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Earl Thomas and the Seattle Seahawks are facing plenty of distractions as they approach their championship opportunity Sunday.

Media hoopla, questions about injuries, the looming opportunity to repeat and much more are all lingering about, threatening to fog the vision of Earl, the Legion of Boom and the rest of the Hawks. But ET III and Co. are focused on the basics of the task ahead: stopping Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX.

“It has been 10 years since a team repeated, so any time stuff like that is on the line – it is a regular game, but when you really take it like that and you play to the final whistle blows, all the love outside, because you can’t really watch,” ET III told reporters. “You can’t really worry about who is watching the game or what is behind the camera. You just have to focus on – this is natural. This is what we do. This is another game. Don’t let the outside sources interfere with what we have going on. After that one, I walk off the plane and I am back in Seattle and the parade and stuff like that is happening. That is when you realize what you are talking about.”

In just his fifth season out of Texas, the three-time All Pro has already compiled an 8-2 postseason record and won a Super Bowl, but he and his Seahawks teammates are trying for the rare feat of back-to-back Super Bowls—and they’ll do so against the last team to complete the task.

Brady and Patriots head coach Bill Belichick have won three Super Bowls and appeared in five together, and they have at least gone to the AFC championship game in nine of the last 14 seasons. Brady, who is 20-8 in the postseason for his career, has the NFL records for most postseason wins and touchdown passes by a quarterback, among plenty of others.

“They are the only team in our way. They are definitely dangerous,” No. 29 reasoned, recognizing that Brady is not to be taken lightly. “Tom is a general. He understands the game so well. His pocket presence is smooth. He doesn’t predetermine too much. He kind of flows with the game and that is why he has been so great.”

“He’s a general in every regard. He runs it. He plays with a chip on his shoulder. He’s not the goody two-shoes that you all think he is. He’s a warrior in a way.”

The future Hall-of-Fame quarterback paid some complements right back Earl’s way. Breaking down exactly what ET III does for Seattle, Brady said it’s simple: No. 29 just does his job, as well as anyone in the league.

“Earl’s a phenomenal player,” Brady said. “I only had the chance to play against him one time but he’s a great safety. The best safety in the league as far as I’m concerned.”

“With Earl, the way he plays the middle of the field, he’s not physically a big guy but he plays big,” said Brady. “He’s got great speed, great anticipation, he sees the field really well, he’s a playmaker. Anytime you’re good in the secondary, it makes for a tough defense. The safety position means you’re the safety for the whole defense and when you take that literally it’s about preventing big plays, it’s about roaming the deep part of the field and making sure the opposing offense isn’t making those game-changing plays and I think this Seahawks defense has done a better job than any team in the league at that.”

New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels also talked at length about Earl and his ability as the overlord of the Seattle secondary. As the Patriot coach explained, it’ll be Brady’s job to know where No. 29 is at all times.

“He’s a free safety that impacts almost everything that you do,” McDaniels said. “Running game, passing game, deep throw, short throw, third down, it doesn’t really take him long to go from Point A to Point B. He’s a guy that’s incredibly intelligent because he can sense how close the rush is and once he senses how close the rush is, he’s gonna go. It’s like a good corner that knows that the ball’s gotta come out. He sees it and he knows and he’s not just gonna go back there and cover the grass 30 yards deep if he feels the quarterback might have a problem.

“He reads patterns well, he senses the rush and he’s willing to take a chance. Those are the guys when they take chances and they’re always right, those are the guys that are scariest to play against. When you have a guy that’s running around on the back end but he doesn’t really have any rhyme or reason for it, that’s not a big factor. But when you watch this guy you think, ‘He’s out of position.’ Well, he’s not out of position. The quarterback’s getting ready to throw it and he’s in position. You just gotta be mindful of him on every play.”

Meanwhile, it’ll be Earl’s job to befuddle Brady and contain his versatile and lethal set of offensive weapons. Offensively, the Patriots boast lightning-fast receiver Julian Edelman, who was second on the team with 972 receiving yards in the regular season, and fifth-year receiver Brandon LaFell, who enjoyed a breakout season in his first year with the Pats.

However, Brady’s favorite target, star tight end Rob Gronkowski, is healthy for his first postseason since 2011, and the Hawks will have to figure out a way to stop the man that nobody else seems able to even disrupt. Gronkowski has scored in five consecutive games, and he has caught 14 touchdowns between the regular and postseason.

“He’s a big guy. We understand how they want to use him and we have to use our knowledge to our advantage,” Earl said of the Patriots tight end. “We worry about what we have to do. We worry about our job and it is just the personnel and the matchups. We match up very well in this game, so we are going to focus in our job and own our role. I want to be the best free safety for the Seattle Seahawks and we will see what happens at the end of the game.”

Though they don’t always run the ball very often, the Patriots have a very capable backfield that runs four deep with Shane Vereen, LeGarrette Blount, Brandon Bolden and Jonas Gray.
Vereen is the most versatile and finished fourth on the team in receptions and receiving yards while also second in rushes and rushing yards this year. Bolden and Gray are used sparingly, but Gray did run for 201 yards and four touchdowns in Week 11 against the Indianapolis Colts, so he’s more than capable of stepping up if needed.

