Ask any player who has won a Super Bowl and they will tell you how difficult it is to get to the championship. Ask any repeat champion how difficult it was to win the title a second time, and you'll find the challenge is even greater. Yet the Seattle Seahawks are a team that are up to that challenge and when their backs were against the wall they rallied and pulled out a win to defend their title in Super Bowl XLIX and here is what we can expect from the Seahawks tonight.

STRENGTHS
The Seahawks succeed based on two simple concepts, stifling defense and an unparalleled run game. They pound the rock seemingly at will because well, Marshawn Lynch is essentially a moving mountain that mows over defenders, setting up Russell Wilson to throw the ball as he pleases. When the offense is resting the powerhouse defense goes to work, blanketing opposing receivers or sending a lethal pass rush at the quarterback.  Expect to see that formula continue tonight, with Lynch touching the ball plenty of times and that defense hungry to bring Brady to the turf.

WEAKNESSES
The Green Bay Packers put forth a formula to defeat this juggernaut team and it's a plan that the Packers backed off on, sending Seattle to the big game. Key number one was that they didn't focus squarely on stopping Lynch, they focused on shutting down the passing game. By being super physical with the receivers and putting pressure on Wilson, they shut down the offense. Not to mention with some creative looks on offense passing wise they had the defense on its heels for a better part of the game. If New England can follow that blueprint, the Seahawks may be in trouble. 

KEYS TO SUPER BOWL XLIX
The Seahawks will need to wear down the Patriots defense quickly and let Marshawn Lynch do what he does best and set up the passing game for Wilson. They also need to break out their Super Bowl XLVIII playbook defensively and do to Tom Brady what they did to Peyton Manning, attack the receivers and the quarterback to shut down the passing game. If they pull that off, they are looking at their second straight Super Bowl Championship.

The greatest teams in the NFL are the ones that can overcome any level of adversity and the New England Patriots are such a team. With a porous offensive line and a defense that seemed to have lost its edge, this is a team that was embarrassed in prime time and left its fan base and the experts filled with doubt. But they rallied back, securing that line and pouring on the points and here we are now, the Patriots are back in the Super Bowl and here is what we can expect from them tonight.

STRENGTHS
Tom Brady and the offense are simply the stuff of magic. Most of Brady's finest weapons are no longer with the team, yet great quarterbacks turn regular receivers into stars and #12 does just that as he takes apart defenses piece by piece before unleashing his nuclear weapon, Gronkowski. The run game is no slouch either. Thanks to their prolific passing game the Pats can pound the rock as well, and we should see a healthy mix of run and pass to keep the Seahawks honest.  

WEAKNESSES
The offensive line however, is still cause for concern in New England and it can be exploited. The right kind of blitzing means that the Seahawks can get to Tom Brady and that has been the formula for beating Tom for a very long time in this league. Knock him around and sack him enough and the frustration shows through in his play. We also need to mention the fact that their defense can be beat if it stays on the field long enough.

KEYS TO SUPER BOWL XLIX
The Patriots will have to come out and establish offensive superiority early and maintain it often.  There is a fair chance that their, at times, porous defense will allow the Seahawks to hang in this game, so setting up and maintaining a big lead will be crucial for this squad, but more importantly, that offensive line has to protect Brady.

It's been an interesting offseason for Denver Broncos fans. We learned just how serious John Elway is about winning Super Bowls when and he John Fox agreed to part ways because four division titles, and an appearance in Super Bowl XLVIII was simply not enough.  

Of course in order to maintain that high level of excellence, John's search for a new coaching staff in Denver has led to a long list of familiar faces, starting with former Broncos QB/Offense Coordinator Gary Kubiak being named the Head Coach and it hasn't ended there as Kubiak has finished rounding out his staff.

The first order of business after being hired was to bring in Rick Dennison as Offensive Coordinator which is a move I really like. Dennison, like Kubiak has a long history with this team. He played linebacker for this team from 1982-1990 then returned as a coach during the Mike Shanahan era in 1995.  He served as an Offensive Assistant, Special Teams Coach, Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach here in Denver before joining Coach Kubiak in Houston as the OC there as well. He is definitely a master of the zone blocking scheme, something we should expect to see deployed here in Denver a lot more now.

But, the familiar faces continue to show up on this coaching squad as Denver announced last night that it had agreed to terms with Wade Phillips to become the team's new Defensive Coordinator.  Phillips of course also has a long legacy here in Denver.  Now Wade has been a coach in the NFL since 1976 when he served as the Defensive Line Coach for the Houston Oilers but when it comes to Denver, he was the team's Defensive Coordinator from 1989-1992 before taking over as a brief stint as Head Coach, a title he has held on several occasions and been quite successful at it.  Wade is regarded as one of the best Defensive Coordinators in the league and I think it's fantastic he's come back to Denver. 

