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The Patriots don't get many big plays, and the Seahawks don't allow many.  And it's pretty blinkin' hard to string 5 consecutive first downs on Seattle, the way Brady needs to do it.

Green Bay scored a few points only because a weird series of fluky turnovers gave them short fields.

This isn't just theory.  It's practice, too.  The Seahawks beat passing teams like a Brazilian jungle drum.

Seems the recipe for a New England victory is clear:  They don't figure to move the ball too well.  So:

• They need to completely snuff the Seahawk offense, for 60 minutes, AND
• They need to win the turnover battle

And then, like Green Bay, they still might not win.  Logically, it seems to Dr. D that the Seahawks are 3:1 favorites.

........

Kam Chancellor will be looking for Rob Gronkowski.  IFF Kam is ever able, at any point in the game, to Vernon Davis him into an alarmed reaction, or a "Limp-Off" as Jack Tatum used to call it ...  the Patriots will quit on the game right then and there.  Guaranteed.

I don't expect that he will.  But it could happen.

.........

Bill Belichick is supposed to be unstoppable with two weeks to draw up his X's and O's.  That makes perfect sense -- but then you remember that, the last two Super Bowls, he wasn't unstoppable.

.........

Belichick seems genuinely bemused by the Seahawks' ferocity.  "D-line, O-line, quarterback, everybody ... they give it every drop, for every second of the game," or somesuch.

Every coach tries to achieve that.  Pete Carroll is livin' the dream - players who will give a kidney, and who listen to rap music during their basketball games at practice.  

We might want to listen to what Carroll says in his seminars; he's a bona fide 24-karat coaching genius.   So is Belichick, obviously.

Both have been fired.  Geniuses aren't bulletproof.  They're not comic book heroes who never take a hit point against them.  They're just geniuses.

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The idea that Richard Sherman's wife* might insist that Sherman miss the Super Bowl to be present for the birth of his son?  is simply outrageous.

I was there for the birth of my children, but hey:  the baby has no idea you're there.  It's a bundle of nerves, pretty much.  It isn't until the baby is maybe 10-12 weeks old that it can even start to hug you back, or anything.

It is strictly, 100.00%, in support of your wife that you're there.  But you're going to train your whole life for one moment, and then it arrives, and you skip it because 4 hours later isn't good enough for Mom?

I've also had serious surgery, been in the recovery room, etc., and it wasn't life-or-death that my wife be there.  My wife would have been fine without me in the delivery room.  If she wants support, a sister, or a mother, or a best friend, is a perfectly viable option.  Happens all the time.

Marriage is about compromise and sharing.  But that idea is so tilted to one side that it's preposterous.  You might as well as your wife to give up childbearing, for life, so that she can attend your college graduation during the ceremony rather than during the reception.

I don't think I've heard anybody comment on this.  It's because, as Camille Paglia pointed out, men in our society are never allowed to argue with women publicly, to speak in their own voice.  Men, in any gender debate, speak only in voices coerced by women.

Hey, the ship is sinking, women and children go in the life boats first.  

Being fair to women is necessary.  Being deferential to women is wonderful.  Being controlled by them is unhealthy.

Which is one of the reasons that C-Link is such an emotional release for men.   ... Think about it.

..............

Carroll was asked about InflateGate and he sincerely, in a heartfelt manner, tried to defuse it for the Patriots.  "I've never checked the balls, and I can empathize with Coach Belichick :- ) that he wouldn't have, either."

It was one of the classiest moments you'll ever see in sports.

...............

Asked today what the other coach had, that he didn't?  ... Carroll admired the Patriots' consistency over a long period of time.  (9 conference championships?!)  ... Belichick praised the "relentless" competitiveness in Carroll.

Most MLB managers are done, right around age 56.  Even the best of them are doing well to touch age 60.  Speaking as a 52-year-old myself, the testosterone is simply different.  "Strength belongeth to the young man, and wisdom belongeth to the old man."  Wisdom is better, but these two guys have both.  Carroll's drive is unique.

..............

Maybe 10% of you haven't seen the Marshawn Lynch - Rob Gronkowski video game.  If you haven't, you won't want to miss it.  Marshawn's horror at the on-screen violence is the stuff of Far Side cartoons.

Sitting side by side, I got the idea that Gronk was just a bit intimidated by Lynch, at least more so than the other way around.  I'm just saying.  It was a curious bit of interchange.

..............

Of everything going on this weekend, the most delicious three things will be

• Gronk's toughness vs the LOB's (irresistible force and immovable object)
• Russell Wilson's attempts to hit "broken plays" for big gains
• Tom Brady's attempts to play speed chess

Drew Brees said, nicely, that in today's NFL there are only a few pocket passers left.  He smiled, gracefully, and said "You have to be really, REALLY good at it" to make it work.  

Again we'll bring up the idea of grandmasters in chess.  It's one thing to be an NBA point guard; that's one level of court vision.  A lot of guys can do that.  But Brady and Manning and Brees, they remind me of speed chess players (60 seconds to play 60 chess moves).  They have to see many different things in a fraction of a second.  For ordinary humans it's not possible, like running a mile in 2 minutes isn't possible.

If Brady throws for 400 yards, I'll call him the best QB who ever lived.  Right then and there.  If the Seahawks shut him down and win by 14+ points, what will we say?

Enjoy,

Dr D