Deflate this
I don’t think the ball deflation thing is a big deal at all. I think if it were any other team this wouldn’t be a story whatsoever. The fact that the nation has been talking about the Patriot’s balls for the past two weeks is ridiculous. Let’s talk about the game instead.
Patriots 30 – Seattle 21
I think Seattle’s schedule this year was a joke. They struggled a bit early on (as did the Patriots) but the media and Seattle fan base keeps saying the defense really came alive at the end of the year. Oh really? It sure did, I’m sure it’s tough keeping Drew Stanton (backup, Arizona), Colin Kapernick (starter, SF), Mark Sanchez (backup Philadelphia), Ryan Lindley (backup, Arizona), Logan Thomas (rookie backup, Arizona) and Shaun Hill (backup St. Louis) out of the end zone. Kepernick is the only starter in the group and he’s not exactly an accurate passer or great decision maker. The point being is the 0-16 Detroit Lion team (fun fact, Drew Stanton was on that team), could’ve picked up at least one win against this stellar group of quarterbacks that Seattle has faced. To be fair, Seattle has had two good wins all season. Week one against Green Bay and week three against Denver. They did lose to San Diego, Dallas, St. Louis and KC this season. To get to the superbowl they had to beat a team with a losing record (Carolina) and in my opinion, the best team in the NFC, the Green Bay Packers. If Aaron Rogers was playing healthy, Seattle wouldn’t have won that game. By my count still just TWO impressive wins all year.
The Patirots schedule had me worried at the beginning of the season. Turns out, they were a lot better than I thought. Ugly loss to Miami in week one, the next loss to KC (KC fans must be pissed they beat both teams in the SB), Green Bay and the last game against Buffalo (resting so many players basically made this a glorified bye week). NE had a brutal stretch of games from week 4 on till the end of the season. KC is no joke, Cincinnati looked like the real deal at the time (once the Pats put up 43 on them it brought them back to earth), Buffalo and the Jets might not be good teams but those defensive lines are exactly what foils the Pats (see the NYG superbowls), Chicago (not so tough, scary WRs though), Denver (smacked Manning down 43-21), Indy, Detroit, Green Bay, San Diego, Miami (not all around good but still has a better QB than Seattle played down the stretch) and closing out with the Jets and the BIlls. They beat up on a lot of those teams outside of the loss to Green Bay (26-21 thanks to that TD right before halftime), they not only beat, but manhandled most of those teams. To get to the superbowl the Pats had to get by the next best team in the AFC at that time of year at least, the Baltimore Ravens, and they had to embarrass the Colts…. again. I think it was impressive smacking down Denver and Detroit, beating SD, and the Ravens. That’s at least 4 quality wins, I’d say beating Indy twice should add two more to the total but those games were so out of hand it’s tough to justify it.
As far as the big game, I think New England’s offense can match up and put up points against Seattle’s defense. If NE is able to contain and negate Marshawn Lynch they win the game, luckily BB is able to constantly negate the oppositions best weapon. Russell Wilson is a good young QB but I don’t think you can expect him to put the game on his shoulders and throw against Revis, Browner & McCourty, especially with the average group of WRs he has. Those guys are playmakers, and we’ve all seen Wilson throw ugly picks when up against a D that’s good in coverage. For the Pats, Blount and Gronk are the keys to victory. Seattle’s been run on this year, they gave up 100 yards in both playoff games and 6 times during the regular season including all 4 of their losses. In those other games they’ve been lights out against the run, but again like the QBs they’ve played, not much competition against elite RBs here. They’ve also struggled against TE’s, at least ones with decent skills (Antonio Gates torched them in the SD loss, and Witten gave them fits in the Cowboys loss). They’ll be facing the best in the league against Gronk, I fully expect to see some Gronk spikes in the end zone this Sunday.
With two weeks to prep I think BB and #12 have an answer for anything Seattle wants to do defensively. Sherman doesn’t move from his side of the field that much, so you can scheme around that. I’d like to see them toss Gronk out there for a few and see how physical Sherman wants to get against somebody capable of “throwing him out of the club”. I expect to see a lot of motion from the Pats, probably stack up the WRs on one side with Gronk in the slot, that should help the WRs get open. I really don’t expect Seattle to ever have the lead, call me crazy but the Patriots are going to be in control of this game from start to finish. I think a lot of drives will end in FGs though, which is why the score is as close as it is. I think that if Seattle gives the Pats 3 redzone chances like they did the Packers, NE comes away with at least one TD. Seattle’s definitely a good team, and they have the talent to win this game, defensively they can give the Pat’s a hard time with the pass rush, and their outstanding secondary. The Legion of Boom is what makes Seattle great. I just think a healthy Gronk makes all the difference in the world. I also expect Julian Edelman to do something awesome, because he is awesome. SB win #4 for the Patriots, Tom Brady will be the greatest QB to ever play the game and there will be one very happy Jonny Firestorm.
Now onto Firestorm stuff. My diet hasn’t got off to a good start so I’ve basically delayed it till after the Superbowl. I would be doing good for a couple days and then fall off the wagon and then it’s impossible to diet during a Patriots game.
If you’re a member of BG East’s Arena you’ve been treated to some of the photos of my upcoming match against Christopher Bruce! I won’t post any photos of the match yet because it hasn’t been released but here are some portraits of the two of us from the bout.
It’s always fun for me to look back on matches and see how far I’ve progressed since then. I was younger, leaner, still skilled but lacked the real heel mean streak I have now. I remember being so impressed by Chris Bruce, he had been around the block at BG so I knew all about his reputation. Still to this day, I’m a big Chris Bruce fan.
I did a lot of filming last week (15 1/2 hours), mostly for custom match orders but also a couple matches for the Firestorm site. I just released one of the matches, scroll down to see more about that. I’ve also increased the quality and the video size for the VODs (new ones, not the old ones), so you should be seeing me as intended, bigger & better.
I have absolutely no travel plans as of right now. That can change at a moments notice. I’m a little behind on emails but I should be all caught up by the end of the day today.
My gear collection is running low, anybody want to send me something that I would wear in upcoming videos? I could use some speedos (small and medium) and singlets (medium), International Jock has some cool stuff on sale now. I’ve noticed some of you don’t care for the black speedos. With my big project taking up most of my time and resources, buying new gear isn’t at the top of my list. Speaking of the big project, I’m about half way done with it. I’m expecting to debut it in mid February.
Now for the next VOD announcement, The Challenger 2: Jonny Firestorm vs. Riley is now up in the VOD download section. Riley is a rookie to the underground wrestling scene but he’s a very talented pro. When I issued the open challenge for anybody to step in the ring with me, he was one of the very first people to respond. It’s taken some time to set up but we finally locked horns last week and he did not disappoint. He’s cunning, technically sound and deceptively strong. The photos don’t reflect how even the match is but it’s a total 50/50 back and forth bout that ends in a submission.
That’ll do it for now. Go Pats!
PS. Check out this “year end award” that I won for my work on POV 1 – La Sustancia. Thanks Jose, and I hope I can continue to innovate, entertain and tantalize you and the rest of my fans in 2015!