PHOENIX — One is a force of nature that, like a hurricane, is known by just one name.
The other is a Category 5 defender who can knock the wind out of an offense.
Of all the micro matchups in Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday, one is getting macro attention — “Gronk” vs. Kam Chancellor.
New England tight end Rob Gronkowski is a big reason the Patriots have blown into Arizona after laying waste to the AFC.
At 6-foot-6, 265 pounds with the speed of a running back and the dexterity of a wide receiver, Gronkowski might be as close to a complete football player as you’ll find in the NFL.
But Seattle might have the NFL’s most complete defender in Chancellor. At 6-foot-3, 235 pounds with the strength of a linebacker and the speed of a cornerback, the strong safety is a human wrecking-ball who can demolish an offensive game plan.
One only has to look at Seattle’s Jan. 10 playoff win over Carolina. Besides having a team-high nine solo tackles, Chancellor returned an interception 90 yards for a touchdown and twice jumped over the offensive line while trying to block a field goal.
“It would be a classic matchup,” Seattle linebacker K.J. Wright said. “Our best against their best. Of course, I’ve got my money on Kam. He’s an all-pro, the captain of our defense.”
Gronkowski caught 82 passes for a team-high 1,124 yards this season. His 12 touchdown catches were tied for fourth in the NFL.
“He’s crafty with what he does,” Chancellor said. “He uses his body well to shed off defenders.”
The Patriots use Gronkowski in a variety of formations. Besides his typical spot next to the offensive tackle, Gronkowski sometimes lines up at wide receiver.
But most of his catches come in the middle of the field five to 15 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. That’s typically the area Chancellor prowls as the enforcer of the Seahawks defense.
“We have an excellent opportunity to match up as good as anybody,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. “Kam Chancellor’s about as big a strong safety as you can find. It’s just about bodies on bodies, you know? We’ll have to play (Gronkowski) a number of different ways to have a chance to slow him down.”
Chancellor has a highlight-reel full of bone-jarring hits, but none might be more important to one he had early in last year’s Super Bowl.
On the Denver’s second drive, Chancellor delivered a devastating hit to receiver Demaryius Thomas on an underneath crossing route. That set the tone for the entire game. Denver’s receivers were nearly shut out in the middle of the field due to Seattle’s defensive physicality.
Gronkowski is expecting a brutally physical game on Sunday.
“You’ve got two sides of the ball just wanting to go at each other and just wanting to collide with each other,” he said. “We know it’s going to be a physical game, and we have to go out and we have to be just as tough and we have to be just as physical.”
Gronkowski has returned to his all-pro form after returning to health. He missed the final third of the 2013 season with a broken forearm that eventually required four surgeries. He played just seven games in 2014 before a season-ending knee injury.
Gronkowski said those injury-riddled seasons make him no longer take his health for granted. That missed time further fuels the kid-like zeal he has, whether it’s forcefully slamming a football to the turf during a “Gronk Spike” or his love for the party scene.
“When anyone goes through adversity it all depends on how they react to it and how they handle it,” he said. “I definitely feel like everything I’ve been through definitely made me a stronger person, for sure.”
Chancellor dealt with his own flurry of injuries earlier this season. He missed two games and was hobbled in several others by groin and hip injuries.
The return of him and linebacker Bobby Wagner to full health helped spark a late-season run that has seen Seattle win eight consecutive games.
“Once we got those pieces back, we got a toughness that we definitely missed without those guys,” Seattle cornerback Byron Maxwell said. “Kam Chancellor is a big leader out there. He is making plays and big hits out there, one after another.
And Seattle hopes another big hit by Chancellor, perhaps on Gronkowski, sets the tone for a second consecutive Super Bowl.
