It's the Mike Francesa podcast on the Bett Rivers Network. Hello again, everybody, and welcome to the Mike Francesa podcast, part of the Bett Rivers Network, as we put the finishing touches on the NFL season with Seattle's dominant performance against New England. Hey, this was a year where the consensus was right. You know, more times than not, if you center in on a team that is vulnerable, on the offensive line to the other team's pass rush, you usually can solve the game very easily. That was the case last year with Philadelphia. That was the case this year. I thought Seattle's defense would dominate the New England offensive line. I talked at length about the 15 sacks and the six fumbles that May had had in the postseason. And look what happened today. I mean, it was more of the same and even a more dominant performance. The one surprise here was how much trouble that Donald had in the passing game. Obviously, you know, JSN got banged up. They thought he had a concussion for a while. He targeted him with a lot of passes that were badly thrown. Let's be honest. Sam didn't throw the ball well today. Walker, I'm sure, will be the MVP. I didn't wait around for the MVP, but I'm not giving it to the kicker. I'm giving it to Walker. He was the MVP. The defense was brilliant. You know, Seattle wasn't a team that blitzed a lot. It was a team that liked to get there with four men, but they blitzed a lot and effectively this evening. Obviously got some big plays and comfortably won the game going away in what was really an overwhelming defensive effort. The better team won. Listen, Buffalo should have got here this year. They were the team in the AFC. If they bring Josh Allen to the game, whether it's the Rams, whether it's Seattle, you're going to get a great show. New England had a fortunate schedule. They got some big breaks in the postseason, including Knicks going down, because I think if Knicks had been healthy, I think Denver would have been here. they didn't show any offense in the postseason and they struggled mightily again today I mean they put up some numbers late but at one point when the game was 19-0 it was 297-84 and the game for all intents and purposes was over then okay Seattle could have been crisper in the red zone and not settle for as many field goals. I actually think they settled for field goals at times because they knew how dominant their defense was going to be in the game. And they felt very confident that as long as Sam didn't give them a turnover for a touchdown, that they were going to be in control of the game as they were. Now, the final score, the total yards is almost even at the end because they played prevent the whole fourth quarter. New England moved the ball up and down, including the last couple of minutes after the walker callback of the touchdown. They came down the field again. The bottom line is those were all cosmetic. This game, when it was still a game, when New England had fallen out of the game after the tight end caught the touchdown pass to make it 19-0, it was 297-84. It wound up basically even in yardage, but that's because Seattle took it easy and they played a little bit looser on defense. They made a couple of plays, but let's be honest, this was a game where the Seattle defense dominated the game. May wound up 27 for 43, had a couple of touchdown passes, had 295, but all cosmetic, all completely cosmetic. His numbers are completely bogus. He was punished all night. He turned the ball over three times. I mean let be honest He did not have a good night He looked like a deer in the headlights That just shows your statistics are at times meaningless This was a one game It was a game dominated completely by the Seattle defense They deserved the win They were the better team We all thought the conventional wisdom was that the Rams-Seattle winner was going to be the Super Bowl champion once the Bills were gone. Obviously, the Bills would have put on a much better show. Obviously, Denver at full strength would have put on a better show. New England got here. They struggled to get here. They struggled offensively to get here. They had not played well, and they were playing a number one defense, and the number one defenses have been dominant in the Super Bowl in recent years. And if you can identify the pass rush and where the dominant pass rush is going to be and where the other team has vulnerability on that offensive line, and New England clearly has throughout the postseason, you knew the game was going to be exploited there it was completely exploited there and Seattle you know I was at the game here in New York with Seattle just completely you know we were all excited I took the kids to that game I actually took a I actually had I actually purchased a luxury box for that game and took 30 people to the game on a bus I wanted everyone to experience at once, the whole thing. And it was a well-run event. Everything they did straight with the buses in and out, with going into the stadium, the luxury boxes, the whole thing. Except one thing. The game was another disaster. Seattle just ran roughshod over them. I think the final score was 43-8, if I remember right. But it was a complete disaster. Tonight was almost that bad again. Seattle deserved the win. Their young coach now will be one of the toasts of the NFL. He's earned that. If you looked at this team and you realized, if you looked at the body of work and realized they had shut down the Niners, they had shut down the Niners more than once. They had beaten teams, good teams on the road. They had played the Rams in the Niners six times. New England had played a very soft schedule. And although they played decent defenses in the playoffs, the quarterbacks played abominably against them. And listen, tonight, Sam wasn't very good. I mean, he wound up 19 for 38 for 200 yards and a touchdown, but he threw the ball miserably. And, you know, he targeted Cup 12 times, he caught six. He targeted JSN 10 times. He caught four. I know he was banged up tonight. It was a game where Walker, obviously, 27 rushes for 135 yards, throwing another 26 on the ground. Obviously, it would have been the coup de grace. They made it sound like he needed that last touchdown to win the MVP. I'd be shocked. I haven't seen it yet. I will look it up now. I haven't seen it, but I'm sure he won the MVP. I mean, I could not give it to the kicker. I really couldn't because the kicker didn't have to do a lot of work. I know he kicked five field goals, but he sure didn't have to do a lot of work. All they had to do was knock him through. They weren't any challenging kicks in any way. So I would think if you're asking me who was the difference in the game tonight, well, first it was the defense. You can't break it up into little pieces and give it to a bunch of different guys unless you want to do that. But it was on offense. The guy who stuck out was Walker, who made a lot of big plays. and to me was deserving of winning the award. I