Passing of the Torch? The Seahawks Might be the NFL’s Next Dynasty
The last time there was a true dynasty in the NFL, the Patriots were dancing around the field in Jacksonville having won their third Super Bowl in four seasons.
A decade later, the Seattle Seahawks have assembled the best nucleus since those early 2000’s Patriots, and the two franchises will meet in a Super Bowl that has the potential to be an old-school passing of the torch.
The Seahawks have all the pieces in place to build a dynasty. They have an owner, Paul Allen, with deep pockets and enough self-control to stay out of football operations. They have a brilliant general manager in John Schneider, who works flawlessly with head coach Pete Carroll to build a team built around speed, length, and creativity. They have a franchise quarterback in Russell Wilson and an elite defense led by the “Legion of Boom’’ secondary.
The Patriots’ dynasty was built similarly. Robert Kraft is a strong owner. Scott Pioli and Bill Belichick worked well together to build the roster. The Patriots had a defense that had a knack for making the league’s best quarterbacks look average. Like Wilson, a young Tom Brady had the talent and charisma to be the face of an elite franchise despite his age.
That’s what makes Super Bowl XLIX so interesting. It’s rare that the Super Bowl pits the old guard against the new super team. It was one thing for the Seahawks to steamroll Peyton Manning and the Broncos last year. If Seattle wants to announce themselves as the next iconic NFL team, they’re going to have to push the Patriots out the door to do it.
The great Dolphins teams of the early 70’s passed the torch to the Steelers. The 49ers grabbed the torch and wrestled with the Giants and Redskins for it throughout the 80’s. The Cowboys held the torch in the early 90’s, before Green Bay, Denver, and St. Louis took brief turns as the dominant team.
In the early 2000’s, New England beat St. Louis in Super Bowl XXXVI and built the first true Dynasty since the early 90’s Cowboys. From 2006 to the present, no team has truly ruled above the rest in the NFL. With a second straight Super Bowl in 2015, Seattle would have finally reached imperial status.
A Patriots win doesn’t necessarily derail a Seahawks dynasty, but it would be the icing on the cake that cements the 2001-2015 timeframe in NFL history as the “Brady/Belichick era,’’ regardless of Spygate and Deflategate.
A similar situation developed in the NBA in the past two seasons. In 2013, the Miami Heat advanced to their third consecutive Finals, overcame daunting odds in Game 6 and finished the job in Game 7 to knock off the San Antonio Spurs.
Most people thought that was the end of San Antonio’s “championship window’’ with its aging core of players. In 2014, however, the Spurs were resurgent and met the Heat in a Finals rematch, dominating most of the action and winning in 5 games.
And it’s not like the Spurs are any stranger to bending the rules either. They’ve been fined for resting players just because they can. Remember when they played Game 1 of the Finals in a sauna of a gym, causing LeBron James to cramp up in the fourth quarter? The Spurs and Patriots are cut from the same cloth.
In 2014, The Spurs weren’t willing to relinquish the throne yet. On Sunday, perhaps the Patriots will be similarly stubborn. Or perhaps the Brady/Belichick era will have its Roy Hobbs/Herman Youngberry moment, and the Seahawks will repeat as world champions.
The Seahawks are ready to receive the torch, but it won’t be as easy. They’ll have to pry it from the hands of the Patriots in the Super Bowl.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com