FOXBORO — The Seattle Seahawks trailed by 12 points with about four minutes left in regulation in the NFC Championship Game and still pulled off a miraculous victory over the Green Bay Packers.
The Patriots trailed by 14 points twice in the AFC divisional round at home against Baltimore and are still playing for a fourth Super Bowl title on Feb. 1.
Resiliency is a trait that not every team has. Not every team can overcome not playing its best in a two-score deficit. The two teams playing in Glendale, Ariz., in Super Bowl XLIX are well equipped in that phase of the game. And it’s almost like the Patriots and Seahawks are looking in a mirror.
“It’s like us, I feel like,” Patriots safety Devin McCourty said. “We’re playing a team that, mentally, they’re no different than us. There’s no game that they feel they’re out of, there’s no game they walk into and have any doubt that they could win the game. To me, it’s just going to be a test of both teams’ wills, to just keep battling. And whoever makes enough plays at the end of the day will probably be the winner.”
Take the quarterbacks. Tom Brady, whose team has come under fire due to allegations of deflating the football in the AFC championship win over Indianapolis, has 46 game-winning comebacks when the Pats trailed or been tied in the fourth quarter. In three seasons, Russell Wilson has 15 wins when behind or tied entering the fourth.
Both quarterbacks registered their one and only comeback wins of the season in that fashion in this year’s playoffs. Those wins get credited to the quarterbacks, but without strong, red-zone defense and standout special teams play neither team would still be playing. Those are traits that Patriots’ players appreciate about the Seahawks.
“It just shows the character they have as a team,” said cornerback Darrelle Revis. “They work hard. They really work hard and they are very competitive as a team, and you see that on film all the time. That’s how you can really sum it up is that they’ve got a lot of fight as a team.”
“You certainly understand that they won’t quit,” added Pro Bowl special teamer Matthew Slater, “and we have to have that same mentality coming in there. When the smoke clears we will see what the score is. We know no matter what the situation, no matter the momentum swings that occur during the game, they are going to fight until the end.”
There are plenty of teams who have played the fool against the Pats and Seattle, and anyone who has been on either end certainly knows the other side.
“Previously, when I would have gotten in a situation like that, just like a, ‘Aw, here we go again’ type of deal,” said Akeem Ayers, who was traded to the Patriots this season from the Tennessee Titans. “Being here, no one panicked. We just kept doing what we’re doing and just kept one play at a time, continue to make plays and eventually the game swung. I think that’s something that everyone believed in the whole time. We wanted to come back and find a way to win.”
A fact that makes both teams very dangerous, no matter what the score says next Sunday night.
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