SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Name it a comeback. And higher make it two.
Tremendous Bowl LX units up as a recall of latest nice groups colliding Sunday on the house subject of the San Francisco 49ers.
It is a repeat of Tremendous Bowl XLIX in February 2015 that swung from a Seattle Seahawks celebration to a affirmation of the New England Patriots’ dynasty when Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson move on the objective line with 20 seconds left.
“It hasn’t come up one time,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald stated of the Tremendous Bowl rematch.
Virtually every little thing has modified on each sidelines within the decade since that recreation. Neither workforce was even within the playoff subject final season.
Patriots proprietor Robert Kraft referred to as a management audible and restored the championship customary in New England, putting three-time Tremendous Bowl champion Mike Vrabel atop the group pecking order, and the brand new head coach guided a shocking turnaround in 2025.
Vrabel, a former linebacker below Invoice Belichick, has resurrected the franchise and partnered with the second-youngest Tremendous Bowl beginning quarterback ever, 23-year-old Drake Maye, to maneuver New England to the doorstep of a league-record seventh Lombardi Trophy.
“The group has set a regular,” Vrabel stated. “The Patriots group, Robert and Jonathan (Kraft), have set a regular for this group that that is what the expectation is. We perceive that, we embrace that.”
Seattle shifted from Pete Carroll on the finish of the 2024 season, and longtime normal supervisor John Schneider restocked in tandem with Macdonald, 38. The second-year coach and defensive-minded mad scientist gained 14 video games within the 2025 common season, incomes the highest seed within the NFC with reclamation venture Sam Darnold starring within the huge shadow of Seattle’s sledgehammer protection.
Darnold threw 25 landing passes in his first season with the Seahawks. He opposes Drake Maye, the No. 3 choose within the 2024 draft, who produced numbers as soon as anticipated of one other well-known Patriots passer with a totally stocked ring finger. Maye completed forward of Darnold in most passing classes. He had 31 landing passes, 4,394 yards and a league-leading 113.5 passer ranking with a pair of rookies beginning on the left aspect of a totally revamped offensive line.
Maye has harped on working the ball, and Vrabel continues to evangelise stability within the lengthy preamble to Tremendous Bowl LX. However numbers might arrange in Seattle’s favor.
The Seahawks have a streak of 28 consecutive video games with out permitting a 100-yard rusher and massive performs are a pipe dream — solely 15 performs of 20-plus yards — due to the velocity and flexibility of the again seven and the flexibility of Macdonald to generate strain together with his entrance 4. They have been stingy on first down and excelled on third down, when the crosshairs are largely centered on the pocket.
New England had allowed Maye to be sacked 15 instances within the playoffs.
“We have got to remain linked,” Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels stated. “It is sort of like synchronized swimming. If certainly one of them is totally different than the opposite, you normally have a nasty play. We’ll be put to the check. They are going to twist and stunt, a very violent workforce.”
Seahawks defensive sort out Leonard Williams is a terror inside, and 6 Seattle defenders have at the least 40 QB pressures. Williams leads the workforce with 65 adopted by DeMarcus Lawrence with 58. Whereas Seattle’s dynamic personnel and playmaking combine is getting headlines, the Seahawks have been removed from flawless in 2025. They allowed 27 factors to the Rams within the NFC Championship Sport and wanted an offensive explosion to edge the identical workforce 38-37 within the common season.
McDaniels stated he isn’t afraid of leaning on his younger gamers. He recalled being within the press field as an assistant coach within the 2001 season when a younger Tom Brady made his Tremendous Bowl debut and beat the St. Louis Rams.
“That was an awesome instance of a younger participant being put in a state of affairs the place (coaches) might have let the sport go to time beyond regulation,” Daniels stated. “These are the varieties of conditions gamers stay for. Drake has needed to cope with these varieties of circumstances this season, and we have solely gotten his greatest soccer.”
Maye registered 11 multiple-TD video games within the 2025 common season. He has taken just one loss since Sept. 21, compiling a 16-1 document since then. Maye leads the Darnold, 29, in profession postseason wins, and their mixed 5 playoff victories have been all collected final month.
