Super Bowl XLIX: Legacy Watch for Title Game's Key Players
A player’s legacy seems to be a very big deal in the modern world of professional sports.
The questions are endless. What will this win do for this player’s legacy? Will this move to another team tarnish it?
With Super Bowl XLIX a little over a week away, we have some big-time players on both the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks who could manage some special and/or legendary achievements.
The candidates are obvious, but win or lose, how will we feel about these players and coaches on the NFL’s biggest stage?
We’ll take a look at some special individuals and what they may be on the verge of doing (or not) come Super Sunday.
QB Tom Brady, New England Patriots
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One week from Sunday, Tom Brady will become the first quarterback to start six Super Bowls and the second player to play in a half-dozen.
We will let you ponder the second part of that question for a bit.
The only other quarterback to start five Super Bowls was Hall of Famer John Elway. The legendary signal-caller lost in his first three attempts with the Denver Broncos and then won back-to-back titles in his final two seasons with the club.
Brady has gone the other way. He and the Patriots won three Super Bowls in a four-year span during his first five pro seasons. But he and the club fell short in losses to the Giants in both 2007 and 2011. He has an opportunity here to match both Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana as quarterbacks with four Super Bowl rings.
In the early 2000s, Brady was part of a team that could win in a variety of ways. The Patriots are much more dependent on him these days, although you could argue that this is the most complete New England team in a decade.
Brady is already in the conversation when it comes to the greatest quarterbacks in the game’s history. Along with his impressive regular-season numbers, he’s thrown for more yards and more scores than any player in NFL postseason history.
In the case of Brady, it’s not a matter of legacy. It’s a matter of just how impressive that legacy may still become. He isn't showing any signs of slowing down.
By the way, the only previous player to participate in six Super Bowls is defensive tackle Mike Lodish, a member of the Buffalo Bills (XXV, XXVI, XXVII and XXVII) and Broncos (XXXII and XXXIII).
QB Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks
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Talk about youth being served!
One year ago, Seattle’s Russell Wilson became the fourth starting quarterback to lead a team to a Super Bowl victory in only his second season in the league. The list includes Kurt Warner, Ben Roethlisberger...and Tom Brady.
Now he has an opportunity to become the first QB in league annals to win a pair of Super Bowls in his first three seasons in the league.
In the quarterback-driven mindset of today’s NFL, if you’re not putting up huge numbers and winning, you’re considered a game-manager.
Here’s a clue: Every quarterback is a game-manager. They all manage a different style of game.
Wilson’s role with the Seattle Seahawks is pretty simple: He plays football. He has succeeded in a variety of ways, be it with his arm or his legs.
While a pair of Super Bowl wins would be pretty sweet, it’s far too early when it comes to legacy talk and Wilson. Three years does not make for a storied career.
But it does make for some great opening chapters.
Head Coach Bill Belichick, New England Patriots
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It’s been quite a year for Bill Belichick, who has now led the New England Patriots to 14 consecutive winning seasons (tied for the sixth-longest such streak in NFL history).
The Pats have also won six straight AFC East titles while totaling at least 10 wins in 12 consecutive years.
During the regular season, the veteran head coach moved into fourth on the all-time list for overall wins (including playoffs) for NFL head coaches. Belichick (232) trails only Hall of Famers Don Shula (347), George Halas (324) and Tom Landry (270) in victories.
Belichick also owns a 21-9 postseason record (20-8 with the Patriots) and has more postseason wins than any head coach in league history.
A victory over the Seahawks would give the coach four Super Bowl wins, tying him with Chuck Noll for the most ever. Belichick’s sixth Super Bowl appearance as a head coach ties him with Shula for the most ever, and he’s the first sideline leader to take one team to six Super Bowls.
Simply put, Belichick’s impressive legacy as a football coach speaks for itself. And yet, should the Patriots fall to the Seahawks, the specter of the Spygate scandal (revisited often these last few days with the "Deflategate" controversy) continues to haunt both him and the organization.
