This Week
The New England Patriots visit the Seattle Seahawks at Qwest Field in Seattle WA on Sunday at 4:05 p.m.
NOTE: The new start time. The game was originally scheduled for 8:15 p.m. but was flexed out of primetime to the afternoon start.
The Patriots are 3-2 on the road and 2-0 against the NFC. The Seahawks are 1-5 at home and 0-2 against the AFC.
Here are the rosters for the Patriots and Seahawks.
Here are the projected starting lineups for the game.
The Line/Prediction
As of Thursday the line on the game from Yahoo! Sports is Patriots -5. The over/under is 43.
My prediction is Patriots 30, Seahawks, 14. Give the points (Patriots) and take the over. I am 5-6-1 against the spread and 7 of 12 on calling the over/under in 2008.
Tickets
Tickets to the game, if available, may be purchased through Ticketmaster. You can check the availability here.
Getting To The Game
If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game at the “Q” make sure you check out the links.
Here is the up to date weather forecast for the game from weather.com.
Click for stadium directions, mass transit options, parking and stadium information, parking map and a Qwest Field seating chart.
Tailgating
Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgaiting America. There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack. I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good and for good measure here is one of my own.
And with tailgating many people enjoy some adult beverages. With that in mind check out Drink Nation for how to make all sorts of great drinks. You can look things up by name, ingredient(s) or by theme.
Whether it’s at the game, a bar or someone’s house moderation is always the key to a great time. Please don’t drink and drive and designate a sober driver. Remember You Drink, You Drive, You Lose.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television
CBS is televising the game regionally and Dick Enberg will do the play-by-play while Randy Cross will handle the game analysis. You can see if you are getting the game and look for your local CBS Station.
The Direct TV NFL Sunday Ticket feed is on Channel 711.
For those of you overseas here is some general information on NFL Broadcasts for the 2008 season.
Patriots All-Access airs Saturday at 7 p.m. on WCVB TV 5 in Boston. It will also be simulcast on the team website at the same time. Make sure you check out the Patriots Football Network for information on when you can see Patriots All-Access in your market.
Radio
The Patriots Rock Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBCN-FM 104.1 in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriot Gino Cappelletti does the color.
It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Scott Zolak and Andy Gresh and the pregame show at 1 p.m. along the network.
The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours.
If you are outside of the broadcast area of the stations on the Patriots Rock Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass which allows you to listen to any NFL game live. You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.
All NFL games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio. The Patriots Rock Radio Network call is available on Channel 113, the Seahawks Radio Network has Steve Raible doing play-by-play and Hall of Fame QB Warren Moon with analysis. Their call is available on Channel 122.
Since the satellite merger XM Satellite Radio also carries all the NFL games and in most cases has just the radio call of the home team. The game is on XM Channel 103.
Last Week
The Patriots got whipped by the Steelers at the Razor, 33-10. The Seahawks got routed by the Cowboys in Dallas on Thanksgiving Day, 34-9.
History
- This is the Patriots first ever visit to Qwest Field and the first time they have played in Seattle since 1993 in a game the Seahawks won 10-9 at the Kingdome.
- This is the 15th meeting in the series that started in 1977. It is tied 7-7.
- The Patriots won the last meeting between the teams 30-20 in 2004 at Gillette Stadium. It snapped a five game losing streak to Seattle dating back to 1989.
- New England won five of the first seven meetings, Seattle has won five of the last seven meetings.
Connections
- Patriots rookie CB Jonathan Wilhite was college teammates at Auburn with Seahawks WR Courtney Taylor, LB Will Herring and CB Kevin Hobbs.
- Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck gew up in Norwood MA and is a Boston College graduate. His father Don is a former Patriots TE and Matt was a Patriots ballboy growing up.
- Patriots LB Gary Guyton was a college teammate of Seahawks G Mansfield Wrotto at Georgia Tech.
- Seahawks LB Lofa Tatupu grew up in Plainville MA and his father Mosi is a former Patriots RB. Lofa served as a Patriots ballboy while growing up. He played his freshman year of college at the University of Maine before transferring to Southern California where he was teammates with Patriots QB Matt Cassel.
- Patriots CB Ellis Hobbs and Seahawks QB Seneca Wallace played together at Iowa State.
- Seahawks WR Deion Branch was drafted by the Patriots in the second round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He played for New England for 4 seasons and was a member of the 2003 and 2004 Super Bowl championship teams. Branch was named MVP of Super Bowl XXXIX. The Patriots traded Branch to Seattle in 2006 for a 1st round pick that was used to draft Brandon Meriweather.
- Patriots DE Jarvis Green and LB Eric Alexander were college teammates of Seahawks DT Howard Green at LSU.
- Seahawks DE Baraka Atkins and CB Kelly Jennings played college football at Miami with Patriots NT Vince WIlfork and S Brandon Meriweather.