If anything, what John Elway is doing is clear, by getting the band back together if you will, he is trying to take the best elements of the Broncos past and bring them all back to life before our very eyes. The offensive powerhouse that Kubiak used to run here has all of the components it needs while at the same time giving the defense one of the best minds on that side of the ball the game has ever seen. All these moves are for one reason, to bring home the Lombardi Trophy and I can't wait to see what Coach Kubiak and his new staff do with the team.

Yesterday, I had the distinct displeasure of catching a surprise press conference from Bill Belichick, Head Coach of the New England Patriots regarding new information about the current scandal facing the team, whether or not they deflated footballs in the AFC Championship game to gain an advantage over the Colts. 

I say it was a displeasure because my phone blew up with alerts from the NFL and ESPN that news was forthcoming and here I initially thought, oh, they caught someone or someone was going to confess to the whole mess. Sadly, that was not the case.  What we were "treated" to was a nonsensical and bizarre rambling from the coach as he walked us through the process of how his team prepares game balls for each game and well, I switched channels about halfway through and came back a little later on to watch the press rip into Coach Belichick about the Spygate scandal instead.  

It was in essence, a waste of time to even have that press conference.  I get it, the Patriots are in a lot of hot water. This is the second time in years that they appear to have cheated to gain an advantage. I get that fans are angry and I've heard everyone's demands for punishments, but when we have come to a press conference to tell us how a team prepares game balls, this is simply getting out of hand. Especially since the NFL is investigating the matter, and I'd rather them take their time and do their due diligence than screw this up like they did the Ray Rice matter.  

They'll handle the punishment as necessary, and I'm fairly certain no one will be happy with the punishment either as is often the case, but really...enough is enough when it comes to this mess. It's dominated the headlines, it's been poured over to the point of overkill as we can now see, so my hope is that we move on from it as quickly as possible and focus our attention on the bigger matter at hand, The Super Bowl. 

We have other stories to talk about. Specifically whether or not the Patriots can stop Marshawn Lynch or if Richard Sherman's arm is healed up enough to where Tom Brady cannot attack him in the passing game all day. This is the big one folks, and while I understand it won't be easy to not continue to fawn over how many games the Pats may have done this in and all the other minutiae, Super Bowl XLIX is here, let's celebrate that instead while we wait for the league to figure the whole thing out. 

While a coaching change is sometimes necessary for a football team, and often warranted when it comes, it leaves fans and players uneasy. After all, we get used to that coach, so do the players and few of us are ever comfortable with the unknown. In fact sometimes you never truly know what you get in a new coach until the season begins...take Josh McDaniels for example. 

So leave it to John Elway to accomplish several things this week. Not only did he find a coach out there that is known as a fiery competitor and managed to turn around a losing franchise, he also found someone that pleases the fans by hiring the fifteenth head coach of the Denver Broncos, Gary Kubiak.

For those unfamiliar with Coach Kubiak, this is the town that brought Gary into the football fold. He was John Elway's backup at quarterback from 1983-1991 before he left the game to head out into the coaching world where he joined up with the San Francisco 49ers as a Quarterbacks Coach and snagged a Super Bowl Championship Ring with the Niners in Super Bowl XXIX. But his coaching pedigree continued to grow when he returned to Denver with Mike Shanahan to serve as Offensive Coordinator from 1995-2005 where he pulled in two more rings in Super Bowl XXXII and XXXIII.  

Kubiak then left the Broncos to become the Head Coach of the Houston Texans where he took a perennial loser and turned them into a fiercely competitive squad and a playoff contender. Unfortunately, poor play always falls on the coach's shoulders and Matt Schaub's sudden fall from grace put an end to his career in Houston.  Quite frankly, that's their mistake, because after a brief stint in Baltimore as the OC, he has come home at last to coach a team that is in need of inspiration.  
We now know that John Fox rarely fired up his players or had them ready to play when it mattered most, and that won't be the case with Kubiak at the helm. He is well known as a man that inspires a team and fawns over the details to make sure they are prepared when they take the field.  Plus, few men in the league are regarded as offensive/quarterbacking geniuses like Gary Kubiak. He got incredible play out of John Elway and it should be amazing to see what he will do with Peyton Manning, should he choose to return. 

Either way, the franchise has managed to soothe some of the pain of the ugly loss the Broncos endured in the playoffs and I think the team is in incredible hands with Coach Kubiak at the helm, and I'm looking forward to an incredible season where the Broncos will no doubt leave it all on the field. Welcome home, Coach Kubiak. We missed you. 

