Best Pictures From Super Bowl XLIX

Super Bowl XLIX Recap: Patriots vs. Seahawks

Super Bowl XLIX had it all. Two of the NFL's most talented teams, a major storyline leading up to the Super Bowl in Deflategate, an aging quarterback looking to cement his legacy, a franchise trying to be the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls in 10 years, and an all around great game that came down to the final seconds. Malcolm Butler's interception in the final minute of the game made Super Bowl XLIX the greatest Super Bowl game in the 49 year history of the event, as it completed a back and forth competition between the NFL's two biggest powerhouses.

Brady's Legacy
Coming into this game, Brady may have had three Super Bowl rings to put on his resume, but seeing how he was ten years removed from his last Super Bowl victory, and had suffered two losses in the Big Game since, the glow of Brady's aura was beginning to fade. In fact, critics of the Patriots began to say things like "Brady hasn't won since Spygate" or "he can't win without cheating." And during the actual game, the Patriots were down by 10 points with 2 interceptions on the stat sheet for Brady. Yet all of a sudden, Brady capped off two excellent scoring drives to regain the lead for the Patriots with 2:02 left in the game, drives where Brady was 13-15, and he even completed all 8 of his passing attempts on the final drive. The comeback kid certainly needed a little bit of help from his teammates, as Malcolm Butler saved Brady and the Patriots with a game winning interception. As a result of this victory, Brady becomes just the third quarterback in NFL history to have four Super Bowl victories, but when taking into account Brady's longevity, incredible statistics, and six Super Bowl appearances, there is no doubt in my mind that Brady is the greatest quarterback in NFL history. I might even argue that he was one win away in 2007 from becoming the greatest player in NFL history, period. Best of all for Patriots fans, Brady's incredible career has the potential for more Super Bowl victories in the future.

Pete Carrell's Controversial Decision
With 26 second left in the game and three possible attempts for Seattle to score the game winning touchdown, Pete Carroll decided to attempt a pass towards undrafted receiver Ricardo Lockette, a pass that Malcolm Butler of the Patriots intercepted to seal Seattle's fate. Many fans argue that Carroll should have relied on their All-Pro running back, Marshawn Lynch, to punch in the game winning score, seeing how he managed to pick up positive yards on nearly every single rushing attempt during that game. Pete Carroll justified his decision by arguing the Patriots were utilizing their goal line defense, and even though he did not mention this, Marshawn Lynch was 1 for 5 on the year when it came to scoring from the one yard line. But at the end of the day, I side with Seahawks fans in saying Seattle needed to run with Marshawn on that second down play, where even if it failed, there was still a potential for two more plays at the one yard line.

Looking Ahead to Next Season
While it is unlikely that either team will go out into free agency and sign a star player, both the Patriots and Seahawks will need to resign several key players that played a vital role in leading them to the Super Bowl this past season. The AFC remains wide open in 2015, easy enough for New England to recapture their title as AFC Champion. Their success next season relies entirely upon whether or not they resign Darrelle Revis, the best cornerback in football. Other Patriots that may hit the market, including safety Devin McCourty and offensive lineman Dan Connolly, will need to be re-signed in order for the Pats to have a shot at a repeat. If New England goes on to restructure both Jerard Mayo and Vince Wilfork's contracts, they may even have a shot at picking up Larry Fitzgerald (if the rumors are true). As for the Seahawks, keeping running back Marshawn Lynch from retiring is 100% the main priority for the front office this offseason, seeing how he is the most important player on this roster. Yet when it comes to free agency, the Seahawks should do their best to keep guys like Jermain Kearse, Byron Maxwell, and Malcolm Smith on the depth chart next season. In conclusion, the Seahawks and the Patriots are both very likely to return to the Super Bowl next season.

Just too cute... pic.twitter.com/bZnODUTtSk
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) February 4, 2015

New England Patriots Super Bowl Champs!!!!
— Rob Gronkowski (@RobGronkowski) February 2, 2015

How stupid can u be? @MoneyLynch is the man and you throw it????? You kidding right??? Pay @MoneyLynch to stay and put up with this mess?
— Deion Sanders (@DeionSanders) February 2, 2015

PATRIOTS WIN!! Your New England Patriots are Super Bowl Champions! #FinishedTheJob pic.twitter.com/qJ3t7G20Cc
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) February 2, 2015

Me & TB12. #worldchamps #REVISISLAND #patsnation http://t.co/WlECRB0kEk
— Darrelle Revis (@Revis24) February 3, 2015

The agony of defeat... #SB49 pic.twitter.com/pwrWMVkZwu
— NFL (@nfl) February 2, 2015

This is really hard to take now but in the long run it will make us stronger. Our guys are so strong and our future is bright. #GoHawks #12s
— Pete Carroll (@PeteCarroll) February 2, 2015

Wouldn't be complete without dance moves from Gronk... pic.twitter.com/fvBIjcn9WW
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) February 4, 2015

Good morning, #PatriotsNation! This photo should sum up how you're feeling today: pic.twitter.com/rxzfXUouMi
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) February 2, 2015

Super Bowl XLIX Pump Up Videos

With Super Bowl XLIX just hours away, we have combined the best arrangement of Super Bowl pump up videos into one post. These videos range from quarterback Tom Brady's career in the NFL, to a recap of the Seahawks' season synced to "Uptown Funk." Enjoy, and hear's to an exciting Super Bowl!

