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Kevin Jackson: Learn a little, Skip
All right, Skip. I'm actually starting to empathize with Woody Paige here -- something I never thought was possible.
Let me make sure I have your arguments straight.
The fact that the Seahawks beat the Panthers by 20 points in the NFC championship … is all due to home field and Carolina's injuries.
Matt Hasselbeck piloted the NFL's highest-scoring offense.
The fact that Seattle has lost only one game since Oct. 2 … is because its schedule was slightly easier (.430) than say Carolina (.449), Indy (.457) or Chicago (.457).
The fact that the media would be more excited about seeing the Giants, Bears or Skins in the Super Bowl … is because … well, I'm not sure I even understand your point there. (If you'd rather see the Washington or Chicago offenses play Super Sunday, and you feel Eli Manning is ready for the big stage … then I really want to know how you spend your Sundays in the fall. Shopping at Home Depot perhaps?)
I'm not going to throw a bunch of stats at you to explain why Seattle is a legit Super Bowl team.
I'm just going to say this: Journalists are lazy.
Most of them here in Detroit don't know anything about the Seahawks. The players aren't household names and their games aren't carried much on the East Coast, so they'd rather not be forced to learn anything during Super Bowl week or cover anything new. (Hell, people were debriefing me at media day to find out something about the Seahawks.)
Give them Brady vs. Favre and a late-afternoon tee time (except for these damn cold-weather Super Bowls), and they're a happy bunch.
But go back and look at what people were writing about Tom Brady before Super Bowl XXXVI: "Lucky to be there because of the Tuck Rule … Perhaps Drew Bledsoe should be starting instead … Worst AFC representative in a while … About to get blown out by the defending champion Rams."
Go back and read what the national media thought of Green Bay in the early 1990s. Makes Seattle look like the middle of Times Square.
Go back to the last Super Bowl played in Michigan, and you'll find people were bemoaning the lack of star power for the 49ers and Bengals. That game affirmed the greatness of a kid named Joe Montana … but nobody knew him as Joe Cool in January 1982. They only knew he'd thrown three INTs in the NFC title game before Dwight Clark made "The Catch."
It's all gotta start some time, Skip, and this could be Seattle's time.
After all, if the Hawks win Sunday, you'll be complaining in 2009 about how Super Bowl XLIII lacks marquee names like Alexander, Hasselbeck and Tatupu.
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Skip Bayless: Pass the Lofa
Who's Tatupu?
That's a joke, Kevin. So is this incessant theme I keep hearing from you and your Sea-who's -- that the media outside Seattle knows nothing about this team because nobody ever watches its games and it's stuck way up there in the remote wilderness of South Alaska. I even heard your quarterback -- what's his name, Hasleback? -- answer a question about what the media needs to know about the Seahawks with: "To start with, our names."
We run this photo so Skip will be able to recognize Lofa Tatupu if he bumps into him.
Hey, if it takes playing this flimsy Rodney Dangerfield card for your guys to get pumped up to play in the Super Bowl, be my guest. But I'm insulted by it.
My problem is that I know too much about your team -- and I live in New York.
I actually watched every play of the Falcons-at-South-Alaska game, when your Seahawks were lucky Michael Vick got banged up in the fourth quarter. I watched every play of the Cowboys-at-South-Alaska game, when Drew "What Are You Thinking?" Bledsoe threw the dumbest late interception I've ever witnessed, allowing your kicker -- Josh Green? -- to win the game with a 50-yarder through the rain at the gun. I watched the end of your game against the vaunted 49ers in San Francisco, when your guys nearly suffered a classic Seahawks collapse. And I watched every play of the Giants-at-South-Alaska game that New York kicker Jay Feely blew three times.
I know all about Hasselbeck's history, and I keep waiting for him to turn back into Jake Plummer. He was trying to in the playoff game against the Redskins, when he heaved three passes with his eyes closed that should have resulted in game-changing interceptions. But I'll give you this: Hasselbeck played sensationally against Carolina. He set the ear-splitting tone with his arm.
Which brings me to your MVP -- what's his name, Alexander Shaun? For five years, various NFL coaches and players have told me they don't consider your MVP mentally tough. They've wondered if he can get the key yards against physical defenses. Against the knock-your-block-off Redskins, it sure looked as if he wanted no part of returning to the game after receiving that little tap on the head.
He piled up most of those 132 yards against Carolina after Hasselbeck had done the early damage. Yes, your MVP can front-run. But can he pound the Steelers into first-quarter submission?
Don't blame my ignorance for my opinion of your team, Kevin. Credit my knowledge.
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Kevin Jackson: I don't get the Skip Bayless Network
Wow Skip, you apparently have some weird new TV network that shows only the Seahawks' losses and close calls. Let me guess: You turned on the Atlanta game only after Seattle had taken a 21-0 halftime lead. You missed the "other" San Francisco game, the one Seattle won 41-3. And you don't have replays on the Anti-Seahawk Network, so you don't know that neither of the Giants' second-half TDs should have actually counted. But this network apparently can see into the future, so you know for certain that Dallas would've won in OT without that awful Bledsoe pick.
Kevin's pick
20-17
Bottom line: In the NFL, a 13-3 team that outscores its opponents by 181 points is a good team. A worthy Super Bowl team.
Those numbers can't be explained away by scheduling or some wacky home-field advantage gained by playing in an Anchorage suburb.
And why we're talking numbers: Go back and look at the last six Super Bowl winners and find the one statistic that they all have most in common. I'll save you the time: It's red-zone defense. All six ranked in the NFL's top four.
Seattle was No. 2 in the NFL in red-zone defense. Pittsburgh was No. 10.
Advantage: South Alaska!
Seahawks 20, Steelers 17
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Skip Bayless: No defense for your argument
At least you didn't pick your Seahawks 81-3. At least you've preserved a Seattle raindrop's worth of perspective and you're saying -- or praying -- your No. 1 seed will barely beat the AFC's bottom seed. So in closing, I will return your respect.
I really want to like your guys. From your coach to your quarterback, your team has a strong spiritual core. I just don't think your team is Super Bowl worthy.
Especially your defense.
You can give me all that red-zone hocus pocus you want, but your line is undersized and extremely average. Yes, I know it led the NFL in sacks, but obviously that was a product of inferior competition. Your sack leaders, Bryce Fisher and Rocky Bernard, could just as easily be sacking groceries. Without a rush, your corners are torchable.
Skip's pick
24-14
Yes, Tatupu is emerging as a player, but this is the Super Bowl and he's a rookie.
I repeat, Kevin, THE SUPER BOWL.
Just before kickoff, Hasselbeck will think: "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Seattle anymore."
Your fairy-tale Sea-frauds will wake up and realize that they no longer have all you Qwest fans screaming so loudly that you create a magic carpet of noise and emotion beneath them. It will soon hit your guys like a ton of Pittsburgh bricks that they're up against a much more physical football team.
But you get one last break: These aren't the 1979 Steelers. They're the bottom seed.
And they'll still beat you.
Steelers 24, Seahawks 14.
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Skip Bayless can be seen Monday through Friday on "Cold Pizza," ESPN2's morning show, and at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN's "1st & 10." His column appears twice a week on Page 2. You can e-mail Skip here.
Kevin Jackson is an Executive Editor for ESPN.com and one of the founding editors for Page 2. E-mail him at
kevin.jackson@espn3.com.
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