A battle of NFL heavyweights is in store as the new look New England Patriots travel to the Pacific Northwest to take on Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night.
While these teams have only met 18 times, including their meeting in Super Bowl 49, there is some history that will forever link these two franchises. The afore mentioned Super Bowl will always take the spot light but not many people remember that in 1993, these two franchises were picking #1 and #2 overall in the NFL Draft. As much as the Seahawks tried to get the #1 overall pick from the Patriots, New England would keep the pick and go on to select QB Drew Bledsoe leaving Seattle to settle for Notre Dame’s Rick Mirer. Later in the 90’s, Pete Carroll would coach the Patriots for three lack-luster seasons before being replaced by New England’s current regime led by Bill Belichick.
The Seattle Seahawks (1-0) enter this game after a week 1 road victory over the Atlanta Falcons. While QB Russell Wilson was nothing less than brilliant, the rest of the Seahawks’ team looked a bit underwhelming with their inability to consistently run the ball or to stop Atlanta’s passing game.
For the Patriots (1-0), week 1 was a bit of a surreal event. For the first time since 1993 the Patriots started a quarterback in Cam Newton that was not drafted by the franchise. Even as the new look offense performed efficiently and showed some promise, there are certainly areas that need to be worked on as the season progresses. Additionally any excitement needs to be tempered at this point because, after all, they played a ghastly Dolphins squad that is in the midst of their over two decade long rebuilding project.
Both teams are looking for a 2-0 start so in yet another futile attempt to be non-bias and analytical, both teams are broken down in key areas to see how they will match up against each other and which one may have the key to a victory.
Patriots’ fans should expect to see New England’s offense continuing to evolve especially with the passing game. However this will be a close game with some 4th quarter drama that will turn fans’ hair grey.
The Knuckles Prediction: Patriots 26 – Seahawks 24
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