Is Super Sunday a chance for Belichick to clear his name? Some would say yes.
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Head Coach Pete Carroll, Seattle Seahawks
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The third stop in the NFL proved to be the charm for Pete Carroll.
Back in 1994, the talented young coach took over the New York Jets. A 6-5 start was followed by five straight losses, and it was one-and-done with the Green and White.
Three years later, Carroll succeeded Bill Parcells in New England. He guided the Pats to the playoffs in his first two seasons at the helm, but the team slumped to 8-8 in 1999. He was replaced by...Bill Belichick.
But after a somewhat slow start in Seattle (following a highly successful stint as head coach of the USC Trojans), the Seahawks have been imposing over the last three seasons, forging a 36-12 regular-season mark and a 6-1 postseason record over that span. They’re the first team to reach consecutive Super Bowls since the Pats 10 years ago.
A victory on Super Sunday would make Carroll the 14th head coach with at least two Super Bowl victories and the seventh head coach to win consecutive Lombardi trophies (Chuck Noll did it twice). That’s rare air indeed.
His sometimes criticized rah-rah approach has worked with this team. And there’s little doubt that victory over the franchise that let him go would make things that much sweeter.
RB Marshawn Lynch, Seattle Seahawks
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Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch has had the opportunity to do something with his current team that he never did with the Buffalo Bills.
Play in a postseason game.
But Lynch has not only played in nine playoff games with his current franchise, he’s stood out in the process. Who could forget his first-ever postseason contest, when he left nearly every member of the New Orleans Saints in his wake in the fourth quarter of the 2010 Wild Card Game?
Lynch has totaled 815 yards on the ground and eight scores in his nine playoff appearances. He’s rushed for 100 or more yards in five of those outings, including 157 yards and a touchdown in last week’s NFC title game.
The physical runner lets his play do the talking, but you have to start mentioning him in the conversation when it comes to the league’s best running backs come the postseason.
CB Darrelle Revis, New England Patriots
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Could Revis Island enjoy its greatest moment in, of all places, the desert?
This is no mirage.
For years, Darrelle Revis was regarded as the league’s best cornerback, especially when it came to blanketing receivers. Then along came Seattle’s Richard Sherman, and the debates began.
A perennial Pro Bowler with the New York Jets, Revis suffered a severe knee injury in Week 3 of the 2012 season. It proved to be his final game with the team, as he was dealt to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers one year later.
After a somewhat successful season with the Bucs, the high-priced defender was released by the team and quickly scooped up by the Patriots. He’s enjoyed a very successful year with the Pats and is a big reason the team has re-established its physical presence.
In eight seasons, Revis can certainly make a claim to being one of the best players ever at his position. A Super Bowl ring (and perhaps game MVP honors) certainly wouldn’t hurt his all-time cause.
CB Richard Sherman, Seattle Seahawks
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It’s almost unfair to single one player out on a Seattle Seahawks defense that has made quite a name for itself in recent years.
This is a team that has allowed the fewest total yards in the league in each of the last two seasons. The Seahawks have also given up the fewest points in the league for three consecutive years, a feat not accomplished in the NFL since the Minnesota Vikings did it from 1969-71.
Unlike teammate Marshawn Lynch, cornerback Richard Sherman likes to speak, and there’s nothing wrong with that. He’s picked off 24 passes in his first four seasons in the NFL. In this year’s playoffs, he’s picked off one pass each by Cam Newton and Aaron Rodgers.
Obviously, the Seahawks made some kind of historic statement in last year’s Super Bowl by holding the Denver Broncos, the highest-scoring team in one season in league history, to eight points on Super Sunday.
If the Seahawks are able to beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX, they will make a rare repeat as Super Bowl champions. But if Sherman and Co. can shut down Tom Brady and Co. as they did the Broncos a year ago, this unit will be looked at in a different light.
As for Sherman’s legacy, it’s way too early to make any kind of determination. As with Russell Wilson, his body of work is far too small. Let’s see how big he comes up against Brady and the league’s reigning dynasty in Glendale.
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