Mr. Armchair’s 2014 Super Bowl Preview –

Christmas comes in early February for most football fans; the Super Bowl is finally here.  While most of us are disappointed that our favorite team isn’t playing on Sunday, we will still gather around the television with excitement and anticipation as opening kickoff is promptly scheduled for Sunday, February 2^nd, 2014, at 6:25 p.m. EST.

This year’s Super Bowl features both #1 seeds from their respective conference, the Denver Broncos representing the AFC, and the Seattle Seahawks representing the NFC.  It’s a classic matchup of offense v. defense.  On one side, you have one of the greatest QB’s to ever play the game in Peyton Manning running what is probably the most efficient and high-powered offense to ever take the field.  And on the other side you have a dominating defense that ranks #1 or near the top of almost ever defensive category this season.  For those making predictions on who will win this game, it basically comes down to your philosophy on the game of football and what you value most.  If you are an offensive-minded guy, Denver is your pick.  If you fall under the old adage of “defense wins championships,” then you are going with Seattle.  But there is no denying that these two teams are about as evenly matched as you can get. 

Let’s take a quick look at some of those matchups.

1.      Peyton Manning v. Richard Sherman – First, this won’t be much of a matchup, but I’m forced to talk about it.  If Manning is smart, and we all know he is, he won’t be throwing much toward Sherman’s way.  If he does throw his way, it will be short come-back routes or quick hitches, routes that are nearly impossible for CBs to cover.  But all these media pundits making a big deal about whether or not Manning will test Sherman and throw his way is all fodder in order to drive up mouse clicks on their articles.  Manning wants to win, and win badly; and that means not throwing to Sherman’s side of the field.  And then the second guessing will come in that Manning should have thrown at Sherman because he has something to prove to him for the “throws ducks” comment.  Please, Manning is the last player on that field who should feel he has to prove something to Sherman.

2.      Wes Welker v. Seahawks slot DB – With Sherman probably facing off against Demaryius Thomas or whoever lines up on that side of the field, the matchup to exploit for the Broncos will be whoever is covering Welker out of the slot, which will most likely be Seahawks CB Jeremy Lane.  Lane is a good special teamer but an average to below-average CB.  I expect Welker to run routes all game around Lane, whether it’s crossing routes over the middle to get loose or seam routes down the field to get open.  Welker should have a big game on Sunday, provided that he catches the ball (I know, low blow).

3.      Pot Roast v. Interior of the Seahawks O-line – Pot Roast, otherwise known as DT Terrance Knighton (man that has to be the coolest nickname in the NFL), singled-handedly shut down the New England Patriots running attack, clogging up those A and B gaps in the interior and getting good push up the middle.  I know Marshawn Lynch is a completely different RB than LeGarrette Blount, Shane Vereen, or Stevan Ridley, but running lanes are running lanes and if they aren’t open, Lynch will have nowhere to go.  C Max Unger and OG’s James Carpenter and J.R. Sweezy will have their hands full with Pot Roast (delete mental image) eating them up all game long. 

4.      Russell Wilson v. the Broncos DB’s – Wilson hasn’t thrown for more than 220 passing yards since the first weekend of December, 2013.  And in these last six games Wilson has only thrown for one TD in each of those games.  If the Seahawks are going to win this game, they will need Wilson to be more involved.  He needs to be able to move the ball through the passing game.  He’ll have a relatively healthy Percy Harvin at his disposal, but if I’m Wilson, I start utilizing my TE’s early and often in this game.  Getting them involved in the passing game early will not only get Wilson into a rhythm, it will draw the Broncos’ safeties up in coverage and start to open things up for the WR’s down the field.  TE’s Zach Miller and Luke Wilson should be Wilson’s best friends on Sunday.

5.      LDE’s Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril v. LT Chris Clark – The Seahawks’ defense rely heavily on their D-line getting tremendous pressure on the QB; and they are very good at it, generating 44 sacks as a defense this season.  Two of the best pass-rushers this defense has are Bennett and Avril, together combining for 16.5 sacks this season (Bennett 8.5, Avril 8.0).  Clark has been assigned the duty of protecting Manning’s blindside, probably the most important job in the NFL.  After taking over for LT Ryan Clady who suffered a season-ending injury, Clark has done a tremendous job holding down the left side of the O-line and protecting Manning.  But what also makes his job easier is that Manning has the best mental clock in his head and feel for pressure in the pocket.  His quick release, along with his timing and feel, makes Manning one of the toughest QB’s to sack in the NFL.  The Seahawks will have to get creative in their coverages and blitzes in order to throw Manning’s timing off and hope by doing so will generate some sacks.      

