We are just days away from the biggest and best single game of the year. Whether you watch it for the commercials, or as an excuse to gamble, or because you want to see what Tom Brady and his balls, Super Sunday will have the attention of the entire nation. Of course, it has grabbed The Thread’s attention.

Last year, The Thread made their Wayniac Nation debut in the first ever Super Bowl prediction special. Nomi the Greek and Sperry (now Sperry Mason as he pursues his law degree) were right on in their Seahawks prediction, while the rest of us struggled. This year has seen the addition of three new members to The Thread. Nick the Greek is Nomi’s cousin. He lives in Detroit Lions country, but his allegiance is to the Dirty Birds. Mark.9 the Game is the youngest member of The Thread. He may, however, have the coolest job out of all of us. Jaybird does one of two things: works or reads/watches sports. At this point, I may as well make Olde Blind Dog part of The Thread, since their entire bartending staff writes for the site anyway!

The Second Annual Super Bowl Prediction Special

Nomi the Greek

Super Bowl Winner: Seattle Seahawks; 27-24
MVP: Marshawn Lynch – 130 yards rushing & 2 TD

The Pats D is pretty good but not good enough to stop Marshawn. The Seahawks ALL-TIME great D can handle Tom, Gronk and company. Just like last years Super Bowl, the size, strength and physicality of the Seahawks’ secondary will prove to be too much for the Patriots to handle.

Sleeper MVP: Kam Chancellor: He will have an interception and also block the tying field goal by jumping both the OL and DL.

 

Sperry Mason 

I’m doubling down on the Seahawks! 28-17. Kam Chacellor is MVP. Wilson isn’t going to have two bad games in a row. The front 7 can execute the perpetual plan against the Patriots (i.e. Get Brady off his spot). All footballs will be fully inflated 😄 (I know it is low hanging fruit, but I still think it’s funny!) That being said, I can see the deflation scandal motivating the Pats to victory, but I think that is the most unlikely scenario.

Nick the Greek

Super Bowl Winner: New England Patriots; 27-17
MVP : Tom Brady 300 yards, 2 TD passing and a rushing TD

Brady is embarrassed with all this deflate-gate stuff and the NFL golden boy, f bomb dropping QB is going to take it out on the injured Seattle secondary. Vince Wilfork, just weeks after pulling a woman from a flipped over car, will put the Patriots defense on his broad shoulders and contain the Beast Mode on the other side. I don’t believe Russell Wilson‘s supporting cast has the talent needed to stage the same kind of come back as they did in the NFC Championship against this Pats D. Get ready for all the asterisk talk because the evil empire of the NFL will reign supreme again in 2015.

Saucy T

Super Bowl Winner: Seahawks; 34-23
Whether you call it luck or taking advantage of favorable circumstances, what the Seahawks did to come back on the Packers in the NFC Championship game was remarkable. At this point I’m assuming they are as much a team of destiny as the 2013 Auburn Tigers. New England will keep it close, but Seattle pulls away late like they always do. MVP: Russel Wilson
Last year was a late-round defender that stepped up in the Super Bowl to win MVP. This year Russell Wilson proves to us all what we want to believe… Size doesn’t matter.

Kid Robot

Ok ok, Seahawks win 27-21. Defense wins championships but Beast Mode will be the absolute factor. Seattle will dominate the time of possession and when New England does touch the football, they will be rattled because of the stifling machine in front of them. Making it to the Super Bowl is plenty difficult but doing it in back-to-back years and winning is remarkable in this day in age.

The Englishman

I’ll keep it short: Patriots win 35-17. The Pats get 2 interceptions from their defense and 3 touchdowns from their running backs.

Mark.9 The Game

Super Bowl Winner: Seattle; 29-24
MVP: Wilson 18 of 35; 245 pass and 70 rush; 2 tot TD

Seahawks repeat as Super Bowl Champs. It will be a really tight game but the tough Seattle D and Russell Wilson managing the game well with a strong Beast Mode (110 yds 1 TD) will outlast Brady.

Wouldn’t be surprised to see a game with zero turnovers. The NFL’s best 2 coaches are going against each other. I expect a well coached game. Not to much drama except for a close finish.

