Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots have been caught cheating before, and it appears they may have been caught in the act again. The “DeflateGate” controversy that has hovered over the Patriots these past few days has further tarnished Belichick’s reputation among those who value things like “reputation” over winning and losing, a group that surely does not include Belichick himself.
You see, football isn’t golf. It isn’t a “gentleman’s game”, you don’t call penalties on yourself, and personal integrity is not taken into account. Football is a vicious, violent game in which players quite literally sacrifice their bodies for the sake of winning. Viewed in this context, the issue of whether or not the Patriots deliberately deflated footballs prior to the AFC Championship game becomes totally irrelevant. They probably did… so what? If anything they should be lauded for the stealthy precision of certain employees and the code of silence that has enabled them to stonewall NFL investigators.
Here’s what’s been completely overlooked in the wake of this whole “DeflateGate” thing: the Patriots could’ve beaten the Colts using a watermelon as a football. At halftime, when the deflated balls were supposedly discovered and removed from the game, New England held a 17-7 lead. With the new, properly-inflated footballs they outscored the Colts 28-0 in the second half. That’s right, 45-7. Meanwhile, Seattle was pulling a rabbit out of a hat to squeak by a Green Bay team whose quarterback was hobbling around on one leg.
To understand why New England is a good bet to win this Super Bowl, though, it isn’t necessary to disparage Seattle. Yes, the Seahawks nearly lost to Green Bay in the NFC Championship game and yes, they have a one-dimensional offense that’s bogged down by a subpar receiving corps, but they’re a quality team with championship experience. They just don’t measure up to New England.
This season’s Patriots team is clearly the best that Belichick has had since the 18-1 team of 2007, and their current defense stacks up favorably against that group. That’s really been the engine for success in New England this season, the play of the defense. The offense will always hover around the top-5 as long as Tom Brady remains healthy and motivated, but a leaky defense had doomed the Pats’ Super Bowl hopes in years past. This year, though, the Patriots surrendered just 19.6 points per game and they held the 3rd-ranked Indianapolis offense– a unit led by Andrew Luck, the NFL’s leading passer– to 7 points and a mere 209 total yards in the AFC Championship game.
On Sunday they’ll face a Seattle offense that lacks the weaponry of a team like Indianapolis, as the Seahawks averaged fewer pass yards per game (203.1) this season than all but four teams leaguewide. Yes, the Seahawks can run the ball, but the Patriots are excellent against the run, surrendering just 104.3 rushing yards per game. As Green Bay showed in the first three quarters of the NFC Championship game, the Seattle offense becomes very ordinary if you can slow down Marshawn Lynch. And remember– the New England defense is not to be confused with the one in Green Bay. The Packers really struggle against the run, ranking 23rd in rushing defense, and that is an area where the Patriots excel.
And we haven’t even mentioned the New England offense, a unit that produced nearly 30 points per game this season and has scored 80 combined points in two playoff games. Seattle has a great defense, but don’t let their overall numbers, which are heavily influenced by dominating performances against the league’s weaker teams, fool you. In five games against San Diego, Denver, Dallas, and Green Bay (twice), the Seahawks surrendered 23.6 points per game. That’s an accurate representation of who they are when faced with quality opposition. The Patriots are very balanced– they’re led by a future Hall of Fame quarterback and they can also run the ball exceptionally well when they want to. This will be the toughest test that the Seattle defense has had in the Legion of Boom era, and if they surrendered over 23 points per game against quality opposition this year, what kind of performance should be reasonably expected out of them on Sunday?
So the Patriots have an offense that’s sure to give Seattle fits, a defense that’s ideally suited to stop Seattle’s run-first offense, a future Hall of Fame quarterback, and a diabolical genius of a head coach who will stop at nothing in his quest for victory. Seriously, would it surprise anyone if Belichick bribed some waiter and had him poison Russell Wilson’s food? You’re telling me that man isn’t worth a wager?
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