Final Prediction:  Denver 34 – Seattle 27

Super Bowl MVP:  Peyton Manning

Reasoning:  All of the metrics say that the Seahawks are going to win this game, but the money and public are going with the Broncos.  Usually in these cases, the public is generally wrong, but I’m not going to be the one who bets against Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl.  Yeah I know he already lost one, but there are just some players in sports who you never bet against, and Manning is one of those.  Given that he has had two weeks to study and work on a game plan to beat this dominating Seahawks defense, I like my chances in picking the Broncos.  I also think that the Broncos defense is getting a little unsold here in this matchup and they will be able to contain Lynch on the ground and will make Wilson try to beat them.  I just don’t see that happening.  Manning will cement his legacy with his second Super Bowl victory. 

 

Mr. Armchair Speaking!!!                 

Richard Sherman, I'm not mad bro. Just disappointed.

So I've decided to make my triumphant return to the Mr. Armchair blog this 2014.  I took some time off to re-energize the batteries and to figure out how I wanted to approach the Armchair.  I will continue to reverse my baseball content strictly for Baseball Hot Corner (www.baseballhotcorner.com) and I'm very excited to be a part of that community and the future that it's heading in.  So the Armchair will be for all other sports takes and opinions:  football, basketball, college sports, and anything else that interests me.  Think of this much like what Keith Law does for ESPN, writing baseball articles for them but still having his personal website for his music and movie reviews, and of course his Top Chef recaps.

So I wanted to start this year and the first post with my take on the events that occurred after a great NFC Championship game, namely with one, Richard Sherman.  First, I will acknowledge that Sherman is an elite talent and probably the best CB in the NFL.  I will also acknowledge that I am a die-hard 49ers fan, and can be times a little homerish when it comes to defend my team and its players.  I also will not call, nor do I consider Richard Sherman a thug or punk, as some are describing him.  Classless, we will get to that.  So I wanted to preface that right from the beginning.

As a 49er fan and human being, I did not appreciate what Richard Sherman did during his postgame interview with Fox's Erin Andrews, calling out Michael Crabtree and saying that he is a "sorry, mediocre WR."  However, I take more offense with Sherman making a choke sign toward Colin Kaepernick, which drew a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.  I also take umbrage with Sherman going up to Crabtree after the great play he made, slapping him on the butt, and trying to shake his hand.  I think Crabtree had every right to put his hand in Sherman's face and push him away.  There is a time and place for that, and at that time, it was not.  But this isn't a which side are you on argument, and I'm not here to defend Crabtree.  This is strictly about Sherman's actions.

So let's dissect this by each event.  First the postgame interview with Ms. Andrews.  I think Sherman showed zero class in his postgame interview.  I get that he is an emotional player and him and Crabtree have "beef" toward each other, but what his actions showed was that he is incapable of taking the highroad.  There are better, classier wise of proving your point without going on a roid rage.  But what I also don't like about his antics is that he chose to take his great play and the great play of his team and turn it into a "look at me" moment, which in turns deflects the attention on what was otherwise a great game and a great play.  People aren't talking about the great play that he, Sherman, made to cause the INT, and people aren't talking about the great play LB Malcolm Smith made to hustle down the field to make the INT.  Instead, we are talking about Richard Sherman.  That was his agenda.  I get that's his brand, but if he wants his brand to be that of a glorified WWE character, that is something that I can't get behind.

The choke sign toward Kaepernick made by Sherman was completely uncalled for.  Kaepernick, to my knowledge, has never said anything directed toward Sherman that would constitute trash-talking.  For Sherman to deliberately make that gesture to Kaep was bush league.  Act like you've been there, my man.  And the same goes toward going up to Crabtree after the play and slapping him on the butt and trying to shake his hand.  We all know that he wasn't doing that in good faith, he was doing it to show up Crabtree.  If he really meant to go up to Crabtree and congratulate him on a good game, then do it after the game when all the rest of the players meet at midfield to shake hands.

I know he has since come out and written an article for Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback explaining his actions, but he has also taken to twitter to apologize for his antics, which makes me think that at least he recognizes what he did was wrong.  He's an intelligent guy, Stanford educated, so I was confident that it would eventually sink in to him that he owed everyone an apology.  But he says in his article that he doesn't want to be portrayed as a villain because he's not a villainous person, and I'm here to tell you that you can't have it both wise, Richard Sherman.  You can't tell people to think of you as a good person and then pull the type of antics you did.  If you want to change the narrative, than you have to change your persona.

So Richard Sherman, I'm not mad bro.  Just disappointed.    


Mr. Armchair Speaking!!!