In what could be the best Super Bowl matchup in over a decade, the New England Patriots will try to win their fourth title. Here, we look at the five reasons why the Patriots will leave Glendale as champs.

1. Dinking and Dunking

The Seahawks have a terrific defense and they thrive on taking away big plays from opposing offenses. They make you play a very patient game offensively and look to force 3’s in the red zone instead of 7’s.

New England plays that patient “dink and dunk” game to near perfection as they have no problem swinging the ball out to guys like Julian Edelman and Shane Vereen. The last time the Seahawks played one of these short-passing teams was early in the season when they were soundly defeated by the San Diego Chargers, who don’t have nearly the personnel on either side of the ball that New England does.

2. Gronk-spikes

We discussed above how the Seahawks are more of a “bend, but don’t break” defense. The Patriots will take what Seattle gives them all the way into the red zone and then they have quite possibly the very best red zone weapon in the game: Rob Gronkowski.

It’s not an understatement to say that Gronkowski is on pace to become one of the greatest, if not the greatest tight end in the history of the NFL. In 65 career games, often battling injury, the 6-foot-6, 265 pound meathead has caught 54 touchdown passes. In six career postseason games, Gronk has another five touchdown catches.

Although Kam Chancellor is a great football player, San Diego’s Antonio Gates ate him alive for three touchdowns earlier this year. A healthy Gronkowski is a near-impossible cover and he will score in the red zone, or attract enough attention for one of the Patriots backs to leak out on an option route and find the end zone.

3. Taking Away Lynch

Everything Seattle does offensively derives from the running game. It’s not that Russell Wilson isn’t good enough to beat a good defense with his arm, he just normally doesn’t have to. After Wilson’s miserable NFC title game performance in which he threw four interceptions against a mediocre secondary, it doesn’t give Seahawks fans much hope if they can’t run for more than 150 yards.

New England was a Top 10 run-stopping defense during the regular season and they’ve averaged just under 110 rushing yards allowed in the postseason. Facing an offense that’s as one-dimensional as Seattle’s, the Patriots’ defense will load up the line of scrimmage and force Seattle’s mediocre receivers to beat a very good secondary.

4. You Wouldn’t Like Them When They’re Angry

Tell me if you’ve heard this before – the New England Patriots are embarrassed and angry.

After “Deflategate,” everything the Patriots have accomplished over the last decade and a half has once again come into question. The last time that happened was during “Spygate” and New England promptly came out and won each of their regular season games and lost by a near miracle in the Super Bowl.

Nobody uses chips on shoulders better than Bill Belichick, and the Patriots now have a big one. Lost in all of the scrutiny over ball pressure is that the Patriots have been the best team in the NFL all year long.

The team has some unfinished business and a 4-2 Super Bowl record looks a lot better than 3-3.

Both Bill Belichick and Tom Brady’s legacies are on the line and they won’t let it get marred by another loss.

5. They’re Just Better

The best team in the regular season has rarely won the Super Bowl over the last decade, but we’re seeing a seismic shift in that over the past two seasons.

New England has perhaps the greatest quarterback of all time, one of the greatest coaches of all time and the best roster they’ve had since finishing a perfect 16-0 in 2007.

Seattle doesn’t do any one thing where anyone can reasonably say that they are going to dominate in a single aspect of the game. On top of that, the Patriots’ strengths appear to align with the Seahawks’ weaknesses.

Lost in all the “Deflategate” antics is the fact that New England is trending up whereas Seattle is trending down, as they pulled off a near impossible feat just to get to the Super Bowl.

The Patriots will do just enough to win their fourth championship.

On Friday, Charlie will look at the five reasons why the Seahawks could win it all.