The stage is finally set, of the 12 teams that entered the playoffs, only two remain after what was a wild Conference Championship Sunday.  We were witness to one of the greatest playoffs games the sport has ever seen, and we were also privy to a good old fashioned blowout.  Either way, there were some incredible stories to be told on the field so let's look at what we learned from Championship Sunday! 

1. The NFC Championship was a playoff game for the ages. I mean, wow. Green Bay had this game completely in hand. The defense completely shut down Russell Wilson, and while the offense didn't exactly drop touchdown after Touchdown on the Seahawks...they had the lead.  For three quarters this game looked like a snoozer and then something magical happened, the Seahawks came alive and won the game in overtime to earn a shot at defending their title in Super Bowl XLIX.

If anything this game showed us two key things. First and foremost, the Seahawks are unstoppable with momentum on their side. A four turnover performance meant nothing to the defense or Marshawn Lynch as they racked up the points, it was simply incredible to watch, but they had a little help. The other key to this game was that Green Bay Head coach Mike McCarthy could have put the game out of reach, but didn't. With a fairly conservative game plan that didn't go in for the kill on the goal line early on and well...that became run heavy late in the game, those missing points came back to haunt the Packers. Either way, congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks for winning the NFC Championship.

2. Turns out the AFC Championship, was nowhere as cool as the NFC Championship. I honestly thought that Indianapolis would put up a better showing after crushing the Bengals and stunning the Broncos. Instead we were "treated" to a complete and utter bloodbath as the Patriots scored at will by both land and air.  Tom Brady handled the Colts with little effort on his way to a sixth title appearance.  

In fact, for a little while there, I had to wonder if the Colts bought John Fox's playbook for the AFC Divisional Game and fully implemented it here. i mean, wow, this squad, well known for its preparation looked woefully lost for the entire game. Everyone simply looked confused as the game wore on and it was just painful to watch. I really expected more from the Colts but that's okay, they weren't ready, simple as that. Now they have the entire offseason to figure it out now that the New England Patriots are the AFC Champion.

3. Denver is closing in on a new head coach.  It was news that started to leak out as the games came to a close, but the Broncos, roughly a week removed from the John Fox era, began to finalize a four year deal that will bring former offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak back to Denver as its fifteenth head coach. In fact the team sent every executive down to Houston to meet with Kubiak and it looks like an announcement making it official will be arriving from the Broncos come Tuesday. 

Scotty's Pick
I have to go with the popular pick on this one.  New England has come to play the past couple of weeks and although I hate to say it, they are really good.  As long as Brady can use his one and only tight end, Gronk, the Pats will have a great game and put up many points.  I do however like how Andrew Luck has been looking though the playoffs, he is poised and seems to be grasping the importance of what the games mean.  But I don't think there are enough tools on the defensive side of the ball to keep Brady locked up in the pocket without being able to find a way out. WINNER - NEW ENGLAND

John's Pick
There's a lot to be said about New England and their vaunted everything.  They do this well, they do that well...it goes on and on. We're not going to talk about that today simply because, the Colts are a powerhouse right now. They out coached and out played the Broncos, they used game film from the entire season to beat Peyton Manning, so you know they are coming into Foxboro with the same kind of preparation. Brady needs to watch out, because the Colts are ready for him and their hard work and quality play will earn them a trip to Arizona and a lovely Lamar Hunt Trophy to put on display back home.  
WINNER - INDIANAPOLIS

Scotty's Pick
I am taking the safe pick on this game for one reason, the 12th man is one of the best friends a defense can have.  I know that Aaron Rodgers is hurt and somehow he was able to come out last week and win the game, but without the home crowd behind him, I do not see how he will be able to keep the streak alive.  Beside, Seattle has a very fast defense and and when playing the Tampa 2 coverage, there is someone always in the middle of the field, looking to feast on the quarterback.
WINNER - SEATTLE

John's Pick
I want Green Bay to win this game, I really do. I want them to take vengeance for Denver fans and put an end to Seattle's reign. But sadly, I have to deal in truth and reality for this game, Seattle is a monster and right now they seem unstoppable. They simply wait for their opponent to make a mistake and make them pay for it, and with an injured Aaron Rodgers, that's not a good thing for the Packers. This game will likely start off slow and erupt just like last week at CenturyLink Field. The only difference this time, is that at the end of the day, the Seahawks will hold the George Halas trophy above their heads.
WINNER - SEATTLE

It's been a few days since John Fox and the Denver Broncos mutually agreed to part ways after a devastating loss in the Divisional Round of the playoffs, and a few days since John Elway explained why the Broncos felt the need to move in a different direction.  If you didn't get the chance to see Elway's press conference around this, here are the key things he spoke to. 

