A Breathtaking Shootout

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I think the I saw the Super Bowl last Sunday.

I know it’s a week from this coming Sunday and the New England Patriots are back in it, but I really believe I saw the Super Bowl between the Rams and the Seahawks in Seattle.

It was a breathtaking shootout between familiar rivals who played one game decided by three points and another one decided by only one during the regular season.

This one went to the Seahawks 31-27 who, like the Patriots were as unlikely as anyone to get to the Big Game.

But here they are with a date in Santa Clara, the home of the 49ers, to decide NFL’s world champion.

But how could that game be any better than the thriller in the Northwest?

The critical moment came with five minutes remaining when Seattle, boasting the best defense in the league stopped Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford on 4th down at the 6-yard line. That was the last time LA saw the ball till under a half-minute to go.

It seemed that it was the only time they stopped Stafford, who was brilliant……in defeat.

How about Sam Darnold, the winning QB who once upon a time was a #1 draft pick by the Jets. He didn’t make it with them, nor did he make it with the Panthers or the 49ers.

He got to start with the Vikings last season and led them to 14 wins in a career year before he faltered in the last two games.

Cinderella turned into a pumpkin?  Not so fast.

He signed with Seattle this season and surpassed his surprisingly amazing comeback play of 2024 and now brings a team with a 15-3 record into Super Bowl 60.

It doesn’t get enough attention but Sam Darnold, 28, is one of the most impressive comeback stories ever in the NFL.

Also invited to the championship party with a 15-3 mark are the New England Patriots. Remember them?

I wonder how many predicted a Seattle-New England Super Bowl?  Don’t tell me. I know.

It’s been that kind of an unpredictable high-octane kind of season in the NFL. An unforgettable one.

The Patriots story actually makes the Seahawks rise to the top pale in comparison.

This was a team that won only four games the past two years and a year ago fired its coach after one season. In came one of its former players, Mike Vrabel, as head coach. He won three titles as a linebacker with the Pats and then became a head coach with Tennessee and got them to the playoffs and was named Coach of the Year in 2021.

He was eventually fired, (aren’t so many of the good ones let go, and their teams then get worse?) spent one year as an assistant, and then brought back to New England.

Hey, if Pats owner Bob Kraft was so smart, how come he didn’t simply bring in Vrabel last year?

So, the 2025 Patriots got turned around in a hurry, beat out the Bills for the division crown and knocked off the Denver Broncos to get back to the arena they owned six times when a couple of familiar names, Belichick and Brady ruled the league.

Going into that AFC title game, the Broncos had a problem. Their starting quarterback, Bo Nix broke his ankle on the next to last play of Denver’s playoff win over the Bills the week before.

So it was up to head coach Sean Payton, a former Super Bowl champion, to figure out how to beat the Patriots with maybe the second best defense in the league, and his backup QB Jarrett Stidham, who hadn’t thrown a pass all year.

He very nearly pulled it off.

Stidham wowed the loud Denver crowd with a 52-yard pass in the first quarter setting up a touchdown pass to put the Broncs ahead 7-0. You kind of knew this wasn’t going to be a pattern of the game and when the pivotal moment of the contest came in the 2nd quarter, Payton made the wrong choice.

Let me say right here that I am a fierce opponent to second-guessing.  You hear it so often and it’s funny how it comes after the result is known. It’s the easiest thing in the world in sports. When a decision doesn’t work out, blame the decision. But I am second guessing Sean Payton’s move I’m about to explain and the reason why.

Leading 7-0, Payton elected to go for the yardage on 4th down at the Pats 14 needing only one yard. Just under 10 minutes remained in that second quarter.

Instead of settling for a field goal to give the Broncos a 10-0 lead, Payton got a little greedy and dreamed of a possible 14-0 advantage.

Stidham’s pass was incomplete and the Patriots took over. It remained 7-0. I second guess the Denver coach because it was no secret that a blizzard was headed toward the area which would make any play difficult to execute, thus points were at a premium. All coaches are aware of the weather for the entire day. It’s a common thing. Ultimately, New England tied the game after a Stidham turnover and added a field goal in the third quarter which ended the scoring for the day. Snow obliterated the field and with the swirling winds you kind of knew the Broncos were in deep trouble to amount any kind of a threat.

Huge credit to the Patriots who won 10-7 and advanced. They have found a way to win all season. And going 9-0 on the road is a testament to their will and determination. Their quarterback, Drake Maye, only in his third season, will likely win the league’s Most Valuable Player award regardless of the Super Bowl outcome.

Mike Vrabel, I believe, is a lock to capture his second Coach of the Year honor.

Patriots and Seahawks. Who would have thunk it!

And if I feel last week’s NFC Championship game thriller was the real Super Bowl, wouldn’t it just be like the way this entire NFL season has gone, that there’s still one wild one left.

 

NFC Champs

AFC Champs