Blanchette: Michael Bennett injects dose of refreshing candor into hype

PHOENIX – They have taken away the players, not to be seen again until Super Bowl Sunday. And on Friday, the National Football League trotted out the head suit who claimed, among other things, he was “available to the media almost every day” to an audience of reporters whose access requests have been turned down routinely for years.

How can the man stay so cool with his pants on fire?

And the only thought here was: Can Michael Bennett come back and play?

What have we learned this week in the hype-up to Super Bowl XLIX? Well, other than a bizarre scoop that Bill Belichick has a soft spot for monkey finger puppets, mostly we’ve learned that the only place in town to find the unfiltered truth is wherever the Seattle Seahawks defensive end is holding court.

Richard Sherman? Been a little too polished.

Doug Baldwin? Ramped down the anger.

Tom Brady? C’mon, really?

Marshawn Lynch? He’s only here so he won’t get fined.

But every day, in every way, we got it straight from Bennett.

Tuesday: “Today should be the sex-cutoff day for the Patriots. It takes a lot of testosterone to beat us.”

Wednesday: “Every generation plays a certain type of football. Look at some of the guys in the ’20s that rushed really well. They wouldn’t rush well now because there’s more black people playing.”

Thursday: “A lot of people don’t have a great sense of humor. I was watching Fox News last night and those guys really don’t have a sense of humor.”

In the search for the Seahawks’ heart and soul, it’s easy for the fan to latch on to the beastly (Lynch), the brash (Sherman) or the brand (Russell Wilson). Kam Chancellor comes with the megaton hits, Earl Thomas with the laser intensity.

Bennett respects them all, but draws strength from another teammate, fellow defensive lineman Kevin Williams.

“Kevin’s been a great inspiration,” Bennett said, “because I always wonder how a guy with such a big head can walk straight.”

In fact, it’s Bennett who is the composite Seahawk. He was, of course, undrafted coming out of Texas A&M (“Draft day was like seeing somebody you love marry somebody else”) and waived by Seattle without playing a down. So he’s got the unappreciated thing the team feeds on down – so much so that it’s true even in his own family. Younger brother Martellus, a tight end with the Bears, was a second-round draft pick, and thus not only regarded as a better prospect but the more clever Bennett, too.

But now Michael has the Super Bowl ring and the $28.5 million contract by way of validation. He also has a forum and a Texan’s hipshot way with opinions, analogies, charm and truth, unassailable or otherwise.

Charm? Ask ESPN’s Ed Werder.

“I like your suit,” Bennett told him. “I like your tie. And your shoes. The combination makes you look very young.”

He has great regard for the human image. Brady, he believes, should not have cut his hair, but noted that “a lot of the guys on the Patriots have nice beards.

“I think (Steelers defensive end) Brett Keisel has the best beard in the NFL,” he said. “I tell him I want to be the richest homeless man in the NFL, but I think he has me beat.”

But Bennett probes beneath the surface, too.

“Sometimes, guys can’t succeed out of football because it’s all they know,” he said. “Athletes are sheltered. Once somebody sees we have talent or we’re big, they shelter us. Now a new generation of athletes is taking time to find out who they are.”

Bennett, too. He said he’s writing a TV series, and collaborating with his wife on a book. He’s raising three daughters, and has adapted his outlook accordingly.

“There’s a lot of estrogen going on, a lot of sensitivity,” he said. “I have to break down my football barrier, being so macho all the time. Gotta watch those kid movies, gotta watch those girly things.”

But the opinions keep coming.

On the contentious midseason team meeting that turned Seahawk fortunes: “Sometimes you have to look in the mirror and say, ‘Damn, I’m ugly.’ ”

On living in Seattle: “The city is so clean. You can eat off the road.”

On having Seattle’s defense dismissed as “not immortal” by Pats running back LeGarrette Blount: “We’re not immortal. If that was the case, I’d go jump off a bridge right now and still be living.”

Advice to young, black men starting out in sports: “Stay away from the police.”

If only the commissioner had the same facility with reality.

“I think the fans respect you more when you say what’s on your mind,” he said. “Like the president, reading off a card – it’s hard to believe you. Be yourself and just wing it.”

On second thought, we don’t need Roger Goodell to be available every day. Michael Bennett will do.