Defending champ Seahawks not taking return trip lightly

PHOENIX - The Seattle Seahawks know they're on the doorstep of doing something really special Sunday, even if they don't want to really acknowledge it until it happens.

Super Bowl winners don't repeat in the salary-cap era. The Patriots put together two in a row, the most recent a decade ago. Before that, it was the John Elway Broncos, following the 1997 and '98 seasons.

If the Seahawks win Super Bowl XLIX, they'll cement their domination of the current NFL landscape and put themselves on a level above recent champions such as the Ravens, Saints, Giants or Packers.

"We didn't understand how hard it was going to be" to get back to this point, Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner said yesterday. "We got everybody's best shot. After we got used to that, accustomed to that, we adjusted, like we always do, and had fun."

"It's a grind to get back here. It ain't easy," cornerback Byron Maxwell said. "The fun is in the winning."

Strong safety Kam Chancellor, asked to compare this Super Bowl experience with last year in New York and North Jersey, said: "The weather's different. The scenery's a little bit different."

Chancellor seemed to welcome a question that wasn't about Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski. Their matchup might be the key to Sunday's game. How many times has Chancellor been asked about Gronk?

"A million and 1,200 times," Chancellor said. "It's been a lot. I'm tired of being asked about him, because it's not about him, it's about their team . . . You can't just single out one guy."

On Wednesday, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was asked whether there was a danger of taking anything for granted, having gotten here 2 years in a row. Carroll was familiar with the question.

"The questions come up like the normal traps - are you going to be overconfident? Are you going to overlook? It's not the first time, so you're not as excited, and stuff like that. People used to say that, [at USC] when you'd go to the Rose Bowl year after year, and they think it's not any fun anymore," Carroll said. "I don't get that, I don't understand that. This is the greatest opportunity that we have. I think our players understand that. It takes a tremendous amount to get here the first time, it takes another tremendous amount of effort to get here a second time. Now that it's here, for us to miss the emphasis and undershoot this thing, it's not going to happen . . . Now that we're here, I think we can do something really special with it, if we can play a good football game. We're so fortunate to be here, and we're not going to miss this opportunity to go for it."

Seattle corner Byron Maxwell, a pending free agent, spoke earlier this week of working on a deal to stay with the Seahawks, and GM John Schneider called retaining Maxwell his top offseason priority. But yesterday, perhaps regretting any possible damage he might have done to his market value, Maxwell said: "I'm going to look at every option, to see what's out there, what's best for me and my family."

Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia played his college football at RPI, where he majored in aeronautical engineering. Patricia, 40, worked a few years as an engineer before returning to football. He wears a bushy beard and keeps a pencil tucked behind his right ear.

"I don't know why, but a long time ago - I guess because I'm an engineer, I always write in pencil," Patricia said yesterday. "Something comes up, sometimes I think of things, I just like to be able to write 'em down. It just fits easy behind my ear; I don't have to stab myself with it in my pocket."

Corner Brandon Browner said he thinks the tablet devices the NFL gives everyone have thrown Patricia off a bit - "he switches back and forth" - but "he's always ready to write something down, whether it be something a guy tells him in a meeting . . . the beard and all that is part of his look."

Richard Sherman's girlfriend is expecting the couple's first son any day now. Sherman was asked yesterday - not for the first time - what he will do if she goes into labor tomorrow or Sunday. Will he play in the Super Bowl?

Sherman dodged the question.

"I think he's going to be a disciplined young man and stay in there until after the game," Sherman said. "He's going to do his father his first favor, and stay in there for another week or two."

If he doesn't, "we have things in place," Sherman said.

Nick Foles and LeSean McCoy trundled through Radio Row at the Super Bowl Media Center yesterday, separately. Both players expressed confidence in their respective futures with the Eagles.

McCoy has a $11.95 million cap figure for 2015, which the team almost certainly wants to reduce, as it works toward a new contract for wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, coming off a career year.

Asked about restructuring, McCoy said: "I want to be part of this team. But I don't want to take less money. I want to find a way to make it happen so we're all together . . . We're going to work it out, and see what happens. Gotta pay my boy Mac."

McCoy is three seasons into his current deal, announced as 5 years and $45 million, but he has only $1 million of guaranteed money left. It would seem there is leeway to guarantee more money in a restructuring that would lower the 2015 cap figure.

Chip Kelly is in Phoenix for an appearance today on behalf of Tostitos. The Inquirer reported he was to dine with McCoy last night.

Foles, meanwhile, said he hasn't spoken with the coach since the end-of-season exit interviews.

"It's just speculation," Foles said, when asked about conjecture that he might not be back as the Eagles' quarterback. "I'm approaching it as I'll be back and I'll be ready to go."

Foles said that his broken collarbone has healed, that he had hoped to play if the Eagles had made the playoffs.

Foles and McCoy both endorsed the idea of Kelly taking control of personnel and scouting. Foles said he thinks new personnel VP Ed Marynowitz will do a good job.

While the Eagles were announcing Marynowitz's promotion, former Eagles personnel VP Tom Gamble returned to the 49ers as a senior personnel executive.

Blog: ph.ly/Eagletarian