Kinda early. I'm glad we can change our score later.
My overall take is that Seattle's being installed as the favorite makes a lot of empirical sense. Their roster is certainly better, and their record this year is pretty darn impressive. Darnold's play has improved steadily since his escape from the toxic football suckfest that is the New York Jets. "I see ghosts" is looking more and more like irrelevant ancient history. And so on.
I'll think out loud, noodle around with plusses and minuses and see if me, myself and I can arrive at a consensus:
Plusses:
1) I think we have the better QB, notwithstanding that theirs has played better in the playoffs to this point, if you look at the stats. I just think Drake's capacity to come up with the big play at the right time is superior to Darnold's. Darnold struggles with pressure; Drake, last time I looked, is the best QB in the league when blitzed. How a QB reacts to the blitz is going to be important in this game. I also think that whether the cause is tiny hands or that hot Southern blood, Drake struggles with wet, cold weather. The weather this game will be fine. Even California's lunatic politicians have not yet managed to **** up the weather out there. I think weather is a more important factor than many think. I think it's reasonable to think that Drake, with the guidance of the best OC in the game, on a nice sunny day, could well have a terrific game, and that is what I expect.
2) Our coaching is better than theirs: It has been clear to me since Vrabel coached circles around Bill when he was Tennessee's HC that Vrabel is a stellar game-day coach. As a "culture builder," he has built a remarkably focused and resilient team out of pretty average materials, by and large. Josh - notwithstanding interludes of inexplicable weirdness when we are assured he is "setting stuff up" - is the best OC in the league. Somebody said abracadabra, and up popped a really promising young DC.
3) Our O'line, though it struggles with passpro, somehow manages to be good enough to win. They are better at run blocking (intermittently?), which will be important, since it is probably in our interest to "shorten the game", keep the ball in Drake's tiny hands, and suppress their rush by running the ball. We have been blessed with Good Rhamondre lately. Hopefully that good fortune will persist. Let's hope Henderson returns from his extended vacation.
4) If you look at recent stats, and looked at their last game, Seattle's D doesn't look as daunting as their rep might suggest. As we type, Josh is poring over their games from every angle, looking for weaknesses and ways to exploit them. I think he'll come up with something.
Minuses:
1) They have a better team, top to bottom. I don't see any way to deny this. Better rosters lose all the time, but better is...well....better, however unfashionable that ironclad tautology is in these softheadedly egalitarian times.
2) They are confident they will win, I think. Everybody is telling them that they will. I'll put that confidence as a plus, on their side of the ledger, even though we know that confidence can at times erode determination and focus. Here's hoping this is one of those times.
The Prediction:
Hell, I don't know.
We often say, "May the best man (or team) win." They're the better team, so they should win.
OK then. Pats 24, Seahawks (No such ****in' bird that I know of) 17.
