By Michael Samaha, columnist

Super Bowl XLIX is in three days. We have the loud-mouth, brash and reigning Super Bowl champs from the NFC, the Seattle Seahawks. Then there’s the tight-lipped, model franchise from the AFC in the New England Patriots. Per usual, the week leading up to the Super Bowl is full of coverage about the game, the match-ups and the legacies at stake. Oh wait – no it isn’t. All sports media outlets can talk about is  “Deflategate.” The deflated balls controversy has even been covered at length on CNN Nightly News, but it has all been spearheaded by that Disney-owned company that is based in Bristol, Conn. – ESPN.

So much for being the “Worldwide Leader in Sports.” Watching ESPN programming, I have learned more about the process and handling of game balls than I have about what I’m going to watch Sunday evening on NBC. Just while writing this column, I’ve received six text updates from ESPN regarding the controversy. If the mothership won’t give you any real game preview, I’ll take it upon myself to do it.

This Super Bowl is being played between the two best teams in football. New England is led by its golden-boy quarterback Tom Brady and the grand chess master Head Coach Bill Belichick. At one point in the season, people were saying Brady was done and that Belichick and the Patriots’ front office should start looking for a replacement for the quarterback position. Brady, though, made all those detractors look stupid for the remainder of the season and in the playoffs. Belichick changes his game plan every week to put the Pats in the best position to exploit their opponent’s weaknesses, so you never really know what kind of offense you’re going to see. The Pats could send four different running backs out on the field and just run the ball down the defense’s throats like they did to the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship, or they can have Brady let if fly all over the field to guys like Julian Edelman and the league’s best tight end Rob Gronkowski.

The Seattle Seahawks are coming off maybe the most exciting game of the season, the NFC Championship against the Green Bay Packers. With about four minutes left in the game, the Seahawks trailed 19-7 at home. They then scored a touchdown, recovered an onside kick and Marshawn Lynch got Seattle the lead with a 24-yard touchdown run. The drive was capped off with a two-point conversion. The game went to overtime, where the Seahawks got the ball first and quarterback Russell Wilson lead them down the field for a touchdown to win the game. Seattle will bring one of the best defenses of all time to the University of Phoenix Field in Glendale, Ariz. And don’t sleep on “Beast Mode” Marshawn Lynch, the true leader that gets this team going. He may not like speaking to the media, but he sure gives his team a real spark when they most need it.

Here’s what you should watch for in Sunday’s title game. Keep an eye on the Seattle pass rush against Tom Brady and his recent Super Bowl happy feet. If the defense can get to Brady, the Patriots will have no chance to win. The other matchup to watch is safety Kam Chancellor against Gronkowski. Chancellor is one of the league’s best defensive players and Belichick will probably move Gronkowski around to make sure he isn’t always covered by Chancellor. We’ll also see if the game plan allows Brady to throw in the direction of Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, one of the better man coverage corners in the league.

What’s at stake in this game? Brady is 3-2 in Super Bowls. If he can win this one, he’ll tie Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw as quarterbacks with the most Super Bowl victories, adding another piece to the argument of Brady being the greatest quarterback ever. Seattle will be playing to become back-to-back champions, and the first to do it since the 2004 Patriots. And if Seattle could somehow do to Brady and the New England offense what it did to Peyton Manning and the Broncos’ offense last year, it can make a strong case for having the greatest defense ever.

With so much going on in this year’s Super Bowl, it’s upsetting that all the media attention is directed toward the deflated ball controversy. The real story should be about how great this game is going to be, educating the masses on what to watch for in the game and what each team has on the line beyond just winning a single championship.

-Michael Samaha can be reached at [email protected].

Photo courtesy Frankieleon, Creative Commons