PHOENIX– If the Seattle Seahawks are nervous about Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday, Michael Bennett wasn’t showing it.
With his feet resting on a table, the Seahawks defensive end reclined in his chair Wednesday. He brushed off comments by New England running back LaGarrette Blount that the Seahawks’ defense is “not immortal.”
“If we were, I’d probably go jump off a bridge right now,” he said.
The Seahawks are playing it cool this week, which reached the “Competition Wednesday” portion of the routine that builds up to a Sunday game.
“This is the first day of the week on the field for us,” coach Pete Carroll said. “We, in essence, focus on competing. It’s not necessarily about the opponent, it’s to leave behind what’s happened before and get us going toward the next opponent.”
Carroll said a typical Wednesday practice is up-tempo from the start. There are lots of one-on-one drills and the day culminates with offense vs. defense.
“We keep score,” Carroll said. “There will be a winner and a loser.”
Yet despite the ramped-up intensity of Wednesday’s practice, Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor said there wasn’t a lot of hitting.
“It’s not really physical at all,” he said of Wednesday’s practice. “We are a physical team so we put everything on the brain. Everything is mental. We do a lot of mental reps every day. Everything is speed and mental.”
Lynch might be fined
It turns out that Marshawn Lynch might actually be fined for his Super Bowl media appearances.
But it won’t be for his answers of “I’m just here so I won’t get fined,” which the Seahawks running back repeated Tuesday or “Y’all know why I’m here,” which he repeated Wednesday.
Lynch reportedly might be fined for wearing a hat with his own “BeastMode” brand logo. During official league events, the NFL prohibits players from wearing logos for brands not affiliated with the league.
In 2007, Chicago linebacker Brian Urlacher was fined $100,000 for wearing a Vitaminwater hat during Super Bowl Media Day. The NFL has a sponsorship deal with Pepsi.
Earlier this season, San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick was fined $10,000 for wearing Beats by Dre headphones during a press conference. The NFL has a sponsorship deal with Bose.
This season, Lynch has been fined a league-high $131,050, largely for failing to meet his media obligations.
Sniffling Brady
Tom Brady had the sniffles Wednesday morning. The New England quarterback told reporters that he is battling a cold, but expects to be “100 percent” for Sunday’s game.
Though he showed no ill effects during media appearances Monday and Tuesday, Brady says he’s been battling the cold for “four to five days.”
Bennett, the Seahawks defensive end, said Seattle is excited for the chance to play against Brady.
“Brady is arguably one of the best quarterbacks of all time,” he said. “His swagger, as you know, is so good. … I think playing against him is going to be a key point in our careers.”
