Did you hear? The New England Patriots are on their 12th Super Bowl appearance? I just thought I should let you all know, just in case you weren’t aware! (Here I would insert the winking emoji but I am after all, a professional…)
What you may not know, of the 13 Super Bowls held in California, that this is the Patriot’s first in the golden state!
Whilst the previous Dynasty has six super bowl wins in the likes of New Orleans, Houston and Arizona, this west coast sunny delight is the first trip under the Mike Vrabel tenure. Super Bowl bound… pretty darn good for his first year as the team’s head coach, huh?
In contrast it is the Seahawks fourth Super Bowl appearance, their first since 2015. When the Patriots beat them in Arizona.
Another first, Sam Darnold is the first quarterback of the five selected in the first round of the 2018 draft, (the second highest amount ever to be selected in the first round of an NFL draft so far), to reach the Super Bowl.
Darnold is also on the fifth team of his career, and usually guys on their fifth team don’t tend to make it to a Super Bowl as a starter, this has only happened three times in NFL history and not since Chris Chandler on the Falcons.
The last six games these two teams have matched up in have been close scoring. Overall, the teams have seen one another 20 times in NFL history, with the Seahawks eeking out the wins over the Patriots of 11-8 in the regular season. The one game difference… the Pats are 1-0 in the post season over Seattle.
To be fair, sure, you could say that’s history, that’s the past and obviously, you would be correct. However, when you look at this Patriots team, and this Seahawks team somethings just feel a little eerily familiar. Dominating defenses, one offense with a star (in the making, I submit to) quarterback and a collection of good offensive pieces without a stand out WR1 (maybe, I want to give Stefon Diggs some serious kudos for how he’s bounced back after his injury and become a pivotal vein within this new offense. There is an easy argument to make that he is a WR1), against a possibly underrated quarterback, with some star players out there ready to catch the ball.
Even so, it’s all gravy baby too, what matters is the now. And the now is 2026, Super Bowl 60. The now is Mike Vrabel head coach, it’s Drake Maye, 23 year old quarterback and it’s so very, very much more.
But, it’s all that we’ve got and heck, it’s all that we need! Win or lose on Sunday, these Patriots are fighters, they are dominators, they are brothers and Pats Nation is the same. We are brothers and sisters, we are in the fight with them, we will give our hearts and our souls. Whether we are in California, Colorado, Connecticut … or coasts away, Foxborough is home and we are ALL PATRIOTS baby!