- Patriots rookie RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis played football at Mississippi with Seahawks C Chris Spencer.
- Seahawks RB Julius Jones played college football at Notre Dame with Patriots CB Mike Richardson and OL Mark LeVoir. Levoir and Richardson were also college teammates with Seahawks rookie TE John Carlson.
- Patriots OL Matt Light and Seahawks DT Craig Terrell attended Purdue together.
- Seahawks FS Deon Grant and Patriots WR Kelly Washington were teammates at Tennessee.
- Seahawks DT Rocky Bernard was college teammates at Texas A&M with Patriots CB Jason Webster (IR), G Billy Yates and DE Ty Warren.
Other News
This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Wednesday press conference on the Seahawks. You can also see what Seattle head coach Mike Holmgren had to say about the game in a conference call with the New England media.
Here is the injury list for the game.
Belichick is 2-1 in his career against the Seahawks. He is 1-0 against them as the head coach in New England.
Overall in his NFL career Belichick is 134-86 in 14 NFL seasons. He is 15-4 in the playoffs and when you combine the regular season and postseason Belichick is 149-90.
Matt Cassel is 6-5 since he took over for the injured Tom Brady.
The Patriots overall franchise record is 373-354-9. They have won three Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXIII, XXXIX) in 6 appearances.
The Patriots are -3 in turnover differential for the season.
The Patriots this week placed CB Jason Webster on the IR with an ankle injury and signed free agent LB Rosevelt Colvin to a contract. Colvin is expected to play on Sunday. They also added rookie LB Angelo Craig to the practice squad.
According to the NFL the hit on Wes Welker was a legal one.
The biggest news on the week is that the Patriots will play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next October in London.
The Patriots are 29-5 against the NFC since 2001 including 13 consecutive wins. They are 6-1 against the NFC West since Belichick took over as coach.
Based on points per game the Patriots offense is ranked 18th in the league, while the defense is 12th.
Since 2001 the Patriots are 66-17 in games played on November 1st or later.
This is the third consecutive game that the either the Patriots or the team they are playing played in a Thursday night contest and had 10 days off coming into the game.
NFL Pro Bowl balloting runs through Dec. 9. Fans may vote for their favorite NFL players to represent the AFC and NFC in the 2009 Pro Bowl in Honolulu on Sunday, Feb. 8. Fans may vote online at nfl.com/probowl or on Web-enabled mobile phones by going to NFL.com.
2008 Patriots schedule/results
News from this weeks opponent:
Mike Holmgren is 159-109 in 17 seasons as a NFL head coach. He is 84-72 in his 10th and final season in Seattle. He was 75-37 in 7 seasons in Green Bay. He is 13-11 in the post season and won Super Bowl XXXI when his Green Bay Packers beat the New England Patriots, 35-21.
Holmgren has announced his retirement effective at the end of the season. He is the winningest coach in Seattle history accounting for 1/3 of the franchises total wins.
He is 2-2 in his career against New England including the post season. He is 0-1 with Seattle.
Matt Hasselbeck is 58-45 as a NFL starter. He is 0-1 in his career against New England.
Seattle’s overall franchise record is 248-264-0. The Seahawks came into the NFL as an expansion team in 1976 with Tampa Bay. They have a 7-10 playoff record having last made the post season in 2007 when they beat Washington 35-14 in the Wild Card game and lost to Green Bay 42-20 in the Division Game. They last played for the NFC Championship in 2005 when they beat Carolina and made their only Super Bowl appearance losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers 21-10 in Super Bowl XL.
Based on points per game the Seahawks offense is ranked 25th in the NFL, while the defense is ranked 26th.
Seattle is -5 in turnover differential this season.
Seattle placed C Chris Spencer on the IR earlier this week ending his season. He is the 11th Seahawk to go on the IR this year. He will be replaced by Steve Vallos. Mike Holmgren also said that LG Mike Wahle may end up on the IR as well with a shoulder injury.
Former Patriots WR Deion Branch is confident Tom Brady will be back next year.
The Seahawks have 16 players with two years or less of NFL experience on their active roster. They had 1 pick in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft and they took DE Lawrence Jackson (USC – 28th overall). They selected 7 players overall in the seven rounds of the draft.
Seattle has more players from Auburn (3) than any other school.
Seattle sent T Walter Jones, LB Lofa Tatupu, DE Patrick Kerney, QB Matt Hasselbeck, LB Julian Peterson and DB Marcus Trufant to the Pro Bowl last year. Jones, Tatupu and Kerney were also First Team All-Pros.
2008 Seahawks schedule/results
Next Week
The New England Patriots will stay the week on the west coast and play the Oakland Raiders at the Oakland Coliseum on Sunday at 4:15 p.m.