Super Bowl XLIX Prediction: Seahawks vs. Patriots

For the second year in a row, the top seeds from each conference will play on football's biggest stage. Tom Brady and the New England Patriots will play in their sixth Super Bowl since 2001, whereas third year quarterback Russell Wilson looks to become the first NFL franchise to win back-to-back Super Bowls since the Patriots did so in '03 and '04.

AZ baby!! Back in action!
— Rob Gronkowski (@RobGronkowski) January 26, 2015

The Seahawks pulled off a miraculous comeback against the Packers in the NFC Championship Game, and despite Wilson's horrible performance at the start of the game, he is more than capable of extending a play with his sensational scrambling ability, as seen with the successful 2 point conversion ate in the 4th quarter. To make matters worse, the Patriots defense will have to deal with stopping Marshawn Lynch, a running back who is willing to sacrifice his body in order to gain a few extra yards.

2012 @seahawks class at SB 49! & they gave us a F Grade.. Back to Back Super Bowls! #MakeThemNotice #HowBoutNow pic.twitter.com/7LxQxxGCSe
— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) January 31, 2015

The Patriots have a physical back of their own by the name of LeGarrette Blount, as seen with his incredible performance against the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship. Yet the patriots offense has earned a reputation throughout the years for their consistent passing game pioneered by future Hall of Famer Tom Brady. Brady appears to be one of the most driven players in football, and the fact that he has lost in his past two Super Bowl appearances certainly adds to the significance of Sunday's Game. Seattle's "Legion of Boom," a secondary consisting of players like Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, and Earl Thomas, will give Brady problems throughout the game, especially if they are capable of minimizing Rob Gronkowski's effect on the game.

By far one of our favorite selfies from team photo day... pic.twitter.com/cPS1jG0t9f
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) January 31, 2015

Brady tends to struggle when facing pressure in the pocket, as seen with the two Super Bowls against the New York Giants. Seattle is quite possibly the most well-rounded team in NFL history considering everything that they bring to the table, and with a win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX, this "Legion of Boom" will be considered one of the greatest defensive units ever assembled.
Seahawks over Patriots: 24-20

NFL Midseason Predictions: Super Bowl Update

While the final seeding for the playoffs is hazy, it becomes easier to predict the teams who will earn a spot in the postseason by the halfway point of the season. At this point in time, the Seahawks, 49ers, and Saints are all on track to miss the postseason, whereas the Bills, Cardinals, and Cowboys are all projected to finish the regular season with a spot in the playoffs. While this is certain to change, the NFL is not surprising in that there will always be surprises. At the beginning of the season, we predicted the New England Patriots to beat Colin Kaepernick and the San Francisco 49ers by a final score of 24-23. While we still believe that the Patriots will make an appearance in the Super Bowl (if, and only if, Rob Gronkowski is healthy throughout the playoffs), we are changing the NFC Champion after watching football for the past 8 weeks from San Fran to the Green Bay Packers. Now, let's go into further detail regarding this quarterback battle for the ages, as well as predicting the new champions of football.

Patriots Offense
Tom Brady experienced a statistically historic October. With Rob Gronkowski returning from injury at the start of the season, the Patriots offense has gradually improved over the course of the year. Julian Edelman remains Tom Brady’s favorite target, but Bill Belicheck is slowly increasing Gronk’s workload in the offense, which is directly proportional to the Patriots improving record overtime. Recently acquired targets Brandon LaFell and Tim Wright have both had their bright spots in 2014, and it will be interesting to see how the fare later in the season. While running back Steven Ridley may be out for the rest of the season, Jonas Gray and Shane Vereen have stepped up nicely to fill the void.

Packers Offense
While the Packers are not currently atop the NFC North standings right now, Green Bay is always a threat to win the division as long as Aaron Rodgers is leading this offense. Wide receivers Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb are both experiencing incredible seasons thus far, where Cobb is averaging one touchdown per game. Running back Eddie Lacy is experiencing a down year as of this point in time, but seeing how outstanding his season was in 2013, we at least understand that the potential to do well is present.

