Super Bowl 49: Seattle Seahawks Top 5 MVP Candidates
January 10, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks strong safety Kam Chancellor (31) runs the ball in for a touchdown after intercepting a pass against the Carolina Panthers during the second half in the 2014 NFC Divisional playoff football game at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
3. SS Kam Chancellor
As Sherman said, Kam Chancellor “damages” souls, and he is the team’s best hope against elite tight end Rob Gronkowski, who is easily the Seahawks main concern on the Patriots offense. Even though it was slot corner Jeremy Lane who made the puzzling comments about Gronk’s skill level, Chancellor will be the one tasked with covering the best tight end in the NFL, who is also no slouch as a blocker.
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Chancellor’s only truly poor game in coverage against a tight end in 2014 came against San Diego Chargers future Hall of Famer Antonio Gates, and that’s because Chancellor was playing through a rather significant injury; he immediately bounced back to boss the Broncos and Julius Thomas in a Super Bowl re-match.
Last postseason, Chancellor was arguably the MVP of the playoffs, as he shut down the likes of Jimmy Graham, Vernon Davis, and Thomas in coverage after an excellent regular season (he also memorably shut out Tony Gonzalez). Gronk is even better than all of those guys right now, so Chancellor will have to be at his best. Based on his pick-six against the Carolina Panthers, the Patriots need to be on their guard.
One of the biggest keys for the Seahawks defense will be shutting down Gronkowski, and, if they can achieve that, then it’s probably because Chancellor played lights-out against another top tight end. He has a tough task ahead of him, and he’ll also have to provide some solid run support. But with his ridiculous all-around athletic ability, instincts, hard-hitting over the middle, and ability to lock it up in man coverage with top TEs, Kam could really stamp himself on this game.
Next: Big bounce-back on the way?