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.

14 years.  That’s how long it’s been since the Buffalo Sabres made the playoffs.  Since April of 2011 when Buffalo blew a 3-2 series lead against the Philadelphia Flyers and were eliminated in seven games in the Conference Quarterfinals they haven’t sniffed the playoffs.  The drought has encapcilated four general managers and seven head coaches (eight if you count Lindy Ruff twice as he was the coach the first year of the drought).  Buffalo started this season 14-14-4 at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings when on December 15th Terry Pagula fired Kevyn Adams and replaced him with Jarmo Kekalainen; who was the General Manager for Columbus for eleven seasons.  Since that decision was made the Sabres have gone on a tear which includes a 20-3-1 record in their last 24 games and currently sit at 67 points; 3rd place in the Atlantic Division.