Tom Krasovic: Seahawks should soar in Super Bowl reminiscent of 49ers-Dolphins tilt
Published in Football
Too much talent.
That’s why the Seattle Seahawks will beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 60 on Sunday.
The Seahawks boast the better lines, team speed, depth and special teams.
Quarterback Sam Darnold will have to show he indeed has outgrown his turnover issues, but it’ll be the Seahawks who raise the Lombardi Trophy — their second — as night falls in Santa Clara, Calif.
Go back four decades to another Bay Area locale, and you’ll find a Super Bowl that lined up like this one in several key areas.
While the parallel to Super Bowl 19 isn’t perfect — I doubt the Seahawks will blow out the Patriots, as the San Francisco 49ers did the Miami Dolphins on Jan. 20, 1985, in Palo Alto, Calif. — a central feature from that game applies.
Like these Seahawks, who stand as five-point favorites, the 49ers had the NFL’s most complete roster.
“I could stack up our personnel over a broad base against theirs, and we were certainly better,” Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh, dishing about a matchup his team won 38-16 as a three-point favorite, would say years later in David Harris’ biography, “The Genius.”
“We just had more talent and more depth of talent than they did. I thought that for Miami to have gone 14-2 and won two playoff games was a real tribute to Don (Shula).”
Though Walsh drafted several Hall of Famers, he appreciated nothing more than quality depth.
“Championships are won with the bottom half of the roster,” he said often.
Attesting to the team-building efforts of general manager John Schneider, 54, the Seahawks win a lot of personnel matches downstream. They’re well-stocked at offensive tackle, edge rusher and cornerback. They got a great NFC title game performance from Darnold.
One key part of Seattle’s roster flex:
Filling out special teams, Schneider outperformed Rams talent man Les Snead and coach Sean McVay.
That disparity was large in a crucial Week 16 matchup that did much to bring Seattle a first-round playoff bye. And in the NFC title game, where the Rams’ shallow depth again got exposed, another lopsided show on “teams” helped put the Seahawks in their fourth Super Bowl and third under Schneider.
You won’t find a mediocre unit in Schneider’s whole assembly.
Winners of nine straight games, the Seahawks saw many of their positional units round into form as the season unfolded.
Rookie blocker Grey Zabel, drafted 25th out of North Dakota State, became a standout guard. He teamed up with Grade-A tackle Charles Cross to protect Darnold’s blind side and give Seattle a top-tier left-side blocking tandem. Cross, drafted ninth by Schneider in ’22, represents one of several upgrades the GM made by trading QB Russell Wilson — a Super Bowl winner he drafted in the third round 14 years ago — to the Broncos nearly four years ago for premium picks and useful players.
Schneider’s Nov. 4 trade for Rashid Shaheed brought a game-changing return specialist who also assisted the offense.
Advantaged by the Seahawks’ deep supply of effective blockers, the alum of Mt. Carmel High School in Rancho Penasquitos may be the player who pushed the Seahawks and Darnold over the top.
If the Patriots aren’t on point Sunday, Shaheed seems capable of doing to them what Packers returner Desmond Howard did to Bill Parcell’s Pats three decades ago in New Orleans, in becoming MVP of Super Bowl 30.
The Patriots stand to be well-prepared by coach Mike Vrabel.
He went to four Super Bowls as a linebacker under Bill Belichick and led the Titans to a Super Bowl qualifier as a head coach with Ryan Tannehill at quarterback.
Vrabel’s reputed expertise comes on defense. New England allowed only 26 points across its three playoff games, making the Pats’ D a tougher draw than what Darnold and Co. got from the Rams and 49ers in the NFC playoffs.
Benefiting 23-year-old quarterback Drake Maye, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has gone to nine Super Bowls and prepares one of the NFL’s better offenses at probing and finding weaknesses.
Yet McDaniels and Maye will have to account for a Patriots offensive line that looks like the most vulnerable unit on either team.
Like the top-ranked 49ers’ defense in Super Bowl 19 that received strong work from a pair of former San Diego Chargers stars Fred Dean and tackle Gary “Big Hands” Johnson, the NFL-best Seahawks D will take aim at a second-year QB who had a sensational regular season.
Here’s hoping that Maye has a better shot than Dolphins QB Dan Marino, who had none.
“I want to see blood on his jersey,” Walsh told his players. “I want that guy on his back. I want him dazed.”
Marino took four sacks and numerous other hits. The 49ers also clobbered Miami’s ground game, allowing just 25 yards.
“Did we get our butts kicked or what?” Marino would say to friends, per Harris’ book.
Marino never made it back to the Super Bowl.
Maye’s mobility should solve some problems, as should McDaniels’ playcalling.
Across a full game, it’s just too much to ask these Patriots blockers to win often enough against these Seahawks.
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