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SPORTS THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015 7A SUPER BOWL XLIX Hoodie and scowl hide coach Belichick’s impact AP Photo/John Froschauer, File Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider watches the second half of a presea- son NFL football game against the Chicago Bears in Seattle Aug. 22. Manager Schneider has been architect of Seahawks success PHOENIX (AP) — Give Pete Carroll the opportunity to campaign for someone or something he believes in and he’ll gladly jump at the chance. Usually it’s for a player, or a cause. But Carroll’s drive this year was getting recognition for general manager John Schnei- der, the co-architect of the Seat- tle Seahawks’ rise who usually tries to avoid the spotlight. “He has just worked tire- lessly to continue to compete, WR ¿QG JX\V WR PDNH WKLV D healthy, competitive roster,” Carroll said. “I mean the hun- GUHGV RI FKDQJHV LQ WKH ¿UVW \HDU ZDV MXVW WU\LQJ WR ¿QG guys. The continuation of that, it changed in terms of the numbers, but the attitude, the approach, John just continued to battle for it. “I don’t know how he couldn’t be recognized with the drafts that he’s had, with the free agency success he’s had, with the success of our lower draft picks that have come through.” Five years after being se- lected by Carroll to be the second piece of the Seahawks hierarchy, Seattle is in a sec- ond consecutive Super Bowl thanks largely to a roster con- structed by Schneider. He’s received little recognition for what Seattle has accomplished during his tenure and while Schneider doesn’t care, Carroll would like to see him honored. “His insight and his ability and really the creativity that he brings couldn’t have been more obvious,” Carroll said. “But the rest of us, I don’t know. We’re just playing a game and we’re a team. But I think his situation here really should stand out and should be recognized.” The 43-year-old Schneider has not rested on what Seattle has accomplished during his tenure, to the point where the Seahawks were holding pre- draft meetings this week in Arizona leading up to Sunday’s game against New England. Asked recently if he could have imagined Seattle’s success after ¿YH \HDUV 6FKQHLGHU VDLG KH can’t look at two conference titles and four playoff appear- ances from a broad perspective. “We are so focused and consumed about getting better in every area on a daily basis that it has just built like that over the years,” Schneider said. “I know you guys have heard me talk about being a consistent championship-cali- ber team. And with that comes really tough decisions, like, every day. Obviously, it’s what you strive for. Everybody just kind of knows that. We don’t talk about it. Yeah, of course everybody wants to be a world champion, everybody wants to win Super Bowls. But the manner in which we did it was a blast, the whole group. The 683(5%2:/;/,; New England Patriots Seattle Seahawks vs. )HESP(671%& 5HJXODUVHDVRQ3RVWVHDVRQVWDWV OFFENSE Total yards DYJ Total yards DYJ Passing 5XVKLQJ Passing 5XVKLQJ 257.6 107.9 203.1 172.6 Postseason 314.0 First downs 5XVKLQJ Passing 96 228 95.5 Penalty 37 Postseason 225.5 147.0 First downs 5XVKLQJ Passing Penalty 144 160 24 Postseason Postseason 35 4 18 1 20 15 DEFENSE Yards allowed DYJ 344.1 Passing 5XVKLQJ 239.8 104.3 Yards allowed DYJ 267.1 Passing 5XVKLQJ 185.6 81.5 Postseason 109.5 209.0 Postseason 200.5 133.5 SCORING 33* 29.2 Points for 19.6 Points allowed Postseason Points for 40.0 19.0 Points allowed 24.6 Points for 15.9 Points allowed Postseason 29.5 Points for 15.9 Points allowed PLAY SELECTION 3&7 Regular season Postseason Regular season Postseason PASS RUSH PASS RUSH PASS RUSH PASS RUSH 58.2 41.8 61.9 38.1 53.6 46.4 54.8 45.2 6285&(1DWLRQDO)RRWEDOO/HDJXH AP MORE ONLINE Get more NFL news and stories on our website at http://pro32.ap.org/dailyastorian culture that we are in is just awesome.” While Schneider and Car- roll are 20 years apart in age, they often act like brothers. That relationship developed LQWKH¿UVWIHZPRQWKVRIWKHLU partnership when Seattle went through hundreds of roster transactions trying to remodel its team. They often pull lines from movies like “Step Broth- ers” in meetings to lighten the mood. “It’s a cool relationship be- cause John will come through and check with coach all the time, every move he’s going to make. Coach will go ahead and say ‘I agree with you,’ but at the same time they’ll have their differences and they al- ways come to an agreement and they’re