We’ve finally made it! Super Bowl LX is here and it will feature two teams nobody expected to hear much from this season (let alone make the playoffs). The New England Patriots, trying to win their seventh Lombardi trophy, will face off with the Seattle Seahawks, who are competing to win their second. This is a rematch from Super Bowl XLIX in which the Patriots won 28-24; which of course is remembered for Malcolm Butler’s interception of Russell Wilson’s pass at the 1 yard line to seal the win for New England. Fast forward over 10 years later, this year’s game will feature two much different teams compared to the ones that played then. Let’s break down how each team got here, and touch on the expectations they had coming into the season, with a final prediction at the end.
*This is a preview only from a game aspect. I’ll have another column up regarding my favorite betting picks for the game*
New England Patriots
Coming off a 4-13 season, Robert Kraft saw enough of Jerod Mayo and fired him after one season. In comes Mike Vrable who hit the ground running and instilled a return to the culture of discipline and accountability. He brought back Josh McDaniels as OC who has helped Drake Maye flourish into an MVP candidate, while establishing a strong run game (6th best in the league) led by TreVeyon Henderson. Defensively the Patriots spent a lot of money bringing in players like Robert Spillane, Carlton Davis III, Harold Landry, and Milton Williams to rebuild the defense. With these changes it felt like New England would be much more competitive (7-9 wins team), but they completely soared past expectations with a 14-3 record and dominant defensive performances in the playoffs against the Chargers, Texans, and Broncos to get to the Superbowl.
Seattle Seahawks
Entering the second season of the Mike Macdonald era there were some high hopes here after the 10-7 finish last season, but with those high hopes came with plenty of questions. Seattle made some big changes to their offense in trading away Geno Smith and DK Metcalf; while also releasing Tyler Locket. In came Sam Darnold and Cooper Kupp; who both had question marks coming the season. They were paired with emerging superstar Jaxon Smith Njigba (JSN), along with an in-season trade for Rashid Shaheed which completely changed the passing game. In addition, the combo of Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet running the ball, the Seahawks finished 8th in total offense. Defensively the secondary was dominant with players like Devon Witherspoon and Nick Emmanwori helping lead Seattle to the 6th best defense in the league. Coming into the season Seattle was expected to compete for a playoff spot in the tough NFC West but they blew past those expectations finishing 14-3 with homefield advantage and knocked out their division rivals in the divisional and championship rounds to get to the big game.
Prediction
It’s interesting that both quarterbacks come into the game banged up. With Darnold’s oblique and Maye’s shoulder both will play, but you have to wonder if either could be affected. I’d expect Darnold to be fine after last week’s performance against the Rams but it will be interesting to see Maye, especially because the Pats quarterbacks did not practice in front of the open session to the media at the past practice. I expect a very competitive defensive game with both defenses keying on shutting down the running games. The Patriots need to be consistently double teaming JSN (especially every 3rd down). Seattle needs to take advantage in the trenches on passing downs and dial up some pressure to affect Maye as he has been prone to mistakes in recent games. At the end, this game will be close, and I foresee Darnold and the hawks having the ball down one score late in the 4th. They get to mid-field but the Patriots defense holds up leading to New England hoisting their 7th Lombardi.
Final Score: Patriots 20, Seahawks 16
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