February 1st, 2015
**Seattle Seahawks
New England Patriots**
Predict, brag, speculate, general talk…
Someone else can make the actual Game thread on Game Day
Despite what some Seahawks fans might think, Patriots will be able to move and score on their D.
Despite what some NE fans might think, Seattle does have an offense, and Brady won’t be finding too many wide open targets
eta: added “some” qualifier
.
Prediction:
Comes down to Kicker, either in OT or last play of regulation. Advantage Patriots
Seattle is perhaps the *only *team this year that I think *can *beat the Patriots on a neutral field. Early games (losses at Dolphins and Chiefs) were before the Pats hit their stride, got Blount, and had Gronk at full health, and were not on a neutral field. Nearly beat Green Bay at Green Bay. Re-run those games again? Pats win them easily.
Put all the other teams in the NFL on a neutral field with the Patriots right now, and I favor the Patriots by 7-14 points. Except the Seahawks.
Due respect to the Ravens for bloodying up the Pats, I think if you ran 10 games versus the Ravens, Pats would win most of them more convincingly. I think the Pats were sloppier than they should have been, and gave up stupid penalties. I think the Ravens had their A-game and still couldn’t get it done. This isn’t the same Ravens team as before. But due respect, I still pick the Pats on a neutral field. And well done doing so well at the Pats field.
But, the NFC championship game nonwithstanding, I think that’s Seattle’s ugly game this year. They’ll come to the Bowl prepared and it won’t be a blowout.
Do I think the Seahawks *will *win?
No.
But can they win? Yes.
And on a neutral field, too. And I’m not giving the Patriots any advantage.
Fingers crossed, Pats by 3 points. That’s all. Colts are not the team the Seahawks are, and the Hawks will either win it all or make it a bloody fight, like the Pats-Ravens game.
And to all the sour grapes haters who say Cheatriots: When the Patriots win, you can kiss the rings.
U Mad, Bro?
No, just ramping up the hype 
Disappointed at my fanboy teams not being in it, of course. (Denver, Dallas, emphasis on the Denver) But, I’m excited as a general NFL fan because this looks like it will be a good game.
I think the phrase you really want in that last sentence is “you can kiss my underinflated balls.” 
Yeah, I was just about to post about BallGate.
I don’t think it made any real difference, tho, the Colts sucked the whole game, not just kicking.
One of the better comments in the PFT discussion about it was: “Always protect your balls, man.”
ETA: Not just about the kicking game (different balls set aside for that), but suppossedly makes them easier to catch in wet weather, too. But, that should benefit BOTH sides, right?
I hate to be too incendiary, but I think it will probably be a fascinating game between too skilled and motivated teams.
Oh, and GO HAWKS.
I was pretty abjectly terrified of Baltimore, and hilarious overconfident going into the Colts game, and both of those worked out about as expected. My only real feeling on Seattle thus far is that it should be a really good game. I thought after 16 games that NE/SEA/GB were a tier above (momentary Raven related terrors notwithstanding), and any matchup out of that group would be pretty awesome, especially with my team involved. That turned out to be more accurate that I could have possibly expected.
As for #DeflateGate, I’m with what Bill Barnwell has been saying/tweeting… which is basically that this is solid gold for internet commenters and everyone else still talking about SpyGate in 2015, and pretty much noise for the rest of us.
I give up. It doesn’t matter whether the Patriots did anything wrong or not, they will automatically be assumed to have cheated. If they really did deflate the balls, it’s the worst crime to ever occur in organized sports and they should have all their draft picks taken away and be fined $2 billion. If the NFL says they did nothing wrong, it’s a cover-up. Because they’re the CHEATRIOTS!!11!!1! and Belichick is evil. Whatever. Embrace the hate.
Someone needs to ask, “Can you comment on the rumor that your balls are deflated?” at a Pats press conference.
I think that New England should now be a little worried that Seattle just showed that their offense can win a game rather than the defense. My prediction for the game:
Seattle 493 New England -6
That’s right, Seattle’s defense is so good Tom Brady gets negative points.
I groaned at the End Of The World headlines this morning. Living in Pats country means the next two weeks will be even more of a living hell. 
Not much of a football fan, but on top of that, Pats fans are juvenile pretenders compared to Niners and Raiders fans I spent so long around.
Are any fanbases even close to how insufferable as these two?
Cowboys
Steelers
those two tend to be pretty obnoxious
But really, any given top of the heap team that is those other guys will have insufferable fans. Everyone else just has to suffer through it. Beer (that does not involve draft horses) helps ease the pain.
Lately, on the football-centric MBs I visit, there haven’t been too many posters of any team that I would call insufferable. Fans gotta fan!
However, on non MB sites that allow comments on their stories, EAU-MAH-GAHRD! Talk about nimrod cretins! 
Oh, man! Whooshed me! I totally forgot about that. :smack:
Raiders pretty much take the cake, with portions left over for Dallas and Pits-burg. I never found Niners fans insufferable, just kind of overwhelming, and watching games in a stadium that made Cheeseheads run for cover buys them cred.
I dunno. I’m surrounded by Pats fans now, and there’s just something… pretendy and a bit squee about the base. I felt the same way about Rockies and Marlins fans trying to affect an Olde Tradytional Fan 'Tude when the teams were only 2-3 years old.
Oh please. They all are.
DeflateGate is ridiculous.
I don’t think it will be close to a neutral field. The pro-Seahawk fan noise during the last Super Bowl (in NJ!) surprised a lot of people, the Bronco players in particular. I think even more Seahawk fans show up for this one. It’s essentially a west coast venue with a greater density of Seahawk fans.