always on the same page,” said Nate Carroll, an assistant coach for Seattle and Pete’s son. “It’s very pow- erful. It’s a comfortable setting to work in. Those guys are great.” What Schneider has con- structed relies on a mix of el- ements: Hitting on gems in the draft more often than not; dis- covering undrafted free agents *ULI¿WW7DSLROHDG Ilwaco over Naselle Ilwaco 53, Naselle 40 1$6(//(:DVK²,OZDFR¶V1LFN*ULI¿WWDQG=DF7DSLR combined for 35 points to help lead the Fishermen past Naselle, 53-40, in a nonleague boys basketball game Wednesday night. *ULI¿WW VFRUHG SRLQWV DQG JUDEEHG UHERXQGV ZKLOH Tapio scored 14 with eight boards. Cole Bergeson had 13 points and Conner See added eight for Naselle. that can contribute; and sprin- kling in key free agents when LW ¿WV WKH 6HDKDZNV¶ ¿QDQFLDO structure. Schneider knows time is running out for having so many key contributors play- ing for cheap by NFL stan- dards. Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, K.J. Wright and Michael Bennett are all taken care of for at least a few more seasons. But loom- ing is an expected new deal for quarterback Russell Wilson this offseason. “It presents challenges, there is no question. We hav- en’t sat down with his repre- sentatives,” Schneider said. “We are still going to be draft- ing young players and playing young players, so we might not be able to dip into free agency like you may want to here and there or compensate somebody else that you want to compensate that is already on your team. But just the fact that we’re going to continue to keep drafting players and play- ing young players should help us compensate for whatever level of compensation (Wil- son’s contract) is.” PHOENIX (AP) — He’s been called the Evil Genius, and he’s been fined for spy- ing on an opponent. And now there are questions about deflated footballs. Any visual portrait of Bill Belichick likely has him wearing a hoodie — and a scowl. Many of his media duties are marked by terse answers or outright stonewalling. All of which masks the impact and longevity of the New England Patriots boss, the winningest coach in postseason NFL history. Belichick is about to lead his team into its sixth Super Bowl in 14 seasons. No one, not Chuck Noll or Tom Landry or Marv Levy or Bill Walsh — all Hall of Famers — managed that. Since Belichick took over the Patriots in 2000 after a five-season flop as head man in Cleveland, there have been 119 coaching changes. In the AFC East alone, which the Patriots have won 12 of 14 seasons, 17 coaches have come and gone, according to STATS. Belichick is the constant. “I think Coach is always pretty consistent with how he’s dealt with our team,” Tom Brady said. “You don’t ride the highs and lows of the season. Whether it’s one win or one loss, you just try to get better and make im- provements, and you’ve got to play your best at the end. “It’s hard to make our team. Coach Belichick puts a lot of pressure on guys in training camp. If you make the team, you know that you have the confidence of the coaches that you can help us win. Everybody’s got a skill. Everybody’s got a skill set. Whoever is on the field has to be able to go out there and perform their job.” In the face of the contro- versies and criticisms the Patriots have faced during his tenure, Belichick’s ap- proach remains the same. Yes, he often comes off as ornery, but that’s because he’d rather be coaching, rather be teaching, rather be dissecting film. But according to Vince Wilfork, other than Brady the longest-tenured Patri- ot, Belichick has changed somewhat. Out of neces- sity. “Yeah, I’ve seen the difference in Bill in the 11 years that I have been here, and I tell him he is getting soft,” the defensive tackle joked. “But this is a differ- ent era of football now with how the team is shaped up, and how a lot of guys are younger guys. You don’t re- ally have that veteran team that he used to have. When I first came in the league, he had a veteran team that didn’t take much to get those guys going. “But he’s more under- standing now. I think when you get so used to having AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick walks the sidelines during the second half of an NFL division- al playoff football game in Foxborough, Mass, Jan. 10. a certain quality of players and it changes, it’s hard for you to adapt to change. And I think Bill had to do a good job of that ever since I’ve been in the league because we’ve changed so much.” Pretty much every suc- cessful Super Bowl coach had to follow that path. Cer- tainly