Super Bowl LX takes place this weekend, Sunday, Feb. 8 at 6:30 p.m. in Santa Clara, Calif.
The New England Patriots will face off against the Seattle Seahawks.
This same matchup took place in the Super Bowl 11 years ago, with one of the most iconic moments in Super Bowl history being the Malcolm Butler goal line interception to seal the game for New England.
Will history repeat itself and New England prevail, or will Seattle get their revenge?
The Patriots come into this game as four and a half point underdogs; they look to prove that they are meant for this stage, despite being a young team.
Both second year quarterback Drake Maye from the Patriots and veteran quarterback Sam Darnold will make their Super Bowl debuts.
Source: Brynn Anderson, AP Photo
Junior Zach Parker has been following the playoffs closely all postseason, along with the betting side of it.
“I’ve had really high hopes for the Patriots and Drake Maye in these past few games,” said Parker. “In reality, he has been letting me down, so instead I will be rooting for the Seahawks this time around.”
Maye has recently underperformed his standards. There is speculation that he might have a hurt shoulder, although the Patriots must hope their star is able to perform in the biggest game of the season.
Darnold, on the other hand, has been playing some of the best football of his journeyman career. He looks to pull off what once seemed like an unlikely result for himself earlier in his career.
Let’s rewind back to the Conference Championship Weekend to see how both teams got to this stage.
The American Football Conference (AFC) Championship saw the second-seeded New England Patriots defeat the first-seeded Denver Broncos 10-7 in Denver, Colo. on Jan. 25; a game where neither offense could find its footing, partly due to the inclement second half weather.
The Patriots recorded 206 total yards of offense, with Maye, an MVP candidate, completing 10 of 21 pass attempts for 86 yards. The Broncos recorded 181 total yards behind quarterback Jarrett Stidham, who stepped in for an injured Bo Nix and had not thrown a pass since 2023.
“Even though Stidham hasn’t thrown a pass in years, I was still worried coming into the game,” junior Matt Curran said. “I watched his highlights on YouTube in the week leading up to the game and he looked good.”
Entering the second half, the winds picked up and heavy snow began to fall and coat the field, resulting in a total of three points being scored across the half. Special teams began to struggle, as each team missed relatively short field goals and fought to keep punts in bounds.
“The weather made kicking so difficult, typically both kickers are automatic from inside 50 yards, but the snow makes it entirely different,” said junior Liam Bailey.
The National Football Conference (NFC) Championship was a sharp contrast from the earlier AFC game, with the first-seeded Seattle Seahawks defeating the fifth-seeded Los Angeles Rams in a 31-27 shootout in Seattle, Wash.
Despite nearly 500 total yards of offense from MVP candidate quarterback Matthew Stafford and the Rams, the Seahawks took a 17-13 lead going into halftime and never looked back.
Quarterback Sam Darnold passed for 346 yards and three touchdowns, with wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (JSN) putting on a dominant performance, making up over a third of these yards and a touchdown. Smith-Njigba has been dominant throughout the season and is the favorite to win the National Football League (NFL) Offensive Player of the Year award.
“JSN has been so good all year, I am excited to see how he matches up against Gonzalez in the Super Bowl,” said Curran.
Cornerback Christian Gonzalez has been a star in the Patriots’ secondary this season, and last week had a crucial interception late in the 4th quarter to help seal the AFC Championship game. It will be interesting to see how he matches up against Smith-Njigba.
Will New England prove doubters wrong and show that they are a Super Bowl caliber team or will Seattle get their revenge from Super Bowl XLIX?
