PHOENIX - A year ago, Pete Carroll stood at a podium in a New York City hotel, less than 12 hours after his Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl. He spoke about what would happen next.The first meeting that well have, Carroll said, will be tomorrow.Sounded a bit over the top, even from the ever-enthusiastic coach. A moment later, he continued the theme, insisting: We really have an eye on whats coming, and we dont dwell on what just happened. Well take this in stride.Turns out he knew what he was talking about. Fast forward to Sunday, when Carrolls Seahawks will face Bill Belichicks New England Patriots in the Super Bowl with a chance to do something that, for many reasons, was thought to be too tall a task in todays NFL: win a second consecutive championship.Its tough to win it once. Thats the hard part. Winning twice doesnt happen (anymore), said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, whose team went back-to-back 10 years ago, making for the longest drought without a repeat champion in the nearly half-century of Super Bowls.The NFL is built for parity — the way the draft is set up, the way the schedule plays out, the hard salary cap. All those things trying to level the playing field, Brady said. Its hard to get here. Its tough to win it. Its certainly tough to win it two times in a row.It has happened only eight times in league history but used to be a semi-regular occurrence. Indeed, the first two Super Bowls — well, it wasnt called that back then — were both won by the Green Bay Packers.Then the Miami Dolphins won consecutive trophies five years later, followed by the Pittsburgh Steelers (who did it twice), the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Broncos and the Patriots.The hardest thing in terms of repeating is not the focus of repeating, said Seattles Russell Wilson, who can become the first starting quarterback to win a pair of Super Bowls within his first three seasons. Its: How do you get to the Super Bowl in general?There are all the ways mentioned by Brady that the NFL legislates competitiveness.And there are other factors. Reigning Super Bowl champions have a shorter off-season. Successful teams lose players and assistant coaches (Seattles top receiver, Golden Tate, left as a free agent, as did defensive lineman Red Bryant, for example). Champions often are filled with veterans who might feel satisfied.Last seasons Seahawks, though, had the fourth-youngest roster for a Super Bowl winner, with an average age of 26 years, 175 days, according to STATS. The Steelers who won the 1975 Super Bowl were the youngest champions, and they followed that up by earning rings again a year later.Its always hard to match the intensity ... of every opponent, especially after youve won one Super Bowl, said Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin, a wide receiver on Dallas 1993 and 1994 Super Bowl champions. After you win the Super Bowl, you need to go play 16 more Super Bowls the following season, and then go through the playoffs to get back to the Super Bowl. So its a tough go.As if setting out to prove that point, the Seahawks did not start this season particularly well.The pressure was there early in the season, defensive end Cliff Avril said, but then we just forgot about it ... and I think thats what let us take the next step to be able to get here — not thinking about it.Seattles record was 3-3 in mid-October, then 6-4 after a loss at Kansas City in mid-November. Thats when Carroll held a meeting with a dozen players to air out a few things.It was a huge impact, for us to be in a room together and openly and freely express our concerns about the team and not hold anything back, receiver Doug Baldwin said. I thought that was crucial for our growth as a team.That also happens to be when middle linebacker Bobby Wagner returned from injury.Seattle has not lost since.Theyve dominated the NFC the last two seasons, so well be playing the best team, Patriots safety Devin McCourty said.As for how much motivation New England derives from trying to prevent Seattle from winning another Super Bowl, McCourty added: Leading into it, it doesnt matter what they did last year. It doesnt really affect us. But if we stop them, then its a cool story to talk about.___Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich___Online:AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/AP_NFL NMD Canada Online . - Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Jason Babin is now a free agent. NMD XR1 Triple Black Canada . "I have had no discussions with Chad Johnson or his representation," Popp said Friday in an email. However, he appeared to confirm a report on Twitter from TSN this week that Johnson was on Montreals negotiation list. http://www.nmdshoescanada.com/ultra-boost-cheap-canada.html. Englands only win in the four most recent trips north had been tight, and Scotland was expected after losing 28-6 to Ireland six days ago to show some venom against its archrival. Womens NMD Shoes Canada . Tristan Jackson returned a missed field goal 129 yards early in the fourth quarter as the Roughriders beat the B.C. Adidas Superstar Womens Canada Sale .Sinclair, from Burnaby, B.C., led the Canadian team with three goals at the four-nation competition. She also earned tournament