Super Bowl XLIX Preview (Pac 12 Edition): How To Watch, Open Thread and More

It's Super Bowl Sunday. A special day for a majority of Dawg fans, most of whom count themselves among the unique social network known simply as the 12's.

You feel me, bruh?

The Seahawks are going for their second straight championship in a quest to become the first Seattle Sports franchise to even whiff the notion of "a dynasty".

To reach that summit and to position themselves as a contender for the unprecedented feat of winning three Super Bowls in a row, the Seahawks will have to get through the New England Patriots. No small task.

The Patriots feature, as you well know, one of the best Coach / QB tandems to ever grace an NFL sideline. They are a pliable football team - they will stretch and contort into different molds until they find the form that will allow them to beat you. No team can adapt to the circumstances of a game or an opponent like these Patriots. Both offensively and defensively, their versatility in finding ways to beat you is what defines them.

On the other sideline, the Seattle Seahawks are a team that will simply blow you up. They are the polar opposite of the Patriots. They simply lay out the codex and dare you to try to stop them. It matters less to them what an opponent does schematically against them. All that counts to them is whether or not your 11 guys can stop what their 11 guys are trying to do. It is old school with new school twists.

Count me as biased, but I like the Seahawks to take home the hardware one more time. The Hawks can absolutely make these Patriots a one-dimensional team by taking away Shane Vereen and/or LaGarret Blount. While New England has been able to beat a cadre of AFC opponents with only one dimension, there has yet to be a team that could beat Seattle with only one half of their offense clicking. So, it doesn't matter if Rob Gronkowski wins his share of 1:1 battles against the back seven of Seattle. It still won't be enough.

The one area that most compels my thinking here is in the area of explosive plays. The Seahawks rank in the top 10 of the NFL both in explosive plays created and defensed. The Patriots, on the other hand, are in the bottom half of the NFL rankings in both those categories. The bottom line here is that in a matchup of two great teams, it is usually the one that makes one or two more big plays that pull out the win. Don't believe me? Ask Green Bay.

Give me Seattle 23-16.

What do you think? This is your Super Bowl Open Thread. Enjoy.