An NFL season that has rarely played to expectations will end Sunday with Super Bowl 60 and a matchup few would have seen coming during training camp six months ago.<\/p>\n
The Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots.<\/p>\n
With no dominant teams emerging during the regular season, and preseason contenders such as the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions not even making the playoffs, the postseason was wide open for the teams that could put together one strong month. Those happened to be Seattle and New England, even though their rosters had the least prior postseason experience among the 14 teams to make the playoffs.<\/p>\n
The Patriots won the AFC by surviving bad weather and their own uncharacteristic offensive woes. The Seahawks won the NFC while writing a ready-made redemption story for quarterback Sam Darnold, who is only the third quarterback to start a Super Bowl while on his fifth team or later.<\/p>\n
Finally, after all of the talk, we\u2019ll see who wins it. Before kickoff, our experts weigh in on who they see taking the Lombardi Trophy.<\/p>\n
Which quarterback do you trust more?<\/p>\n
Tim Rohan: It\u2019s close but I\u2019ll give Sam Darnold the edge. The tiebreaker? He gets to throw to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the NFL\u2019s offensive player of the year, who had 10 catches for 153 yards and a touchdown in the NFC championship game. Darnold has struggled against pressure throughout his career, but Smith-Njigba is an elite route-runner who always seems to be open, which gives Darnold an escape hatch.<\/p>\n
Drake Maye has proved he deserves to be mentioned among the league\u2019s best, especially after he nearly won the MVP award. But his weapons aren\u2019t nearly as dynamic as Darnold\u2019s.<\/p>\n
David K. Li: Sam Darnold. Yes, this will be the most pressure-packed game of his eight-year career. But do you know what real pressure here is? Real stress and tension is playing your way out of the dreaded \u201cfirst-round bust\u201d designation.<\/p>\n
Darnold\u2019s already shown maximum resolve by scrambling his way off the ash heap of underachievement history, where the likes of Zach Wilson, Josh Rosen and Johnny Manziel all reside.<\/p>\n
Rohan Nadkarni: Well, only one quarterback was an MVP finalist, so I have to go with Drake Maye. While he hasn\u2019t been sharp during the postseason, Maye has still made plays in big moments during the Pats\u2019 run to the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
As we saw in New England\u2019s win over the Broncos, one advantage of Maye\u2019s game is his ability to make plays with his feet. Going against an aggressive defense, Maye will have to make off-schedule plays and generate random offense to give the Patriots a chance.<\/p>\n
Andrew Greif: I trust Darnold to be steadier, but I trust Drake Maye as more likely to make a \u201cwow\u201d play \u2014 especially when you consider his ability to improvise as a runner. As my colleagues have pointed out, Maye\u2019s pass-catching options aren\u2019t as numerous as Darnold\u2019s, but I do think it\u2019s valuable that Maye comes into this game having already been hardened against an extremely tough defense in this postseason during New England\u2019s win against Houston. The stiff test he\u2019ll see against Seattle won\u2019t be a drastic increase in his learning curve.<\/p>\n
Who will be an X factor besides the quarterback?<\/p>\n
K. Li: For two teams that dominated football this year, winning 14 games apiece, turnovers were a small or non-factor in their success.<\/p>\n
New England was +3 in turnovers, while Seattle was -3, ranking them both in the middle of the turnover differential pack.<\/p>\n
So could Patriots safety Jaylinn Hawkins, who went to school at nearby Cal, possibly pick off his old Pac-12 rival Sam Darnold? Or perhaps linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson could force a fumble that would boost his underdog Patriots?<\/p>\n
Nadkarni: Seahawks\u2019 hybrid safety\/linebacker\/nickelback Nick Emmanwori is perhaps the key to this whole game. Though only a rookie, Emmanwori can play the run and pass equally great, which has been the key to the Seahawks\u2019 incredible defense. After tweaking his ankle during practice in the lead-up to the Super Bowl, Emmanwori has since been taken off the injury report, but any hitch in his game would be a boon for the Patriots.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, Emmanwori is the kind of player who can single-handedly wreck offensive drives. New England\u2019s No. 1 objective may be trying to neutralize what Seattle does when its defense is in a nickel package on early downs.<\/p>\n
Greif: Patriots defensive tackle Milton Williams. His two sacks of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in last year\u2019s Super Bowl earned Williams a championship and a big contract in free agency from the Patriots, who hoped he could reprise that protection-busting role again for them in big games. He\u2019s played very well in the postseason while being challenged by coach Mike Vrabel.<\/p>\n