Noll did as Pittsburgh evolved from the Steel Cur- tain-dominated squads to a high-scoring bunch. So did Landry, several times, depending on if he had a Doomsday Defense or a potent attack built around Roger Staubach. Belichick’s first Super Bowl team back in 2001 was fundamentally sound on both sides of the ball, but far more aggressive on defense, his specialty. In- deed, Brady was almost a caretaker that season. Belichick knew he had something very special in Brady, though, and when the quarterback rapidly developed, the coach loos- ened the reins. When they won their consecutive titles for the 2003 and 2004 sea- sons, Brady was a budding star. When Belichick recog- nized that, he built an un- stoppable offense around Brady. In some ways, he was ahead of the game, again. While the NFL was evolving into pass-crazy league, the Patriots already were there with Brady throwing to Randy Moss and Wes Welker. By 2007, Brady was the best quarterback in the league, breaking records and guiding New England to a perfect regular season. Don’t think other coach- es around the NFL haven’t paid attention. His coun- terpart in this Super Bowl, Seattle’s Pete Carroll, ac- tually was replaced in New England by Belichick. “I know that when (own- er Robert Kraft) was mak- ing his choice to hire coach Belichick, I had one op- portunity to say something to him about that,” Carroll said. “And I thought that was really a unique hire, a special hire and a guy that would really fit in well if (Kraft) let him do what he was capable of doing. I think Bill is a very open, free-thinker and a guy that needs that kind of control to be at his best. “It’s worked historically and in extraordinary fash- ion.” To Wilfork, nothing has changed, yet so much has changed. “We were a veteran team, (then) it was a young- er team; at one point we were the youngest team in the league,” said. “So I think he had to try to find the identity in what works for that team. And I think he’s done a great job over the years of doing that. “But at the end of the day, he is still Bill. He coaches the same way. He demands everything the same way. But I think he’s got a little soft heart now. Over time, he got a little softer, though.” Even if he is loath to show it publicly. SUPER BOWL XLIX Establishing supremacy between No. 1 seeds The Patriots seek their fourth championship in the Brady-Belichick era. Seattle (14-4) is after a second straight crown, the first team since New England to manage that in a decade. Of course, the Patriots (14-4) also lost their last two trips to the big game, both to the Giants. The oddsmakers have no team being the favorite, and that seems logical for the top two seeds. MATCHUP/PICK AVG. YARDS PER GAME (reg. season) STORYLINE This is a classic matchup: potent offense for the Patriots, stingy PATRIOTS 27 defense for Seattle. The Seahawks vs. SEAHAWKS 24 OT manhandled Peyton Manning and the Broncos last year. They’ll need Sunday to be just as efficient this time 6:30 p.m. against Brady. With New England’s EST, NBC ability to rally, the Seahawks SOURCE: recognize they can never relax. Barry Wilner, AP PATRIOTS SEAHAWKS OFFENSE Total yards: 365.5 Total yards: 375.8 Passing Rushing Passing Rushing 257.6 107.9 203.1 172.6 DEFENSE Yds. allowed Yds. allowed Passing Rushing Passing Rushing 239.8 104.3 185.6 81.5 SCOREBOARD PREP SCHEDULE TODAY Boys Basketball — Livingstone Adventist at Jewell, 7 p.m.; Ilwaco at South Bend, 7 p.m. Girls Basketball — Livingstone Adventist at Jewell, 5:30 p.m. FRIDAY Boys Basketball — Astoria at Seaside, 5:30 p.m.; Oregon Epis- copal at Warrenton, 7:45 p.m.; Knappa at Vernonia, 7:45 p.m. Girls Basketball — Astoria at Seaside, 7:15 p.m.; Oregon Epis- copal at Warrenton, 6 p.m.; Knappa at Vernonia, 6 p.m. SATURDAY Boys Basketball — Delphian at Knappa, 6:15 p.m.; Ilwaco at Life Christian, 7:30 p.m. Girls Basketball — Delphian at Knappa, 4:30 p.m.; Ilwaco at Life Christian, 5:45 p.m. Wrestling — Ilwaco Beach Brawl, 10 a.m. BASKETBALL HIGH SCHOOLS Boys Ilwaco 53, Naselle 40 ILW (53): Nick Griffitt 21, Tap- io 14, Bannister 8, Sheldon 8, Schenk 2. NAS (40): Cole Bergeson 13, See 8, Carter 6, Corona 4, Ed- wards 3, Pine 3, Gudmundson 2, Wulff 1. Ilwaco Naselle 11 13 16 13—53 9 4 12 15—40 Tuesday’s result Scappoose 59, Astoria 46 AST (46): Kyle Strange 15, Fruiht 12, Jarrett 6, Palek 5, Scroup 2, Johnson 2, Fremstad 2, Keating 2. SCP (59): Chase Johnson 12, Ford 11, McNabb 11, Lohman 8, Wendelschafer 6, Marcantonio 6, Backus 3, Bird 2. Astoria 13 10 13 13—46 Scappoose 18 15 9 17—59