Jaybird

Week 6 of 2012 saw Russell Wilson throw for 293 yards and three touchdowns in a 24-23 Seahawks victory over the Patriots. That was Wilson’s coming out party, and it was the last time these two teams met. There is a lot more at stake this time around. Can Seattle become the first repeat champs since New England did it a decade ago? That was also the last time the Patriots brought home the hardware. After coming up short every year since, can they finally “finish the drill” and supplant the Belichick/Brady era? If the Seahawks plan on repeating, the key to their success will be the defensive battle up front. In order to keep Brady uncomfortable in the pocket, DE Michael Bennett needs to have a Justin Tuck type performance (see Super Bowl XLII and XLVI). On the other side of the field, the Patriots should follow the Packers defensive blueprint in the NFC Championship game, but for a full 60 minutes. Vincent Wilfork and company will have their hands full slowing down Marshawn Lynch, but LB Jamie Collins will be instrumental containing Russell Wilson and the read option. I think the Patriots will come up with and execute a game plan to contain Seattle’s offense, and bring home their fourth Lombardi Trophy. New England 27, Seattle 20. Brady takes home the MVP.

And lastly, what you all want to know:

What does The Wayniac think?

I put a lot of thought in it, and I think my Uncle Billy summed it up pretty well. Cheaters always win. Or do winners always cheat? Well, that may be the great chicken or the egg debate of sports, but either way cheating seems to pay off, especially for the Patriots.

Deflate-gate was the most absurd cheating “scandal” I can remember, but alas, the Patriots were caught. Much like it was right after Michael Pineda got nabbed for using pine tar when he pitched, several others came forward and admitted they had done it as well. The Pats haven’t won since Spygate, and now they got Brady’s-Stupid-Balls-Gate. If they win once again after a scandal, Belichick and Brady need to combine in a memoir entitled “How We Did It“.

Cheating of course is mostly frowned upon only after the culprit is caught. Look at Pete Carroll’s USC year, or anywhere that John Calipari has been, or the Steroid Era in baseball. We knew what was going on, but because they weren’t caught at the time, no one made a fuss. The Fab Five’s banners may be down now, but none of us forget how exciting their two year run reinventing college hoops was. The home run race of 1998 between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa was one of the most memorable instances in baseball history and both of them were more juiced up that an orange grove in Florida. Sure, they may never be in the Hall of Fame, but everyone will remember that summer. Plus should they had been inducted into the Hall of Fame, they’d become an after thought, but now they will remain in the spotlight as the guys who won’t get in the Hall. Sounds like a win to me. And even for the mighty Pats, they lost draft picks and were heavily fined for Spygate, but there is no doubt that they have remained the most dominant team of this millennium. That won’t change this Sunday.

Last season was Wayniac Nation and The Thread’s first Super Bowl Special. For more than half of us, it seemed like the logical choice to hang our hat on the Denver Broncos and ride them to the championship. That offense was unstoppable… until they faced off against the Seahawks. They were stopped, and I looked like a moron in my first ever prediction.

This Sunday seems like the same circumstances. Marshawn Lynch appears to be heads and shoulders above the Pats defense and should control the ground allowing Russell Wilson to do his thing. The Pats don’t appear the have a ground game to wear down that stingy Seahawks defense, and their receivers are no where near the talent that Richard Sherman and the Legion of Boom possess. But… the Pats are the Pats.

Tom Brady is going to lead the Pats to victory in Super Bowl XLIX. The MVP will be the X-factor, the big dumb animal that nobody in football can contain. Rob Gronkowski will break down the Legion of Boom and open up holes for LeGarrette Blount to grab a few touchdowns. I have a feeling this will be the most exciting Super Bowl we have seen in some time, much like the Titans and Rams dandy that came down to a tackle on the one yard line. Pats win 27-24.

Tom Brady should then pull a John Elway and retire. Not because there is nothing more he needs to accomplish, not because of the cheating, and not because he doesn’t still have it. He needs to retire because it would be the ultimate F U to Roger Goodell. The man has lost control, and instead of conducting a professional, appropriate investigation (they interviewed 40 people “involved” in Deflate-gate, none were Tom Brady) he made the Patriots a spectacle. The greediest commissioner in sports (Bud Selig did retire) will take a hit in the ol’ wallet if his pretty boy cash cow walks off into the sunset. Think about it. Patriots have had close to double-digit Sunday/Monday night games for the last five seasons. The Brady/Manning Bowl is one of the most over-hyped events of the year. And love them or hate them, the Patriots sell. That all changes when Brady hangs it up.

The fiancé and I are hitting the open seas. We will be on a cruise for the Super Bowl. So pick the right square, dig in to the buffalo chicken dip, and enjoy your Super Sunday. Hopefully you all at Nomi the Greek’s Annual Super Bowl Fest still have fun without me!