mean, I don't think there's any question about that. You know, in what was, you know, kind of a ho-hum game, but a game that was pretty predictable, to be honest with you. Those of us that didn't think New England really belonged, they didn't really belong. You know, that's the way they were going to have to really have things go their way. And Seattle's defense was actually more dominant than I thought it would be. I thought it would be dominant. I thought they would force plenty of turnovers. I thought they would force get five sacks I did not think they be as dominant as they were And I did not think they would blitz as much as they did They did a very good job in that regard But I did not think their offense would struggle as much as it did And it really did struggle, especially in the passing game. It struggled a lot. It really did. It puts the cap, the finishing touches on what was a really strange NFL season. A lot of bizarre things, a lot of strange games, a lot of weird things happening in the league this year. But one thing I felt all year that Seattle was not getting its due. I thought the Rams would take them in the championship game. They didn't. Beating the Rams as they did in two close games, the one where Sam came back and won the game 38-37, and then obviously the NFC title game, those were the games that made the season for them. For Sam, this is obviously a very special moment. He's going to forget the bad passes he threw. He's going to reap the benefits of... having played on a team that played a heck of a defensive game and went on to a comfortable victory in the Super Bowl, winning the Super Bowl, becoming the first guy in that draft to win the Super Bowl, paying off all the promise that we thought he had all those years ago. He has bounced around. He has taken his lumps. he has definitely definitely lived at the school of hard knocks nothing's been easy for Sam and to show up and do what he did in Seattle this year and now be part of a Super Bowl team it's impressive it's the culmination of a heck of a story and more power to him as for Seattle well you know they become the toast of the town the NFL, you know, takes a short respite. And then before you know it, everyone's going crazy about free agency. Everyone's going crazy about the draft and you're right back into it. Here comes the schedule. And the next thing you know, you know, it's Harbaugh in New York. It's all these new coaches in all these new places. It's where's this guy going? Where's that guy going? What's these seem going to do? Where's this quarterback going? That kind of thing. And you're right back into it. So we're looking for better things in New York, at least from the Giants. I don't know what the Jets are going to do. But I thought Seattle would win by 10. They won by more than that. They were more dominant even than I thought they were on defense. They deserve everything they got. Congratulations to their head coach and congratulations to their terrific defense. And, hey, for me, listen, I know you can say he's young and he's going to come back. the only player who was younger at quarterback never got back. He went there in his second year. Great things were expected. They were actually favored against one of the great teams of all time, a team that, in retrospect, became regarded as one of the greatest teams of all time, a team that beat them up pretty good that night. and everyone said, ah, listen, he's a baby. Look at the way he plays. Look how talented he is. He'll be back three or four times. He never went back to another Super Bowl. So you can't take these things for granted. Have to earn it. May knows that. For the Pats, listen, I didn't mind seeing the Crafts over there, you know, with the long faces in the fourth quarter. They've been on the other side of it many, many times. And frankly, I didn't think they had a Super Bowl team this year. I don't even think they thought they had a Super Bowl team this year. So I think they enjoyed the ride knowing they could walk into this kind of game. If you knew anything about football you realize that this Pat team could walk into this kind of game That they were walking into a better team walking into a team that was playing defense on a very high level Walking into a team that had a lot of different things going for them Look at how well their special teams played the field position game tonight. Obviously, they kicked a bunch of field goals. They executed on special teams. They didn't turn the ball over. and they got a really good game out of their running back who had to carry all the mail and wound up carrying the ball, I think, 25 times. So he did Yeoman's work today as he had to be the main back. I think he carried it 25. Let me see what the final number was. 27 for 135, including that one that would have been nice if he had gotten it at the end of the game because it would have changed the score in our favor in one of those lucrative pools. But hey, such is life. Easy come, easy go. I mean, that's just the way it is sometimes. I've won some of those, so I can't complain. I'm still seeing. I didn't see yet. I got to figure he was the MVP, people that don't see anything yet. Well, I'm going to say that it was Walker, and I will be stunned if that was not. Who is it? They haven't announced it yet? Can somebody tell me what's going on as far as the MVP? They have not announced the MVP yet? Wow, that's surprising. Okay, well, I got to figure this Walker. I can't give it to the kicker there. Now, remember, as we move from the NFL to all other things, before you know it, it'll be baseball season. 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So Seattle, impressive, ultra impressive. on defense dominates the pats as we put the finishing touch on the super bowl and uh everything around the super bowl was i think kind of low-key is how i would say it you know i know tickets weren't going great um the game didn't have a lot of build-up and I think we figured we were going to get that kind of game. You know, I don't do scores very often. I'm not an over-under guy at all. You know that about me. I don't pick over-unders. I had to score 24-13 Seattle. I figured maybe New England would get one late and be down 24-7. That's kind of what happened with them. Seattle got a couple more than I thought. they played great on defense and they were the better team. I mean, the better team won and that's not always the case, but the better team won. And a lot of times you find that the more dominant defense wins. And when there is a big edge at the pass rush position, as far as the other team's offensive line, that is the surest play there is in the, in the Superbowl. Those teams that can dominate on a defensive front, they win. That's just the way it is. That's why Philly won last year. That's why I picked Philly last year. And that's why I picked Seattle this year. We'll see you later. Thanks for listening to the Mike Francesa podcast on the Bent Rivers Network.