For one, Elway's biggest concern was the fact that the Denver Broncos seemed to have no fire or fight in them when it mattered most and of course that he and John Fox could not see eye to eye when it came to how to get Denver to the next level and win a Super Bowl.  Of all the things he spoke to, the first big thing that caught my attention was the fact that he said the team was missing that fire. It's a spot on assessment, and something I noticed a few times this season, where it just seems the squad was completely unprepared to play a football game. I just know this move has been heavily criticized by some, with people questioning the logic of making a change at Head Coach when the man took you to a Super Bowl.

To me, it's a bold move that rarely occurs in the league. There's no team that sets out to finish 8-8. They all want the trophy, they all want the prize. Yet some franchises don't seem to want it enough. Look at Cincinnati, four years in the playoffs, four exits in the first round. Does Marvin Lewis still have his job? Yup. Would he in Denver? Nope. I think this speaks volumes as to what Denver will stand for, nothing less than excellence, so quite frankly, John Elway made the right call in making a major change. Fox is a good coach, don't get me wrong, but he is not what Elway truly wants.  

Elway wants a fiery competitor, someone who will hold his players feet to the fire when they slack off on a play or don't play as hard as they can in general. He wants someone that understands you only get one shot to win in this league and you need to leave your best on the field, but most importantly...he wants a guy that endlessly prepares and has his squad ready for every little nuance of their opponent on the field.  With that in mind, did he make a mistake in hiring Fox in the first place? Absolutely not. Fox quickly washed away all the bad feelings and mojo that Josh McDaniels left in his wake and for that I thank him.  But it was clear in Super Bowl XLVIII that something was very wrong on the coaching side of the ball, after all, one of the best offenses in the history of the league, ended up looking like a junior varsity squad in the biggest game of the year.

Either way, I applaud Elway for making such a bold move and sending a message to the league about how Denver will conduct its business. Every year will be a Super Bowl or bust and quite frankly, if there are people thinking that that kind of high level of expectation is simply too much, there are two things they need to consider. For one, if the Broncos had put up a hell of a fight in the last two playoff games they lost, I think Fox would still be here. Second, if you honestly think it's wrong to say goodbye to a coach who got you so close to the end and into the playoffs, reconsider what the hell you're thinking when it comes to this sport. It's about being the best, and that's what John wants, and judging from the boos that rained down at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on Sunday...lots of people agree with him.  

Sunday night in Denver was an unpleasant night to be a football fan. The Broncos, with a loaded roster and a chance to advance simply looked dazed and confused and unprepared on the field and because of their poor play, injury or not, they saw the game against the Colts slip away from them and of course they lost the game.  

Naturally, every fan I know was angry in some capacity, myself included. I took to venting and got into a spirited discussion with Scotty and another friend as to who should go and who should stay coaching wise where it was pointed out to me my "fire them all" moment could be a dangerous wish. After all, a complete housecleaning would mean some level of rebuilding and heaven knows we have all had our share of that in this town.  At the time I was mad, and as it turns out so was Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway, and his anger carried into Monday as he decided it was time for a change.  

Yes, after meeting for an hour with Head Coach John Fox, the two men decided to mutually part ways, sending Coach Fox out into the market and leaving Denver looking for a new direction at the position. It was a stunning move to say the least, but quite frankly, one that makes sense and one that I think was clearly a long time coming, especially after this season.  After all, John Elway is a competitor, who hates to lose and his hire of Fox was doomed from the start.  

You see, Fox has always been a conservative coach, something that was evident in his time here in Denver. In fact his play it safe nature was on display in full view during pretty much every playoff game the Broncos participated in in his tenure. We were never too aggressive, always bending but never breaking and well...we lost three of the last four Divisional games because of it.  Not to mention Coach Fox always seemed to struggle with making adjustments during the game, always wanting to simply stay the course and once in a while that cost us a win.  

It's a decision that makes more sense with every passing moment.  After all Elway gave Fox every tool to succeed and well, we ended up being embarrassed in the Super Bowl and we simply didn't get it done this year. It always falls on the coach and despite the fact there will be some rebuilding now I'm honestly good with the move. The front office has the chance to hire a fiery competitor who will give this team an identity and focus and I would rather do that and build some consistency rather than keep flirting with glory.  The lesson learned here for the next head coach and quite frankly the team, is that you better win in this town or John Elway will show you the door.