I’ve got to hold my hands up. When the season started, I didn’t think either of these two teams would be here, but through the season, I’ve changed my thoughts on the Seahawks, who have shown time and again that they’re a strong team. The Patriots also finished with a 14-3 record in the regular season, but they had the weakest schedule in the entire NFL.

They only played four games against teams that made the playoffs and finished 2-2, which, given that two of those teams were the Steelers and Panthers, is poor. In the playoffs, they beat the Chargers and Texans, who are not Super Bowl-calibre teams, and only beat the Broncos, without their starting quarterback in the Conference Championship game. This is a team that is supremely overrated.

The Patriots offense can be a juggernaut, and they rank fifth in offensive DVOA, but the Seahawks are just three spots behind them. However, the Seahawks rank top in defensive DVOA, 12 spots ahead of the Patriots. We just saw them do an excellent job against the Rams, and as the old adage goes, “defense wins championships”.

The Seahawks backfield has been a two-headed beast this season, with Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet both getting a lot of playing time. As the season progressed, Charbonnet seemed to take the lead in the pairing, but an injury against the 49ers in the Divisional Round saw the entire backfield handed to Walker.

Walker has nine touchdowns on the season, but four of those have come in his previous two playoff games. He rushed for three touchdowns in a monster performance against the Niners and scored an important TD against the Rams. The ground game is a huge part of the Seahawks identity, and with Charbonnet managing 12 touchdowns before his injury, it’s clear that whoever is the lead back for this team will always have a high chance of scoring.

With 19 carries in each of his past two games and involvement in the passing game, we’re going to see Walker get plenty of opportunity, and the 25-year-old will likely score.

There have been some big receiving performances for the Patriots as they’ve reached this point, but Hunter Henry has been surprisingly quiet. In the previous two games, he’s caught just three passes for 17 yards. That’s quite a contrast with the rest of the season, and I’m fully expecting the Patriots’ tight end to get back to what he’s best at. He’s one of Drake Maye’s favourite targets and provides the Patriots with real size and dependable hands.

I’m taking this alternate line of his receiving yards, and fancy him to get 40+. Across the entire season, including his past two disappointing games, he’s averaged a solid 44.6 receiving yards per game. Not only that, but he’s had 40+ yards in 10 of 19 appearances. The good news is that despite having a great defense, the Seahawks still allowed an average of 63.5 yards per game to tight ends in the regular season, the sixth most in the entire league.

He may only be a sophomore, but Drake Maye fully deserves to be in the MVP conversation after an impressive season.

As we’ve hit the business end of the season, his performances have been a little more hit and miss in terms of passing, which concerns me against this defense. Instead, I’m looking back on Maye’s other great asset, his legs. Even Matthew Stafford, a man who runs like he’s wading through a river, managed to rush for 16 yards on two attempts in the Conference Championship Game against the Seahawks.

The 23-year-old has been a solid rusher when needed this year. Across the campaign, he’s averaged 29.55 rushing yards per game and an average of 4.7 yards per carry. How often a quarterback runs is obviously hugely dependent on the opponent that they’re facing and the situation in the game, but with this being a big game, I’m expecting him to try to put the team on his back if needed.

In three playoff games, he’s had double-digit carries twice and has averaged 47 rushing yards per game.

With no Zach Charbonnet and George Holani having just returned from injury, there’s no real competition in the Seahawks backfield, so we’re set to see Kenneth Walker get a heavy dose of carries.

The lack of Charbonnet is a big one, and it’s worth noting that the Seahawks other running back opened the scoring in five games this season, which really underlines just how important the ground game is to this team.

In the Conference Championship game, we saw Kenneth Walker with a two-yard run to open the scoring in the first quarter, and he had another strong performance. He’s going to continue to be a major player in this team, and if the Seahawks score first, which I believe they will, it’s most likely to be him or Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

The wideout is an excellent player and a key part of this offense, but when the team are within five or 10 yards of the endzone, I’m very confident that they’re going to really focus on the run.

He started the season as a New Orleans Saint, but since being traded to the Seahawks, we’ve seen Rashid Shaheed carve out a niche on the team.

He’s become the team’s Swiss-Army knife, a player with a unique skillset that can be utilised all over the field. He’s been a player that they’re looking to get the ball into the hands of, whether that’s on offense, where he’s been used as a rusher and a pass catcher, or on special teams.

With no Zach Charbonnet, there’s an increased chance of him being used in the ground game, and he can be absolutely lethal if they get him into the open field. His speed gives him game-breaking potential as a serious threat, and a 51-yard catch nearly saw him score in the win over the Rams last time out. In 11 games in Seahawks colours he’s scored three times, twice kick returning and once returning a punt.

He’s a player who can do it all, and although he won’t get tons of carries or targets, his skillset means he could well be involved in key players, so expect OC Klint Kubiak to open his bag of tricks and get Shaheed in the mix.

The star man for the Seahawks in this incredible season has been Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The wideout has followed up a breakout sophomore season by turning in a year that cements him as one of the best wide receivers in the entire NFL. He only needs 35 more receiving yards to hit 2,000 on the season and has got huge volume, with 132 catches, an average of 6.9 per game.

He was key for the Seahawks in the Conference Championship game, seemingly always open, and he rewarded the team by catching 10 of 12 targets for 153 yards and a score. The team will be looking to replicate that and get the ball in his hands. That’ll start earlier, so expect him to get targets on the first drive. Given that he averaged 14.9 yards per catch across the whole season, he likely needs just one catch to hit this mark and record 10+ receiving yards on the Seahawks opening drive.