Super Bowl XLIX, a match made in parity heaven, is loaded with more historical story lines and legacy building than we have witnessed in a long time, maybe ever.
We’ll have these next two weeks to examine — and re-examine — the juicy matchups and games within the game that figure to make Feb. 1 much more of a Super Sunday than Super Bowl XLVIII.
A first look at whom and what you will be looking at, and a spoiler alert for Jets fans:
Bill Belichick
He’ll pack his hoodie for the desert because he leaves no stone unturned. Or, if you believe in conspiracy theories, no ball inflated. If he wins his fourth ring, in his sixth Super Bowl appearance, only Spygate — and an uprising in Titletown, USA, and beyond — would prevent the NFL from renaming the cherished prize the Belichick Trophy.
Who’s eligible? Who’s ineligible? Who the hell knows? There isn’t a tortured Jets fan out there who doesn’t wonder what might have been had Belichick stayed as HC of the NYJ and Al Groh, Herm Edwards, Eric Mangini and Rex Ryan were coaching the Patriots. His ability to navigate his way through the free-agent/salary-cap era and weather the loss of elite assistant coaches has been nothing short of amazing. At worst, whether you like him or not — and plenty of you probably don’t — he is this generation’s Lombardi.
Pete Carroll
He’ll be trying to become the first head coach to Re-Pete, so to speak, since Belichick a decade ago. No one considered Carroll a great coach when Pats owner Robert Kraft begrudgingly fired him after three seasons in 1999. He should be considered a great coach today.
“I was a little conflicted because I think I’m not sure I was fair to him. I wasn’t,” Kraft told me Sunday night. “I didn’t allow him the full autonomy. … But he is a great guy and a great coach. No one more fun to be around than him.”
What? More fun to be around than “We’re On To Seattle” Belichick?
“They got different ways of getting their point across,” said former Seahawk Brandon Browner. “I’ve never seen in the three years I was there, Pete Carroll chew anybody out, you know, get on ’em, but he had his way of getting his point across. And Bill, he has a way of chewing you out, but praising you at the same time.”
Tom Brady
I will hail him as The Greatest Of All Time should he tie Joe Montana and win his fourth Super Bowl ring — in his sixth Super Bowl appearance. Debate Spygate’s significance all you want: There isn’t a tormented Jets fan out there who doesn’t wonder what might have been had Brady been playing quarterback for Rex and Mark Sanchez and Geno Smith had been playing for Belichick, no disrespect intended. How many athletes in other sports have played at this high a level at age 37? Gisele’s franchise quarterback is a machine throwing the football, and a fiery battlefield commander who is more selfless gym rat than celebrity quarterback. The Chiefs game was an anomaly.
“Give him the ball back, he can work wonders with it,” Browner said.
Russell Wilson
He has a chance to become the youngest quarterback (26 years, 64 days) to win two Super Bowls, shaving Brady (26 years, 182 days). No one thinks he’s too short to play quarterback anymore, not after all the times he has played big in the big games. He outplayed Peyton Manning in Super Bowl XLVIII (18-25, 208 yards, 2 TDs, 3-26 rushing), but he’ll need to rebound from his four-interception outlier against the Packers, because he won’t be getting a chance to show how resilient he is against the Patriots. He’ll be crying instead, and they won’t be tears of joy this time. And there isn’t a cursed Jets fan out there who doesn’t wonder what might have been had deposed Terry Bradway been successful lobbying for Wilson before the 2012 NFL Draft. That would include Terry Bradway, by the way.
“Russell Wilson is a tough quarterback … he’s a tough athlete, should I say,” Browner said.
Darrelle Revis
What better stage than this to state your case to Richard Sherman that you are back as the best cornerback in the game? Gentlemen, start your Twitter engines.
And what better stage than this to remind apoplectic Jets fans what might have been had Woody Johnson not tired of the annual money dance that accompanied Revis the businessman? Revis’ first Super Bowl has the potential to bore him to death, because it would be folly for Wilson to challenge him — ask Andrew Luck and T.Y. Hilton — with Doug Baldwin or Jermaine Kearse. Naturally, the Patriots have filed tampering charges against the Jets owner for his Dec. 29 remarks about taking Revis back.
But is there a disenchanted Jets fan out there who believes Revis, with his $20 million option in 2015, would want to rush back to Johnson’s warm embrace to play for a rookie head coach and rookie GM with a hole at quarterback? And with no Super Bowl in sight, would Johnson suddenly want to allocate such a big chunk of the salary-cap pie even though Todd Bowles would pick Revis up at the airport in Rex’s old limo. All that’s for another day. Revis Island deserves a showcase like this.
Seahawks defense
It’s the best and fastest we’ve seen in a while, but a notch below the ‘85 Bears and 2000 Ravens. And the best of the Mean Joe Greene-L.C. Greenwood- Jack Lambert-Jack Ham-Mel Blount Steel Curtain as well. The 2014 version is a notch below the 2013 version because of the departures of Walter Thurmond III and Browner from the Legion of Boom. But if you like watching a band of piranhas who smell blood at feeding time, you’ll enjoy watching this outfit, and you’ll better understand why defensive coordinator Dan Quinn will be the next Falcons head coach. Oh, will there be a long-suffering Jets fan who won’t be wondering what might have been had Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf and Johnson decided to wait for Quinn?
Viva Las Vegas
The first Pick’em Super Bowl, at least for now. “It’s an NBC game. It should make for great ratings,” Kraft said.