Because East Coast bias
Seattle is by far the most remote NFL city. (A side effect of this is that they travel significantly farther every single year than any other team.) Denver and KC are the only other cities anywhere near as remote.
Metro Seattle is also only the 15th largest municipal area in the country (Boston is 11th). Seattle has grown its own traditions for its entire history. It's a unique place with unique traditions that developed largely away from those much better known to general audiences.
en.wikipedia.org
Back to the "East Coast bias" thing, it's not just that, it's that the rest of country just isn't that familiar with stuff that happens in Seattle. Storylines and drama for teams from (say) Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Dallas, and (especially!) New York are much better known to general audiences. Not so much Denver because it's also a remote, smaller market (19th largest muni area).
So here come these Seahawks with their roster of unknowns (except Sam Darnold, who audiences know best from his failed stint in New York) for their first Super Bowl in 11 years and only fourth overall, and the only other storyline that general audiences are familiar with is "why didn't Pete just hand Marshawn the damn ball?"
To be fair, that's a storyline that still hasn't gotten old, though a Sunday Seahawks win would go a long way toward eclipsing it, just as that one event pretty much eclipsed the events of the previous year's Super Bowl, when the equally unknown Hawks obliterated the Broncos and their historically productive offense.
Something to watch out for is the 12th man. Seattle fans travel well and are famously loud, both home and away. I think that first play from scrimmage was affected by the loud crowd noise disrupting the Denver offense, which resulted in Peyton Manning running forward to shout instructions to his O-Line, who was blissfully unaware and the center hiked the ball over Peyton's head into the end zone for a 2-0 Seahawks lead, and the rout was on. That was in New York.
Sunday's game will be in Santa Clara, and that Seattle fanbase will be there in force. If the Pats aren't prepared for that level of sonic disruption, then they are going to get blown out just like the Broncos were. |