Patriots Defense

The New England Patriots secondary might just be the best we've seen from head coach Bill Belichick since he took over for the Patriots nearly 15 years ago. Darrelle Revis is beginning to look like his former self, and fellow cornerback Brandon Browner has already recorded 6 tackles and an interception. While Jerard Mayo's injury will be significant in the long run, the Patriots certainly managed to shut down the Denver Broncos offense last week. The win over Denver was even without their best pass rusher Chandler Jones, but luckily, he will be ready to go come playoff time.

Packers Defense
The Green Bay Packers run defense currently ranks dead last in the entire National Football League. There are currently several big names on this defensive roster, such as Clay Matthews, Julius Peppers, and AJ Hawk, who are all very talented defensive players, but clearly, they add little to the run defense.  Meanwhile, the secondary is incredibly youthful, where four out of the five members of the secondary are 25 years old or younger. Yet clearly, it has paid off, seeing how they rank eighth in passing yards allowed, as well as fourth in passing touchdowns allowed.

Quarterback Tom Brady is on a mission to win his fourth Super Bowl after losing in both 2007 and 2011. The New England Patriots showed they are capable of limiting great quarterbacks, as seen with the game against Denver, so count on Bill Belichick on creating a game plan meant to suppress Aaron Rodgers as much as possible. Meanwhile, Tom Brady will be able to pick away at this young Green Bay secondary, as New England manages to win their fourth Super Bowl in 14 years.
Patriots over Packers 30-27 

2015 Super Bowl Prediction

In our previous post, we stated that the New England Patriots and the San Francisco 49ers are the two teams that we think will play in the upcoming Super Bowl. Recently, the two teams have near identical track records in the postseason, where both New England and San Francisco have played in three consecutive AFC and NFC Championship Games, respectively. Both quarterbacks Tom Brady and Colin Kaepernick have played in a Super Bowl before, but while Kaep lost to the Ravens in his first and only appearance, Brady is 3-2 in the Super Bowl throughout his accomplished career. In an effort to provide a complete breakdown of this matchup, we will compare each aspect of the two teams' game, and giving the advantage to the superior team. By the end, we will give a prediction for the score of this game, thus crowning a champion of the 2014-2015 NFL season.

Comparisons

Quarterback: Colin Kaepernick is one of the most talented quarterbacks in all of football, and his incredible running ability adds a whole other dimension to his game; however, Tom Brady is a veteran in the NFL with plenty of experience in the postseason.
Advantage: New England Patriots

Running Back(s): The New England Patriots tend to rotate their young, inexperienced running backs throughout the season, so it is difficult to tell at this point in time who their starting running back will be in the Super Bowl. The 49ers have 31-year old running back Frank Gore behind quarterback Colin Kaepernick, but they also have rookie Carlos Hyde and speedy Oregon-alum LaMichael James who can be used in different situations.
Advantage: San Francisco 49ers  

Receiving Corp: Tom Brady struggled to grow accustomed to his relatively young, inexperienced group of receivers last season, a group that was also impacted by injuries. Tight end Rob Gronkowski is an absolute game changer for this Patriots' offense, and receivers Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola are able to catch plenty of short passes throughout any given game. Yet the San Francisco 49ers have a plethora of receivers, with names like Michael Crabtree, Vernon Davis, Brandon Lloyd, and Anquan Boldin on their depth chart.
Advantage: San Francisco 49ers

Offensive Line: New England's recent trade that sent All-Pro guard Logan Mankins left many fans scratching their heads, seeing how Mankins was a veteran blocker who had excellent chemistry with Tom Brady. While there is still other talent on this offensive line, it does not really compare to San Francisco group of O-linemen, quite possibly the best group in all of football.
Advantage: San Francisco 49ers

Front Seven: There is no doubt in my mind about which team has a superior front seven on defense. By the time the Super Bowl rolls around, five out of the seven defenders in San Francisco's front seven will have been named to an All-Pro team at some point in their careers. The Patriots can not match that accomplishment.
Advantage: San Francisco 49ers

Secondary: The New England Patriots now have one of the best cornerback duos in all of football after signing both Brandon Browner and Darrelle Revis during this past offseason. San Francisco's two starting cornerbacks both played in all 16 games last season, but can not match the backfield seen in New England.
Advantage: New England Patriots

Coaching: Jim Harbaugh is 5-3 in the postseason since joining the San Francisco coaching staff three years ago, but his track record is nowhere near the likes of Bill Belichick. Belichick ranks third all time among coaches in both playoff games and playoff wins. There's a reason why the Patriots are always in the Super Bowl. Bill Belichick is that reason.
Advantage: New England Patriots

