Eckel looks at Seattle New England Super Bowl matchup
This one could get interesting. Seattle is back in the Super Bowl for the first time since Russell Wilson was intercepted from the 1-yard line in the final minute with his team trailing by four points.
And New England is back for the first time since the Pats went to three straight and four out of five with Tom Brady at quarterback and Bill Belichick as head coach.
Last we looked, Wilson was now the No. 3 QB for the New York Giants and likely has his eye on retirement and a job in TV where he could join Brady.
So it’s the new-look Brady-less, Belichick-less Pats against the Wilson-less, no-longer Legion of Boom ‘Hawks in Super Bowl LX. Who wins in 2026? Here’s 26 reasons why the Lombardi Trophy is headed to the Northwest.
1 Seattle allowed the least amount of points this season (292). Teams who have done that are 15-6 in Super Bowls.
2 New England scored just 54 points (17 per game) in their three playoff wins.
3. Seattle scored 41 in its win over San Francisco. And 72 in their two playoff wins.
4 Brady isn’t on the Pats anymore. They’re 0-2 in Super Bowls without him.
5 New England beat a Chargers team in the wild-card round missing most of their offensive line.
6 New England beat a Texans team in the second round missing their best wide receiver, Nico Collins.
7 New England beat a Broncos team in the AFC title game missing their quarterback, Bo Nix.
8 Seattle won the NFC by beating its two NFC West rivals and the next two best teams in the conference, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
9 This will be the 13th time the Super Bowl is played in California. The NFC has won seven of the first 12 games played there, including six of the past eight.
10 New England lost 13 games in 2024. No team has ever lost that many games one year and won the Super Bowl the next year.
11 New England lost to the Raiders this season. No team has ever lost to the team that got the No. 1 pick in the draft and then went on to win the Super Bowl.
12 Seattle went 5-0 against the AFC this year and is 9-1 over the past two years against the AFC.
13 New England was also 5-0 against the NFC this year, but is just 6-4 against the NFC over the past two years.
14 Drake Maye grew up in North Carolina and played his college ball at UNC. No QB from North Carolina and no QB from UNC has ever won a Super Bowl.
15 Sam Darnold grew up in California which has produced 14 Super Bowl winning QBs.
16 On that same note Darnold played his college ball in the Pac-12; Maye played in the ACC. The Pac-12 has an 8-1 edge on the ACC in Super Bowl winning QBs.
17 Doesn’t Darnold, who is with his fifth team, deserve a break?
18 And won’t it drive Jets fans and Vikings fans even crazier when Darnold lifts the Lombardi trophy?
19 Seattle just seems to be on a roll. When the Seahawks beat the Rams in that wild Thursday night game, 38-37, it screamed that this was their year.
20 If the Seahawks have the ball at the 1-yard line in the final minute down four, they’re probably going to run the ball this time.
21 Both teams GMs worked for the Packers at one time. When Seattle’s John Schneider was asked what he remembered about New England’s Eliot Wolf he said he used to babysit him. We’ll go with the babysitter over the baby.
22 Seattle running back Kenneth Walker shared time with Zach Charbonnet during the season and still went over 1,000 yards rushing. With Charbonnet out, Walker has turned it up in the playoffs. In two games he’s rushed for 178 yards and four touchdowns. He’s also caught seven passes for 78 yards.
23 Seattle wide receiver Jaxson Smith-Nijigba has been a star all season with 119 receptions for 1,793 yards and 10 touchdowns. He’s been just as good in the playoffs with 13-172-2.
24 This was a great season for the Pats. Mike Vrabel did an amazing job in his first year with the team and Maye was great in his second year. They’re not going to go away. But their good fortune this year runs out Sunday.
25 Seattle 27
26 New England 17