Preliminary report: Seattle Seahawks

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The Patriots took out the Indianapolis Colts in impressive fashion, winning 45-7. In the words of Coach Bill Belichick, we're now on to Seattle and the Super Bowl. And that means it's time to start focusing on how the Patriots can beat the Seahawks and get their 4th Super Bowl win in 6 times.

Key Match up: Patriots defensive front against Marshawn Lynch and Russell Wilson

Defensively, the Patriots will have to contain the Seahawks run game and challenge Wilson to beat us with his arm. Wilson struggled yesterday, throwing 4 interceptions before finally making the big throws towards the end of the game and in overtime. The challenge will be to keep Wilson in the pocket and force him to challenge a very talented Pats secondary, as well as limiting Marshawn "Beast Mode" Lynch, hence making the Seahawks 1-dimensional. You don't want to give either room to run because they can cause problems with space. The Patriots will also need to finish plays and wrap up tackles, especially with Lynch. They call him "Beast Mode" for a reason. He can break tackles like nobody's business when he's on his game, so the Patriots will have to watch out for that.

Offensive Key Match Up: Seattle secondary against Patriots receivers:

In particular, Richard Sherman, one of the best corners in the game. The Seattle defense is so good because it's more than just Sherman back there in the secondary, but he's big-time, no doubt. It'll be interesting who he's matched up on. The 2 likely candidates in my mind are Gronk and Julian Edelman, but we'll see. The Seahawks also have the likes of Earl Thomas (who picked off Brady the last time these 2 teams met) and Cam Chancellor, both of whom are viable options at corner. The Patriots will have to get creative in their play calling to allow the receivers to get free, but if the receivers can win their match ups, the Patriots can win.

What it's going to come down to is which team does their job better when the game's on the line. The Patriots have a much better chance to beat Seattle than the Denver Broncos did last year, but they have to do their jobs to perfection, like they did against Indianapolis last night.