roethlisberger.
You might have guessed that if you're looking for a serious piece on the relative chances of the Super Bowl contenders then you're in the wrong place. I could talk about how the Steelers are the best blitzing team or how the Seahawks are the best team running against the blitz but it wouldn't matter one jot come game time. This is the Super Bowl baby and the Seahawks are in it!
I've watched it for 22 years and even before this season (as a dyed in the wool soccer fan) it had long over taken the FA Cup final as my favourite sporting day of the year. I've followed the Seahawks for 21 years and can still scarcely believe that we are going to be taking part in it. I suspect the reality will only kick in on the first play when we actually have a game to win.
One thing I do know is that Super Bowl's are seldom hard fought close affairs. It does happen and I happen to think that the Seahawks Steelers match up with both teams having balanced offenses and strong defenses might just deliver a classic but the chances are that it won't be.
With my positive head on I see it like this. The Steelers could win a close game or the Seahawks could win a close game but the only team that wins it by a typically comfortable margin is the Seahawks. Of course I'm biased but I really do think we are that good. We have proved that we are the best team in the NFC by a considerable margin so we will get a good demonstration about how strong the AFC is.
If we were picking an AFC Super Bowl opponent back in week 12 then the Steelers would have been way down the list. Back then the Seahawks were beating the Giants in a never to be forgotten game and the Steelers went 7-4 after being thrashed by the Colts on Monday Night Football.
The following week they went 7-5 after a defeat by the Bengals and the Seahawks went 10-2 after a 42-0 road victory at the current NFC Champions. Contrary to popular belief Ben Roethlisberger played in both of those defeats and the odds on this being a Super Bowl year for the Steelers were declining more rapidly than Mike Holmgren's lazyboy.
Since then Pittsburgh won 4 straight regular season games to scrape into the play offs as the 6th seed in the AFC. They will start the Super Bowl as favourites because they then went on to beat the 1st, 2nd and 3rd seeds for a 7 game unbeaten run. It is an achievement they can be justifiably proud of without doubt but it seems to me that the Seahawks also have plenty to be proud of.
The fact that the Seahawks haven't been beaten since a Josh Brown field goal clanged against the post on October 2nd 2005 seems to be conveniently overlooked. Of course we were beaten in week 17 when playing the back ups back ups for the second half in Green Bay but I say without a shadow of a doubt that had we played the full game we would have won.
Ifs and buts should have only a limited role in any analysis but it takes only a very small stretch of the imagination to see the Seahawks coming into the Super Bowl on the back of 17 game winning streak. OK we didn't do it but we were mighty close to achieving something almost unheard of in the NFL.
One other thing I like about the Seahawks chances is that we are a Super Bowl team somehow still flying under the radar. It's the sort of position we've been in all season so there is really no other position that I would like to be in.
Most analysts picked the Redskins to beat us - they were wrong. Most analysts picked the Panthers to beat us - they were wrong. Most analysts pick the Steelers to beat us...
At the risk of turning into our good friend Moses, I believe in Seahawks positivity, I believe in Mike Holmgren, I believe in Matt Hasselbeck, I believe in Shaun Alexander, I believe in Lofa Tatupu, I believe that every last man jack of 'em will get the job done in Detroit this coming Monday morning and the Seahawks will be coming home with the Super Bowl.
Andrew Robinson 1st February 2006
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