most valuable player honours.The Canadian captain scored on a penalty kick in the 63rd minute and added the winning goal a minute later.HOUSTON -- With every swing and miss, this looked as if it might be the day Yu Darvish pitched a no-hitter against the overmatched Houston Astros. And then with one out in the eighth inning, Carlos Corporan ended Darvishs latest bid with a home run. Darvish once again neared perfection versus Houston, striking out a career-high 15 and permitting only one hit in eight innings as the Texas Rangers won 2-1 Monday for their season-high eighth straight victory. "A wins a win," Darvish said through a translator. "Im just glad I was a big part of this win." Texas won for the 13th time in 14 games and headed home atop the AL West. In early April, Darvish (12-5) was one out away from a perfect game at Minute Maid Park before Marwin Gonzalez singled between his legs. Darvish joined Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers in team history to have more than one start of at least eight innings with one hit or less. Darvish became the first pitcher to have two no-hitters broken up in the eighth inning or later since it happened to Justin Verlander in 2011. Outfielder Alex Rios chased Corporans drive to the wall, but had to watch as it sailed about five rows into the stands. Darvish simply looked around, and then wiped his brow with his arm before preparing to throw his next pitch. "Well, Id like to see it happen of course," manager Ron Washington said. "But those are professional hitters over there, too, and Corporan caught one." Until the homer, Houstons lone runner came when rookie Jonathan Villar drew a two-out walk on a full count in the sixth. Texas catcher A.J. Pierzynski was ejected for arguing with plate umpire Ron Kulpa about a 2-2 breaking pitch he called low -- Pierzynski was tossed after Villar walked. "Was it a strike? I dont know," Pierzynski said. "Obviously I thought it was and Ron didnt, and I was upset we walked the guy and I said a bad word and I was ejected." Darvish was perplexed by the actions of his catcher. "When he got ejected, I thought, What is he doing?" Darvish said with a laugh. The two-time All-Star ace from Japan was sharp all game, retiring the last two batters in eighth and exiting after increasing his major league-leading strikeout total to 207. "He used everything today: slider, curveball, cutter, fastball," Washington said. "He moved it around, kept them off-balance. When they were looking for breaking balls he was throwing fastballs and cutters and when they were looking for cutters he was throwing breaking balls." "I was pretty locked in," he said. Darvish struck ouut 14 in four prior games this year, including his earlier gem at Houston.dddddddddddd His 15 strikeouts on Monday matched his career-high from his professional career in Japan. He is 3-0 with a 1.52 ERA and 37 strikeouts in three starts in Houston this season, and is 4-1 with a 1.31 ERA and 50 strikeouts in five starts since returning from the disabled list. Joe Nathan pitched a perfect ninth for his 35th save. The AL West-leading Rangers took a quick lead over the last-place Astros. With two outs in the first, Ian Kinsler and Adrian Beltre doubled and Pierzynski hit an RBI single off Brett Oberholtzer (2-1). Oberholtzer yielded seven hits and two runs with six strikeouts in 6 2-3 innings for his first loss in three major league starts. The Houston hitters had no such luck with Darvish. Darvish was strong from the start relying mostly on a four-seam fastball, sliders and a cutter against the Astros inexperienced lineup. "He doesnt just have control. This guy has command," Houston manager Bo Porter said. "He can throw every pitch the way he wants to throw it, even out of the strike zone. Which, when you have that kind of repertoire, youre going to be up against it." He struck out the side in the first inning before getting two fly outs and a ground out in the second. The 26-year-old righty fanned two each in the third and fourth innings, struck out the side in the fifth and the first batter of the sixth inning. His strikeout of Chris Carter to start the fifth was his 200th of the season, giving him a team record for fewest games (23) needed to reach the mark. In the sixth, Darvish started walking off the mound after his close pitch to Villar. Pierzynski also began heading to the dugout, but Kulpa said it missed. Pierzynski didnt like the call. After the walk, started yelling in Kulpas face and was quickly tossed. Geovany Soto took over at catcher. Darvish, a two-time MVP in Japan, flirted with perfection last Sept. 3, too, retiring the first 17 batters at Kansas City. NOTES: Injured Texas DH Lance Berkman is getting Monday off and will DH for Double-A Frisco on Tuesday and Wednesday and will be re-evaluate him after that. ... Neftali Feliz, who was expected to throw Saturday for Round Rock but did not pitch as a precaution because of mild right arm triceps tendinitis, has been shut down. Feliz has been rehabbing from Tommy John surgery last year. ... Darvish set rookie franchise records for wins (16) and strikeouts (221) last season. He finished third in AL Rookie of the Year voting behind winner Mike Trout and Oakland outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. ' ' '