Prediction

In the end, this game is certainly going to come down to the wire. The recent additions of Revis and Browner for New England leads me to believe that San Francisco's passing game will struggle early on; however, the Patriots have struggled historically to contain mobile quarterbacks, as we saw most recently when the Patriots lost to Cam Newton and the Panthers last year, but also relatively recent losses to Russell Wilson and the Seahawks, as well as Kaepernick and the 49ers two years ago. The running game may chip away at New England's defense over the course of the game. As we have seen before, though, Tom Brady and the Patriots' offense always seem to respond, especially if Rob Gronkowski is healthy. Coach Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady have been working together for more than 14 years, and the strong connection that these two men have formed over time is unlike anything else in football. They are now beyond driven to win this franchise its fourth Super Bowl in franchise history, which leads me to believe that New England will beat San Francisco this February in Super Bowl XLIX.
Patriots over 49ers 24-23

2014 AFC North Predictions

1. Baltimore Ravens (11-5): The main storyline for the Ravens this offseason has been Ray Rice's suspension (or lack there of) where he has been suspended for just two games after physically abusing his wife in a video released by TMZ. Rice was a key part in Baltimore's Super Bowl run two years ago, yet the running back had an off year in 2013 (660 rushing yards, 4 TDs). After being signed to a monster contract in the 2013 offseason, Joe Flacco threw the most interceptions of his career with 22 in 2014, and also recorded the worst passer rating while playing in the NFL after posting a 73.1. Luckily, the Ravens' receiving corp will be one of the best in all of football next season, seeing how they added veteran Steve Smith, while tight end Dennis Pitta will return from a season ending injury that he suffered in 2013 to rejoin receivers Torrey Smith and Jacoby Jones. Defensively, Haloti Ngata, Terrell Suggs, and Elvis Dumervill are all former All-Pros, yet the three defenders are at least 30 years of age, meaning the best days of football are now behind them. This means youngsters like linebacker C.J. Mosley, outside linebacker Courtney Upshaw (both Alabama alums) and short safety Matt Elam will have the opportunity to shine in 2014. If Flacco is able to improve from last year, the Ravens could make a run in the playoffs.

2. Cincinnati Bengals (9-7): Cincinnati's offense revolves around star wide receiver AJ Green, who has caught for more than 95 receptions in each of the past two seasons, and also eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards every year, including his rookie season. Running back Giovani Bernard had an impressive rookie season, and you can expect him to obtain more carries in 2014. Quarterback Andy Dalton may be improving statistically over the course of the past three seasons, but he remains winless in the postseason throughout his career. The defense lost their star defensive tackle Geno Atkins to an ACL injury last year, and he has just recently been taken off of the PUP list. As of right now, Cincinnati's best defensive player is linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who was named to the Pro-Bowl team in just his second season in the league. The AFC North is becoming more competitive with young talent, so I doubt the Bengals will be able to win the division for a second straight year

3. Pittsburgh Steelers (7-9): Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is now 32 years old, and seeing how his significant size made him a feared passer during his prime, it comes as no surprise that Roethlisberger is becoming more inconsistent as his body begins to wear down. Not having receivers Mike Wallace or Hines Ward has clearly affected Pittsburgh's passing game, but now Antonio Brown has transformed into the star of this offense. Running back Le'Veon Bell has the potential to be a star in the near future, seeing how he rushed for 860 yards with 8 touchdowns in his rookie season. On defense, 8 projected starters are 27 years old or less, which means defensively, the team is very different from the one who defeated Arizona in the Super Bowl six years ago. Second year linebacker Jarvis Jones had just one sack in his rookie season, so hopefully, he will be able to have a more successful sophomore season. Pittsburgh drafted All-American linebacker Ryan Shazier out of Ohio State, as well as defensive end Stephon Tuitt from Notre Dame. With Pittsburgh's new look on both offense and defense, the Steelers should be hoping to reach the .500 mark, not a spot in the playoffs.

4. Cleveland Browns (5-11): The Cleveland Browns have gained more media attention than any other team in football because of the drafting of Heisman-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel, as well as All-Pro wide receiver Josh Gordon's looming suspension. Luckily, the Browns also signed receivers Nate Burleson and Miles Austin, along with running back Ben Tate in order to provide their young quarterback--who has yet to win the starting job--with more offensive weapons. The defense has several big names on their roster, including cornerback Joe Haden, linebacker Paul Kruger, and rookie cornerback Justin Gilbert. The Cleveland Browns are taking steps in the right direction, but are still several years away from competing for a spot in the playoffs. 

2014 NFL Predictions

With training camp officially underway, and pre-season football just around the corner, we will now begin predicting the results of the 2014-15 NFL season. Many interesting storylines have taken place over the course of the offseason, such as Ray Rice's two-game suspension, huge free agent signings by the two best teams in the AFC, and a quest for the repeat by the defending champions. The 2014 NFL Draft has also brought in many of college football's biggest stars, such as Jadeveon Clowney to the Texans, Sammy Watkins to the Bills, and Johnny Manziel to the Browns. We can not wait for the return of football. Let the games begin.