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Super Bowl LX

Drake Maye: “I’ll Be Just Fine”

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SAN JOSE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Drake Maye is concern-free as Super Bowl LX approaches. That goes for his throwing arm, too.

The New England Patriots’ second-year quarterback said his tender right shoulder feels fine and there’s no reason for worry entering the Sunday clash with the Seattle Seahawks in Santa Clara.

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“I threw a good bit (today),” Maye said Monday during the Super Bowl Opening Night festivities. “I threw as much as I would in a practice, and it felt great.”

In other words, no worries.

“I feel good. I’ll be just fine,” Maye said.

Maye missed practice on Friday, but not due to the shoulder. Coach Mike Vrabel said Maye was out with an illness.

Vrabel said Monday he’s not concerned about Maye’s shoulder.

“We’ll work through these things through the week, just like everybody else does,” Vrabel said. “But we’re confident that the preparation that’s required for each position on our football team will be there by the end of the week, and everybody will be available.”

Sunday will mark the second time Maye has been inside Levi’s Stadium for a Super Bowl.

His dad took him to Super Bowl 50 when Maye’s favorite boyhood team, the Carolina Panthers, lost to the Denver Broncos.

And, yes, there’s a little bit of pinching involved to believe it’s truly his turn.

 

 

No Ghosts in Darnold’s Closet

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SAN JOSE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – It was during a 2019 Monday night game against the New England Patriots that a young Sam Darnold was caught on the telecast telling his coaches on the sideline he was “seeing ghosts.”

It was a comment that haunted Darnold for years.

Of course, it wasn’t that surprising.

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The New York Jets, who selected Darnold with the No. 3 overall draft pick a year earlier out of Southern California, were getting pummeled 24-0 en route to losing 33-0. Darnold completed 11 of 32 passes that night for 86 yards and four interceptions and also lost a fumble.

Since then, Darnold played for the Carolina Panthers, San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings before signing with the Seattle Seahawks last March.

On Sunday, Darnold will lead the NFC champion Seahawks into Super Bowl LX against the Patriots in Santa Clara, Calif.

Darnold retraced his unlikely path to the title game Monday at Super Bowl Opening Night.

“I take every experience as its own, no matter what happens,” he said. “I was really blessed to get drafted to the Jets and obviously things didn’t work out the way I wanted to there and then went to the Carolina Panthers, where I made a lot of really great friends and learned some great football as well. Just part of my journey.

“Then went to San Francisco and was able to be a backup there for a great player in Brock Purdy, learned under a great coach in Kyle Shanahan, Brian Griese, the Kubiaks obviously, then went to Minnesota and was with some really great coaches and really great players as well. Everything I do, I just take one day at a time and I think that’s the mantra for myself and what I’ve been able to do over the past couple of years.”

One thing that has helped Darnold win 14-plus games each of the past two seasons — he is the only quarterback in NFL history to do so in consecutive years with different teams — has been a dependable running game.

Aaron Jones rushed for more than 1,000 yards for the Vikings last season and Kenneth Walker III did the same for the Seahawks this year. Darnold never had a back accomplish that feat while with the Jets or the Panthers.

NFL Network analyst Michael Robinson, who won a Super Bowl as a fullback with the Seahawks, suggested Darnold has his own “Ghostbuster” in Walker.

Darnold also praised the Seahawks’ “Dark Side” defense that led the league in fewest points allowed during the regular season.

“Having a really good defense helps a lot,” he said. “It makes those decisions down in the red zone or when you’re in field-goal range a lot easier. I never feel like I have to force the ball.”

Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, the No. 3 overall pick in 2024, got to know Darnold at the Pro Bowl last season.

Maye admires Darnold’s perseverance.

“What a career he’s had,” Maye said on Monday. “… He’s made them pay ever since (other teams moved on).”

–Field Level Media

No Super Handbook for Macdonald

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SEATTLE – (Wire Service Report) – The Seattle Seahawks are heading to their fourth Super Bowl since 2006, but neither Mike Holmgren nor Pete Carroll are walking through that door, and, certainly, Rick Pitino “ain’t walking through that door.”

Instead, the job of preparing his team for Super Bowl LX falls to 38-year-old Mike Macdonald in just his second season as a head coach at any level.

Asked Monday what he expects the biggest challenge of the next two weeks to be, Macdonald replied, “It’s easy to say ‘process,’ but the days are gonna look a little bit different. So it’s really the intent behind what we’re trying to do every day. Just staying focused on the things that we can control, because there is so much extra. That comes with the territory. It’s exciting. It’s an opportunity to kind of get it right.”

Macdonald’s Seahawks held off the Los Angeles Rams 31-27 in an instant classic NFC Championship Game on Sunday to advance to the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots on Feb. 8 in Santa Clara, Calif.

Much of Macdonald’s day-after press conference focused on what comes next. He said the players will have off Tuesday and Wednesday, but they were in the building Monday to discuss logistical things related to the Super Bowl week schedule.

A longtime assistant coach and defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens, Macdonald said he would soon reach out to his old boss, John Harbaugh, for advice about what’s on the horizon. Macdonald joined Baltimore in 2014, which came after the franchise’s only Super Bowl trip under Harbaugh.

Macdonald also joked that he’s watched about five plays’ worth of New England Patriots tape. There will be ample time for game-planning in the days to come, but Macdonald insisted nothing fundamental should change about the Seahawks’ approach.

“I think one of the differences about how we’ve ran our program this year and the last few years is we don’t have a, ‘Hey, this is the Super Bowl handbook. This is how you handle all the things.’ Our mentality is, ‘Hey, look, we’re all in this together going into this experience and this is how we want to take it day by day and kind of get through all these hurdles, so to speak.’ Those guys will be right along there for the ride and leading the charge.”