Pressuring Darnold has caused him to play erratically throughout his career, though less so this season. If the Patriots want to disrupt Seattle, which doesn\u2019t have much of a run game, it needs to happen in the pass rush.<\/p>\n
Rohan: Will Campbell, the Patriots\u2019 rookie left tackle. He was carted off the field in late November with a knee injury. Campbell missed four games and returned in time for the playoffs, but he told reporters he didn\u2019t feel like himself again until the AFC championship game in late January. Luckily for the Patriots, Campbell had another two weeks to recover before the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
The Seahawks have a ferocious pass rush. If Campbell can\u2019t hold up against pressure and give Drake Maye time to make plays, this game could get out of hand quickly.<\/p>\n
Defensive storyline to watch<\/p>\n
Greif: It has to begin and end with whether Seattle receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba can be contained, because as he goes, so goes the Seahawks offense. He accounts for 43.3% of his team\u2019s entire receiving yardage. It mights sound obvious, but this matchup is the one that NFL defenses couldn\u2019t solve all season, and it\u2019s the first problem New England\u2019s defense must confront Sunday.<\/p>\n
Rohan: Can linebacker Ernest Jones IV and the Seattle defense keep Drake Maye in the pocket? Maye has shown he\u2019s a threat to scramble. In the AFC championship game, he ran 10 times for 65 yards and sealed the game on a QB keeper in the snow.<\/p>\n
Jones is an active, athletic linebacker in the center of the Seattle defense who\u2019s often asked to drop back into coverage. He has five interceptions this season, a high number for a nondefensive back. If Seattle can pressure Maye and keep him from scrambling, it could be a long night for the young Patriots quarterback.<\/p>\n
K. Li: What can Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez and his teammates in the New England secondary do to contain Jaxon Smith-Njigba? Not only does New England need to limit damage inflicted by the NFL\u2019s leader in receiving yards, but it has to be done efficiently.<\/p>\n
The moment JSN starts drawing additional eyeballs from New England defenders, that\u2019s when the resurgent Cooper Kupp shows flashes of his old L.A. self and Kenneth Walker III can get loose.<\/p>\n
Nadkarni: The Patriots\u2019 defense has been remarkable during the playoffs, and a big factor in this game will be how New England defends the run. The Seahawks aren\u2019t a great rushing team, and the Patriots have been dominant in the trenches, particularly when Milton Williams is on the field.<\/p>\n
Can New England force Sam Darnold to convert on third and long over and over again? The Patriots\u2019 best chance of winning is likely forcing Darnold into a shootout with Maye or to make Darnold play from behind. One way to do that would be to completely snuff out the Seattle run game.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Super Bowl prediction<\/p>\n
K. Li: Seahawks 24, Patriots 14.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t college football, so no one gets style points for a \u201cquality win.\u201d But if there were such an NFL measure, it\u2019d be hard to undercut Seattle\u2019s 14-win, division championship season, coming out of the murderous NFC West.<\/p>\n
The Patriots, meanwhile, filled up on the empty carbs that were Tennessee, Cleveland, the New York Giants and division rivals Miami and the New York Jets.<\/p>\n
Rohan: Seahawks 24, Patriots 17.<\/p>\n
Seattle has the better all-around team. The Seahawks\u2019 defense can pressure you, can cover you, and they have the depth to just keep coming. On offense, Seattle has multiple options and can always throw to Jaxson Smith-Njigba if all else fails.<\/p>\n
New England keeps it close because of two people: coach Mike Vrabel and quarterback Drake Maye. Vrabel won the NFL\u2019s coach of the year award, and Maye was nearly named the MVP. Vrabel, Maye and the Patriots are coming. But this is the Seahawks\u2019 year.<\/p>\n
Nadkarni: Seahawks 28, Patriots 24.<\/p>\n
The Seahawks have been the best team in the NFL all season and are undoubtedly more talented overall. Super Bowls have a tendency to be weird, though, and I have a feeling Mike Vrabel is going to have a trick or two up his sleeve for the Patriots. New England also has the upper hand at quarterback, which would make this game extra fascinating if it\u2019s close late in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Seattle has just been so great, though, and I think the team that\u2019s been more battle tested over the course of the season will pull this one out.<\/p>\n
Greif: Patriots 31, Seahawks 28<\/p>\n
The Patriots tend to play in bizarre Super Bowls. Think \u201cHelmet Catch.\u201d Think 28-3. Think, of course, Malcolm Butler. So, although my head says Seahawks, I have a nagging sense the Patriots feel less pressure. Vrabel is masterful at clock management and strategy, and I think it helps New England muster an upset.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An NFL season that has rarely played to expectations will end Sunday with Super Bowl 60 and a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-456923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}