I’ve disliked Seattle since the mid-2000s but it is objectively funny that Sam Darnold is the first 2018 QB to make the Superbowl. Plus the Patriots weren’t bad for nearly long enough, so I’m definitely rooting hard for Seattle over New England. Bonus points for being able to root for my man Leonard Williams, who was a monster for years for both the Jets and then the Giants before being traded to Seattle.
For the early game I was sure that the Patriots would steamroll the Broncos, but through the first quarter and a half I kept thinking of Pedro Pascal’s Oberyn vs the Mountain in Game of Thrones: I thought they had no chance but through the first part of the matchup, holy crap, they have a legitimate chance! But no, in the end, the Broncos got their heads squished in, largely because the weather ended competitive offensive play in that game.
Because Drake Maye won’t be playing in the “Pro Bowl Games,” as he’s in the Super Bowl, his replacement as a QB on the AFC roster will be…Shedeur Sanders.
Sanders had the worst completion percentage of any QB who started at least one game, the second-worst interception percentage (behind only J.J. McCarthy), and the second-worst QBR score (behind only Brady Cook).
OK, then. In case anyone didn’t already realize that Pro Bowl weekend is 100% a publicity stunt, that should seal it.
Saw another nugget on ESPN. All eleven (11) 2025 Patriot draft picks made the team … AND … four (4) undrafted free agents. That’s 15 out of the 53 man roster are rookies. Of course, after 20 NFL games, they have a fair amount of experience but still … young.
This is so silly but It feels like the fate of the Pro Bowl was sealed several years ago (as you pointed out ):
My first reaction to anything in the news about Shedeur or Deion is always “rage bait”. People love being angry about them and that’s a great way to drive traffic. But the Pro Bowl needs all the buzz it can get because I can’t remember the last Pro Bowl I cared enough about to even watch.
The big surprise for me is the difference between the ESPN articles about Huntley and Sanders. Even without reading the byline you can tell that recent article came off the wire while the other was written in house. This SI article does a better job of explaining the situation while expressing the same level of frustrated confusion:
Back when I was a bartender, customers only asked for the Pro Bowl if there was absolutely nothing else on. Bull riding, Golf, and Tennis were more frequently requested and that was when I was bartending in Pittsburgh before they switched the format.
This seems pretty reasonable to me, as the Seahawks clearly have a more complete team and have been playing strong football throughout the postseason. If I were a betting man, certainly I would bet on Seattle. They are good in all three phases of the game, Darnold has largely been playing well, Kenneth Walker is legit, and JSN is possibly the best receiver in all of the NFL. Meanwhile Drake Maye has apparently been feeling the pressure, playing his worst football of the season in the playoffs and has been saved by his defense and his scrambling ability. The Patriots really eked their way into the Super Bowl with excellent defense and a scrappy band of skill position players, but no superstars. (One might argue that Stefon Diggs is a superstar - he was at one time - but he’s been very quiet in the post-season).
There are couple of things that give me hope as a Pats fan:
Maye is definitely capable of cool, collected, and explosive football. If he can regain his regular season form, NE has a chance.
The Patriots are the first team ever to beat 3 of the top 5 NFL defenses in one post-season run. Seahawks are apparently #6. They are scheming well enough against great defenses to win (barely, but still).
Darnold is playing well, but he doesn’t scare me like prime Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes. And the Patriots are the ones who made him see ghosts
Yes, I went back to look at where I saw that stat, and they were using Yards per Game for this particular stat analysis. This from the Boston Globe:
Maye is already the first quarterback in NFL history to score victories over three top-five defenses (measured by yards per game) in one playoff run. The Seahawks rank sixth, just behind the Chargers, at 285.9 yards per game.
The problem with per game stats is it is not a level playing field
If a team has an offence that runs the ball a lot and is good at keeping the ball (not just turnovers gt getting 1st downs, they will be on the field for much more of the game, the defence will conceed less yards not because the defence is good but because they have less plays to conceed yards and less drives to conceed points.
I feel like that way of thinking lies madness in that it never ends.
As a quick example, the Jets have had an “elite” pass defense in recent years. In reality, the offense has been so inept that they haven’t been competitive, which leads to their opponents running instead of passing because the game is already clinched.
I haven’t looked at the stats and I might have isunderstood you but I think that makes my point that stats per play make more sense.
If opponents run the ball a lot against the jets, then the jets will conceed very few pass yards per game/season because they have few pass plays but if they conceed very few yards per pass play that wpould still indicate they are a good pass defence.
Concerning defence/defense, I would argue when talking about the NFL you do so in your native language which in my case is British English rather than American English, I am sorry I didn’t translate it for the American audience but I while I recognise defense as American English I tend not to think about American spelling while I write.
Actually a lot of Americans seem to think when discussing the NFL it is Dfence given the number of times you see fans holding up signs of a “D” followed by a picture of a fence.
Agreed in general. In the context of “this is the first time x has happened,” though, we are pretty much stuck with however the official stats have been measured through the years. Defenses have traditionally (officially) been ranked by total yards allowed. I think it’s just total for the season, but per game would yield the same rankings so it could be either.
… AND … four (4) undrafted free agents. That’s 15 out of the 53 man roster are rookies. Of course, after 20 NFL games, they have a fair amount of experience but still … young.
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