PHOENIX -- The Seahawks on Sunday will face an old friend in cornerback Brandon Browner.
Now with the Patriots, Browner has paired all season with Darrelle Revis to form the AFC's nastiest secondary. His task in Super Bowl XLIX? Shutting down the team he used to bleed for.
"It's going to be exciting to go against BB, especially in a game like this," Seahawks receiver Jermaine Kearse said Sunday. "Going against him last year in practice ... he's a real competitive guy and I feel like our guys are extremely competitive as well, so I think we will be looking forward to the matchup."
Seahawks safety Earl Thomas gushed over Browner's preparation. Both Thomas and cornerback Richard Sherman are obsessive tape-watchers, a quality the safety said Browner also embraced.
"His attitude. The way he prepares. The way that he loves football," Thomas said. "Anybody that loves the game no matter what they do because everybody is going to be different. You can tell they love it and it is contagious in their own unique way."
With Browner and Revis at his disposal, Belichick has the requisite chess pieces to outduel teams with a pair of cover men who can play all over the field and erase opposing playmakers. Browner has given New England a big-bodied, physically imposing defender while Revis is peaking when it matters most, allowing the second-lowest passer rating (26.2) of any corner in the postseason.
"Coach Belichick for years has been a guy that really varies his game plans as he sees fit for the opponent -- more so now than I recall them playing," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Sunday. "They play a lot more man-to-man than they used to, and I'm sure that has come about because of his confidence in the corners. So that stands out as something that they have focused and Brandon has really added to that. Brandon Browner is a tremendous football player with great savvy and instinct. They've played him and they've spotted him in different places in game plans in a very unique fashion, sometimes to play the tight end and to move him around, very much using his special talents. We have great respect for him."
As for how Belichick will use all this talent to attack Seattle's passing game? "We don't know how they're going to play us," Carroll said. "We have to wait and see."
The latest Around The NFL Podcast reacts to the Patriots' deflated footballs controversy and tells you whom to trust in Super Bowl XLIX. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.
