Getty Patriots head coach Bill Belichick praised the Seahawks ahead of their Sunday NIght Football matchup.
Bill Belichick offered praise for the Seattle Seahawks ahead of the primetime matchup against the New England Patriots. Belichick singled out Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner by offering his thoughts about what makes each player one of the best at their respective positions. Belichick described Wilson as “at the top of the list of people we compete against.”
“He’s one of the top players in the league and has been his entire career,” Belichick explained, per ESPN’s Brady Henderson. “He’s a tremendous player, obviously a tremendous person. He’s just really good at everything. You have to defend the whole field with him. Very dangerous in the pocket, out of the pocket, great deep-ball passer, has excellent vision, super competitive, hard to tackle. He’s a great football player and there’s nobody I have more- I respect a lot of players, all players really, but he’s certainly at the top of the list of people we compete against. He’s tough.”
The Seahawks and Patriots have not played since their 2016 matchup when Seattle defeated New England 31-24. Both teams have much different rosters, most notably, Cam Newton is the new Patriots quarterbacks after two decades with Tom Brady under center.
Belichick on Bobby Wagner: ‘There’s No Plays Where You’re Not Blocking 54’
Belichick also had strong words to say about Wagner. Belichick emphasized that he is a factor on every play noting “there’s no plays where you’re not blocking 54.”
“You’re a bullseye for somebody on every play,” Belichick said. “There’s no plays where you’re not blocking 54. You’re accounting for him on everything, and still he continues to have tremendous production in the running game, the passing game. He’s a good blitzer, he’s good on outside plays, he’s got good instincts on the inside runs, he’s quick, he can escape blockers, he can also take them on, he’s a good tackler, really understands the coverages that they play well. He almost plays like a safety around the line of scrimmage in some of the things they do where he has to carry the over routes and things like that. It’s a very difficult position to play in that defense and he’s exceptional.”
Belichick has a history of being complimentary of every opponent the Patriots face. Yet, given Wilson and Wagner’s stature in the NFL, the Patriots head coach’s comments appears genuine.
The Seahawks Are 3.5-Point Favorites Over the Patriots on Sunday Night Football
The Seahawks-Patriots Sunday Night Football matchup is one of the biggest NFL games on the Week 2 slate. Seattle is a 3.5-point favorite over New England, per OddsShark. It will be the Seahawks first home game of the season, but the team will not have its usual home-field advantage with the 12s watching from their couches. Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll called the team’s victory over the Falcons a “really successful first week” given all the additional protocols.
“This was a really successful first week for us in terms of getting on the road for the first time,” Carroll noted, per Seahawks.com. “There’s so much behind the scenes that you can’t see in preparation and in managing the whole process. We did a really good job with it, we made it through it and all that. We’ll find out a couple days how we did, but it was well done by everybody that had to organize.
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