Look back at the 2012 game vs. Seattle

Final score 24-23, Seahawks won, big 4th qtr comeback. Just wanted to revisit this game and see what peoples thoughts are.


1. Seattle had home field advantage. It's hard for anyone to play in that stadium. I've noticed that some teams go in there hot, but fizzle out towards the end of games. Just like Green Bay did last week, and the Patriots a couple years ago. Looks like away teams get fatigued listening to non-stop noise for a few hours.

Good thing the Super Bowl will be on neutral territory. Before DeflateGate, I wouldve said the Pats would have more supporters. Now I'm not so sure after it got blown out of proportion, but it won't be one-sided support for either team. I'm sure once Sherman opens his mouth during Media week, the support will shift back to the Patriots.



2. Seattle had entirely different WR's back then, and New England had different CB's back then.

Seahawks started Golden Tate and Sidney Rice. Now they have Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse. It's a big downgrade for Seattle if you ask me, especially when comparing physicality, yards per catch, and touchdowns.

Patriots had Devin McCourty and Kyle Arrington as the starting CB's. McCourty has now moved to Safety and is improved to a Pro Bowl level, while Arrington may be having the best season of his career as a nickleback. Patrick Chung was having the worst year of his career in 2012, but has rebounded nicely this year and has been a key part of our secondary. Oh….. and we have Darrelle Revis now, and Brandon Browner too.


3. New England had Brandon Lloyd, Deion Branch and Wes Welker as the starting WR's. Probably our softest WR corps ever. These guys just completely went flat and disappeared at times that year, including the playoff game against the Ravens. One of our more anemic offenses.

Now we've got Edelman and LaFell. They have a lot more heart than that 2012 group did.



4. Youth and Experience…. Russell Wilson, Chandler Jones, Donta Hightower, Bruce Irvin, Bobby Wagner, Tavon Wilson, Nate Ebner, were all rookies that year.

Wilson was still a bit of an 'unknown' at the time we played them in 2012. Not much NFL tape to study on him back then. Chandler Jones and Hightower have both improved since then and are now key players on the Pats. Wagner and Irvin are both good players on Seattle. Everyone is a little bit more experienced and well rounded than they were in 2012.



5. The Patriots clearly underestimated the Seahawks that day. Brady was talking trash, calling them nobodies. Belichick had a look of embarrassment when they lost, as if he was thinking "I can't believe we just lost to these guys". Sherman wasn't the self-proclaimed "best CB in the league" yet, and nobody knew if Russell Wilson was the real deal or just a flash in the pan.

Needless to say, things have changed and Seattle proved themselves and earned their respect. Now they're the defending champs and coming into another SuperBowl as maybe the best team in the league… There's no way BB and Brady will underestimate them this time. There's much more game tape to watch on the Seahawks key players now. The Patriots will come with a completely different mindset than they had in 2012, as will the Seahawks. If anything, the rolls have reversed and the Seahawks now look like the overconfident team.



6. The Pats held Marshawn Lynch in check that day. Vince Wilfork was dominant in 2012, but I'm not sure he's nearly as good this year. We've been gouged by running attacks this year. Chiefs, Jets, Ravens, have run all over us and given us a tough time.



7. Overall, I'd say the Patriots have improved since 2012. The Seahawks don't have the same talent they had back in 2012, but Wilson is now more experienced and dangerous than he was back then, and the Legion of Boom is still in tact and better than ever.

ppl rather talk deflate gate than actual football….?

Good summary. Was watching this replay on NFL network this week. Brady and the pats definitely underestimated Seattle that day. Brady has that bad pick to Sherman when he was targeting Branch up the offensive right side. And they messed up the points at the end of the first half.

The patriots secondary is much improved since then. And you have heard multiple NE players say lynch is the best RB in the NFL now. I think most agree stopping their offense starts with him. I'm curious how they'll line up their front seven.

Great post. It's funny because I was arguing with a few friends of mine but how both teams have changed since then and you hit on some of the same points that I did.

Forgot Brady also threw a pick in the end zone that game, too.

Our safeties that got beat on the GW touchdown were Tavon Wilson and Nate Ebner....