Seahawks huge receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba led the league with 1,793 passing yards and was the goal of 163 of Darnold’s 477 passes within the common season. He logged 119 receptions and 10 touchdowns. Smith-Njigba had 10 catches for 153 yards and a landing within the NFC Championship Sport. On movie, Vrabel continues to be attempting to find a significant weak point.
“Sudden, savvy, aggressive,” Vrabel stated. “Actually good play energy for his stature. He is actually good at contested catches. Good route craft and understanding in zone and man. Nice physique management.”
Maye insisted Wednesday his shoulder was advantageous after being restricted final week. He was in Levi’s Stadium the final time it hosted the Tremendous Bowl — February 2016, when the Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers — and the Patriots performed at San Francisco final season. He stated the preparation for the Tremendous Bowl is usually a standard week with a bonus lodge keep and observe at a overseas facility. Ah, children.
“It is such a cool second to be out right here with the blokes and the teammates,” Maye stated. “An opportunity to benefit from the second collectively. The feelings will probably be just a little bit greater on recreation day.”
Vrabel’s Tremendous Bowl expertise has been a standard speaking level within the Patriots’ makeshift camp on the San Jose Marriott and Stanford College this week. Veteran defensive gamers resembling cornerback Carlton Davis III (Tom Brady’s teammate for Tampa Bay’s Tremendous Bowl win to cap the 2020 season) and defensive sort out Milton Williams (a winner with the Eagles 12 months in the past) are serving to hold youthful gamers and newbies like 32-year-old huge receiver Stefon Diggs from emotional exhaustion with all the pomp and circumstance on the Tremendous Bowl periphery this week.
“His maturation course of is second to none. Among the best I’ve ever seen from a quarterback place,” Diggs stated of Maye’s calm. “He is nonetheless tremendous younger, which is loopy. He is had plenty of success, however as I’ve grown nearer to him, I am an enormous fan of him. He is like a mini inspiration. To be that younger, be that mature and have the ability to play at a excessive degree is one thing that I all the time wished once I was a younger participant. I am simply pleased to be part of this factor.”
As anticipated with one other defense-first head coach, Seattle additionally stresses the working recreation. Kenneth Walker III led the workforce with 1,027 speeding yards within the common season, and he has added 178 yards and 4 touchdowns in two playoff video games.
For the Patriots, Rhamondre Stevenson was second to rookie speedster TreVeyon Henderson in speeding within the common season, however Stevenson climbed out of Vrabel’s doghouse — the place he landed attributable to three fumbles — to guide the NFL in speeding within the playoffs with 194 yards on 51 carries.
“We’re all the time seeking to discover stability in our offense since you develop into tougher to defend if the protection has to defend run-pass on each sequence in each state of affairs,” McDaniels stated.
The Patriots completed the season sixth within the NFL in speeding with 128.9 yards per recreation after rating thirty first the primary month of the season. Maye has been an issue for entrance sevens within the playoffs due to his mobility. Seattle can use rookie security Nick Emmanwori as a spy to maintain Maye’s velocity in examine, however the Patriots know there are counters to that sort of chess transfer.
“There are weak spots in each protection,” Maye stated.
New England’s inside defensive position tandem of Milton Williams and Christian Barmore, self-described QB predators, current a hurdle for Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak discovering a consolation zone for Darnold. Seattle rookie left guard Gray Zabel will probably be very important in making the mission attainable.
“Me and him, we are available hungry. We’re like lions. We come to hunt,” Barmore stated. “And the entire D-line. Our objective is to dominate each time we’re on the market. It does not matter who it’s, one other day to line up and kick ass.”
Darnold signed a three-year, $100.5 million cope with the Seahawks final March. He hasn’t performed for a similar workforce or play-caller since 2022, his second 12 months with the Carolina Panthers, when Baker Mayfield was named the starter. Darnold, the third choose within the 2018 draft, is on his fifth workforce however taking part in his best soccer. Nonetheless, he led all quarterbacks in turnovers — six fumbles misplaced, 14 interceptions — opening the door to doubts about his efficiency this week.
Darnold stated his indirect pressure, a problem that crept up earlier than the divisional playoffs, is vastly improved with the two-week break between convention title video games and the Tremendous Bowl. He stated he isn’t within the mindset of proving anybody flawed by profitable Sunday.
“All the onerous work and dedication results in this second,” Darnold stated.
–Jeff Reynolds, Area Stage Media