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The Seahawks do have one player who knows how to negotiate Super Bowl week and come out a champion on the other side.

When the Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI, wide receiver Cooper Kupp was voted Most Valuable Player after catching eight passes for 92 yards and scoring two touchdowns. Kupp, 32, shared what he would tell his teammates about handling the distractions and extracurriculars of Super Bowl week.

“You take care of it and then you get ready to play football,” he said. “You’re inserting it into part of your day, but you know that around that stuff, you still gotta go out there and be present, be where your feet are. When it’s time to do the media thing, do the media thing, handle your business, protect the team, then you’re gonna move into football stuff and be where your feet are in that regard.”

Kupp acknowledged “it was cool” for him to beat his former team in the penultimate game of the playoffs. Earlier in the day, a column in The Athletic reported that members of Kupp’s camp believed the Rams badmouthed him in league circles after unceremoniously cutting him after the 2024 season — warning against signing the oft-injured former Offensive Player of the Year for more than the veteran minimum.

The rival Seahawks didn’t listen, inking Kupp, a Washington native, to a three-year contract in March worth $45 million.

“For the story to be what it was, that it had to be through the Rams to be able to get to where we wanted to go, in the NFC championship in that moment, the script writers did a great job with that one.”

–Field Level Media

“Get In” to Super Bowl LX

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SANTA CLARA – (Wire Service Report) – The get-in price for Super Bowl LX continued to escalate in the opening 24 hours since the matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots was finalized.

By Monday evening, the cheapest ticket for the Feb. 8 game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., was $6,620, according to ticket tracking service TicketData. That was 5.2% higher than shortly after the Seahawks won the NFC Championship on Sunday night, and nearly 9% higher than just before the kickoff of the Patriots’ AFC Championship Game in Denver.

According to TicketData, the get-in price soared by 11% in just the past three days and is over 40% higher than right after last year’s Super Bowl matchup was set between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans.

SUPER BOWL LX TICKET PRICES*
SeatGeak: $6,776
StubHub: $6,689
Vivid Seats: $6,630
Ticketmaster: $6,896
*Cheapest price per seat for two tickets together

This will be the Seahawks’ first Super Bowl since their loss to the Patriots in XLIX in Glendale, Ariz., 11 years ago. Since then, New England has appeared in three Super Bowls, but this is the first in the post-Tom Brady era and during the Patriots’ first year under coach Mike Vrabel.

Super Bowl LX will also be the first title game held at Levi’s Stadium since Super Bowl 50 in 2016.

Still, the Seahawks-Patriots matchup has a long way to go to match the record prices for Super Bowl LVIII two years ago in Las Vegas, where get-in prices topped $7,000 shortly after the matchup between the 49ers and Chiefs was finalized. The average get-in price ultimately rose to a record of nearly $8,900 before dipping to just over $7,000 on game day.

Last year’s Super Bowl prices eventually dropped to an average of $2,109 on game day, due in large part to New Orleans’ limited hotel capacity along with what was dubbed “Chiefs fatigue.”

Seattle is currently a consensus 4.5-point favorite to beat New England in Super Bowl LX.

–Field Level Media

Seattle Opens as Super Bowl LX Fave

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SANTA CLARA – (Wire Service Report) – Nearly 11 years ago, the New England Patriots defeated the Seattle Seahawks by four points to win the Super Bowl. Oddsmakers are looking for a similarly close game this time around, too, except with Seattle making the plays to come out on top.

Hours after the Patriots and then the Seahawks booked their reservations for Super Bowl LX on Sunday, sportsbooks listed Seattle as the early favorite, putting the line in the 4-to-5-point range.

Both DraftKings and FanDuel listed the Seahawks as 4.5-point favorites, with BetMGM putting the number at 5.

The Super Bowl will be played in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8.

Both teams finished the regular season with 14-3 records, tied with the Denver Broncos for the best record in the league. The Broncos got the No. 1 seed and first-round bye by way of a tiebreaker, but the Patriots beat the Broncos in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game 10-7, the game in Denver ending in snow flurries.

In the day’s second game, the Seahawks held off their NFC West-rival Los Angeles Rams, winning 31-27 in the third meeting between the teams this season.

Though the Patriots played in the lower-scoring of the two games, oddsmakers are looking for a score in the Super Bowl more along the lines of the Seahawks-Rams game, with the over/under sitting at 46.5 across most books. The Patriots were the NFL’s second-highest scoring team at 28.8 points per game, with the Seahawks right behind at 28.4.

Seattle had the stingiest defense in the league in 2025, allowing 17.2 points per game. The Patriots were fourth at 18.8.

According to teamrankings.com, the Seahawks and Patriots are the best teams against the spread (record when factoring in the point spread) this season, including playoffs.

Seattle is 14-5-0 against the spread (ATS), while New England is 13-6-1.

While a slew of specialty bets will be posted over the next two weeks, an early look at one of the most popular prop bets, Super Bowl Most Valuable Player, is topped with the expected names.

As quarterback of the betting favorite, Seattle’s Sam Darnold is the betting favorite with odds in the plus-130 range (bet $100 to win $130), with New England QB Drake Maye second at around plus-235. The only other players with odds shorter than plus-1000 (or 10-to-1) are a pair of Seahawks — receiver Jaxson Smith-Njigba (plus-500) and running back Kenneth Walker III (plus-700). Up next is Patriots running back Rhamondre Stephenson, but he is listed between plus-2500 and plus-3000.

This will be the second Super Bowl meeting between the Seahawks and the Patriots. New England beat defending champion Seattle in Super Bowl XLIX (49) on Feb. 1, 2015 when Patriots defensive back Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson at the goal line with 20 seconds left in the game to seal the 28-24 win in Glendale, Ariz.

–Field Level Media