That should tell you everything you need to know about this matchup.

dales804 said:

Good summary. Was watching this replay on NFL network this week. Brady and the pats definitely underestimated Seattle that day. Brady has that bad pick to Sherman when he was targeting Branch up the offensive right side. And they messed up the points at the end of the first half.

The patriots secondary is much improved since then. And you have heard multiple NE players say lynch is the best RB in the NFL now. I think most agree stopping their offense starts with him. I'm curious how they'll line up their front seven.

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The broncos pretty much stopped him in last years Superbowl, and they still were trashed, I think Wilson is the one to stop.

I recall we butchered the end of the 1st half when we were in seahwaks territory and got no point, i also recall 3 and 1 and brady threw an end zone interception.An awful performance.

makoute said:

The broncos pretty much stopped him in last years Superbowl, and they still were trashed, I think Wilson is the one to stop.

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manning also pooped his pants though. I hope we dont have any errors on the first posession like we did against the Giants with the safety, or Denver with the botches snap

makoute said:

The broncos pretty much stopped him in last years Superbowl, and they still were trashed, I think Wilson is the one to stop.

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I think NEs DBs are better than what Denver threw out there last year. Lynch only got 15 carries that game. My point is I think New England can stop their WRs. I agree, not letting Wilson kill them by extending plays with his feet, not necessarily rushing yards, is key. But if Lynch goes off NE will have a hard time winning, I think.

I don't think it is the noise so much as it is Lynch. IIRC, Seattle runs him more in the second half. Defense gets tired.

plus browner plays for the good guys now

Skree said:

I don't think it is the noise so much as it is Lynch. IIRC, Seattle runs him more in the second half. Defense gets tired.

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They do. Not a huge discrepancy but this year he rushed 126 times in the first half and 151 in the second. And he has 98 carries when his team is trailing against 115 while leading.

I hope they find a way to run the football.Green bay was very balanced.Our O line needs to come up huge.I worry about the speed of the seahags

I was at this game. Was pretty much Russel Wilson's coming out party. 2nd weekend in a row I drove home from Seattle to Portland miserable. Random thoughts/observations.

Our pass defense is much improved. Wilson just threw up bombs on us and they landed. That probably won't happen with this crew. On the flip, he didn't have much of a middle yard passing game. He is overall a MUCH higher level player now. It will be an interesting matchup.

Our offense is also much more refined.

Brady through an awful interception at the end of the first half trying to force a TD where a FG probably would have won the game.

Seattle pumps in their crowd noise. The 12th man is the PA guy. I was there the week before for the Cascadia Cup match, the audible difference was enormous. My son was miserable because I didn't bring his ear muffs.

I'm inclined to give Seattle a small talent edge because I think they have a lot of good talent that haven't gotten paid yet. But I think we have a huge coaching edge, which is why this past week has been more than frustrating for me.

Another thing, forget about going no huddle against Seattle, it will NOT work. No huddle will only result in a quick 3 and out.Forget about yard after the catch too, teams like the Saints, Packers, Broncos failed miserably.

dales804 said:

Good summary. Was watching this replay on NFL network this week. Brady and the pats definitely underestimated Seattle that day. Brady has that bad pick to Sherman when he was targeting Branch up the offensive right side. And they messed up the points at the end of the first half.

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Regarding the pick to Sherman… I think most people have realized now you shouldn't go deep on Sherman. Especially if you only have a 5'9 WR.

Brady won't make that mistake now.

makoute said:

The broncos pretty much stopped him in last years Superbowl, and they still were trashed, I think Wilson is the one to stop.

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Manning gave them a lot of points, and special teams too. It's not like their offense was tearing it up out there.

I remember back in '07 claims that the Giants offence was a joke and that we'd run right over them.
Guess what, their defensive line proved formidable enough to seriously stunt our offence.

The same holds true this year.
If this offensive line does not hold up against the Seahawks, they're fwcked even before the game has started.

-Jamman

Still ****ing pissed they called Brady for intentional grounding for throwing the ball out of the back of the endzone. To this day, I'm pretty sure that's the first and only time that's ever been called grounding. Cost us 3 critical points. I swear Brady is the only one to get called for grounding it seems.