Blount, at 6’0” and 250 pounds, is a load. Since returning to the Patriots midseason, Blount has generally been the team’s primary runner, and he carried the ball 30 times for 148 yards and three touchdowns in the AFC Championship game, also against the Colts.

Earl acknowledged the New England running game as one of the biggest tests facing Seattle on Sunday, but it’s safe to say he’s not losing any sleep over it.

“They do a good job of changing it up. They have a scat-back that is a strong, physical runner.
With me with this shoulder, I definitely have to have a tackling plan,” he said, adding the following about Blount. “Big body. Definitely up there on the tackling plan going against him. It’s going to be a test.”

Though he hasn’t forgotten about his clipped wing, Earl claims his dislocated shoulder won’t be an issue on Sunday. ET, who practiced fully this week, knows he’ll have to adjust his style slightly though, not that he’s concerned.

“My mindset is that I have an opportunity to really trust my teammates,” No. 29 said. “This is the first game I am going to have to trust them because of my injury. I really, really need to trust my teammates and that is what I am banking on – my teammates doing what they need to do and I need to come through myself.”

“When I come alive nothing is limited,” the star safety added. “I can still play fearless and throw my body around and whatever happens, happens.”

Both he and star cornerback Richard Sherman, who sprained his elbow in the NFC Championship game, will start on Sunday, and neither ever doubted their status for a moment. When asked immediately after their incredible comeback against the Green Bay Packers two weeks ago if they’d be able to play in the Super Bowl, neither player hesitated in saying they’d play.

“Since I was a kid, every time I got hurt I always came back in the game,” Earl explained last Sunday. “I remember I played third base on my all-star baseball team and there was a weird ground ball that hit me in the mouth. I had braces at the time. My lip got stuck to the braces and I had to go to the emergency room. My dad said, ‘Do you want to go back and play?’ I was like, ‘Of course.’ This is me. I love competing. I am just glad we are reliving our dreams. It feels like a movie.”

ET and the LOB will look across the field and some kindred spirits in New England’s secondary. In addition to All-Pro corner Darrelle Revis, the Pats also boast a former LOB member. For Patriots cornerback Brandon Browner, it’s the first time he’s actually lived this dream, though he had a front-row seat for it last year. Browner, who played the past three seasons with the Seahawks, was suspended for last year’s Super Bowl for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.

Though he was still part of the team, he admitted that it didn’t feel like he was a part of the win because he wasn’t on the field. While he remains close with ET III, Sherman and the rest of the Legion Of Boom, he has left no uncertainty that he wants to win far more than he wants to be polite.

“Oh definitely. Those dudes are tough,” Browner said, when asked if he expected Earl and Sherman to be themselves on the field despite the injuries. “Like watching the game, Sherman was holding that arm like he had a sling on it. But at the end of the day, this is about the Super Bowl, I’m going to tell my teammates ‘go hit that elbow, go hit that shoulder. Most definitely, hit it. Try to break it if you can. You’re going to be my best friend after the game, but at the end of the day, I know you want the Super Bowl just as bad as I do.”

While Browner drew some criticism for his comments, which Seattle linebacker K.J. Wright called “unacceptable,” fellow Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner didn’t think they were meant the way they came out. Wagner explained to reporters that he and the Seahawks know Browner, and that he didn’t mean anything harmful by them.

“If somebody knows you’re weak in an area, they’re definitely going to try to exploit it,” Wagner said. “I don’t think he meant it in a malicious way or trying to hurt Sherm by any means. It’s just, all trying to compete. It’s a competitive nature.”

For his part, Earl believes that because Browner and others from last year’s squad departed, this season was much more trying for the Seahawks than last year. However, because the team stuck together, stayed loyal to each other and never stopped fighting, they’re all stronger as a result.

“I enjoy it this year way better. I don’t want to say last year was easy, but, man, we had to fight. You all were doubting us. I love it.”

“We did it different as far as the people. It was a different journey, different situations as far as adversity. We learn from all those situations that got us to this point,” he added. “We can do whatever we want to do if we are all together. We haven’t lost sight of the same mindset that got us here. No matter what misdirection we may give off. We still know who we are.”

Kickoff for the World Championship is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday from University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. The game will be broadcast on NBC.

RELATED LINKS

• Earl Thomas press conference (Seahawks.com, January 25, 2015)
• Getting to know Earl Thomas (The Seattle Times, January 28, 2015)
• A conversation with the Legion Of Boom (January 27, 2015)
• Analyzing the Super Bowl matchup (NFL.com)
• Key stats in Super Bowl (CBS Sports, January 27, 2015)
• Things to watch in Super Bowl (Fox Sports, January 26, 2015)
• How Aaron Rodgers earned Earl Thomas’ respect (Sportsgrid, January 27, 2015)
• Elementary school children write letters to Earl Thomas (Beaumont Enterprise, January 28, 2015)
• Brandon Browner speaks about Legion Of Boom (ESPN, January 26, 2015)
• Seahawks react to Browner’s comments (Pro Football Talk, January 26, 2015)
• Browner clarifies, stands by remarks about Thomas and Sherman (ESPN, January 27, 2015)
• Earl Thomas talks Texas before Super Bowl (The Dallas Morning News, January 28, 2015)
• Sherman gets the hype, but Thomas ‘phenomenal’ says Brady (CSN NE, Jan. 28, 2015)
• Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman appear healthy in practice (Seattle Times, Jan. 28, 2015)