The New England Patriots weren’t supposed to be back here so soon.
Sam Darnold wasn’t supposed to be here at all.
Super Bowl LX features the most unlikely matchup in NFL history, as the Seattle Seahawks began the season with 60-1 odds to win the NFC and the Patriots held 80-1 odds to win the AFC.
But here they both are, ready to battle for NFL immortality this Sunday in Santa Clara, Calif., in a Super Bowl brimming with compelling storylines.
Here are a few of the most intriguing:
GHOSTBUSTING
Darnold is one win away from completing the most epic of comeback stories.
It’s fitting the Patriots are standing in his way, considering New England was responsible for the lowest moment of Darnold’s time with the Jets.
Back in 2019, a mic’d-up Darnold admitted to “seeing ghosts” during a 33-0 loss to the Patriots on “Monday Night Football,” during which the then-second-year QB threw four interceptions.
A victory Sunday would exorcise those spirits and then some.
“There was a lot that I didn’t know back then, so I’m just going to continue to learn and grow in this great game,” Darnold, 28, said recently, referring to his infamous “ghosts” soundbite.
“That’s the great part about this game is you win an NFC championship and you win games throughout the season, but there’s always ways that you can look to get better.”
Originally drafted No. 3 overall by the Jets in 2018, Darnold went just 13-25 over three seasons with the team. He made stops in Carolina, San Francisco and Minnesota before signing a three-year, $100.5 million contract with Seattle last offseason.
Now in his eighth NFL season, Darnold is on the brink of the ultimate redemption.
RETURN TO GREATNESS?
Seven years.
That’s all the waiting Patriots fans had to endure between Super Bowl berths.
During that short timeframe, the Patriots watched Tom Brady leave, parted ways with Bill Belichick, drafted Drake Maye and, last offseason, hired Mike Vrabel as head coach.
The Brady-Belichick dynasty is firmly in the past, but the Maye-Vrabel partnership is just getting started.
After back-to-back four-win seasons, the Patriots went 14-3 in 2025, albeit against a historically weak schedule.
The Patriots now have a chance to win their seventh Super Bowl, which would break a tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most among NFL franchises.
STINGY SEATTLE
Beating Seattle won’t be easy, though.
During the regular season, the Seahawks defense surrendered an NFL-low 17.2 points per game.
It’s allowing 16.5 points per game this postseason, though the Los Angeles Rams did manage 27 points against the Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game.
That defense was the driving force in head coach Mike Macdonald’s Seahawks finishing 14-3 and earning the NFC’s top seed.
The second-year Maye, 23, has not been at his best this postseason, completing 55.8% of his passes and totaling five touchdowns and five turnovers through three games against the Los Angeles Chargers, Houston Texans and Denver Broncos.
Like Seattle, those three opponents boast elite defenses, and inclement weather was a factor in two of those games.
But the Seahawks have a better offense than the Chargers, Texans or Jarrett Stidham-led Broncos, meaning Maye will likely have to produce more to outscore Seattle.
PRESSURE COOKER
Historically, defensive pressure has been Darnold’s Kryptonite. In his playoff debut last year with Minnesota, Darnold took nine sacks and committed two turnovers in a blowout loss to the Rams.
The Patriots love to bring pressure, helping them compile an NFL-high 12 sacks this postseason, or four per game.
New England’s interior tandem of Christian Barmore (13.6%) and Milton Williams (12.4%) ranked second and third in pressure rate among defensive tackles in the regular season, according to Pro Football Focus.
And Williams is big-stage battle-tested, having recorded two sacks in last year’s Super Bowl victory as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.
But Darnold has made strides in combating that weakness.
When pressured during the NFC Championship Game, Darnold completed 5-of-11 passes for 102 yards and three touchdowns, per Next Gen Stats, against the same Rams front that tormented him last year.
How Darnold handles New England’s similarly ferocious pass rush could help decide this Super Bowl.
QB HEALTH
Neither Darnold nor Maye seem to be at any risk of missing Super Bowl LX, but both are navigating injuries.
Despite an oblique issue that limited his practice reps, Darnold did not seem especially compromised in Seattle’s first two playoff games.
Maye, meanwhile, picked up an injury to his right (throwing) shoulder during the AFC Championship Game, which limited him in practice last week.
But Maye said Monday that he “turned a corner” and threw “a good bit” in his first practice of the week.
“I’m feeling good,” Darnold said. “I’ll be just fine.”
MARQUEE MATCHUP
OK, that’s enough about the quarterbacks.
The best individual matchup of Super Bowl LX figures to play out on the perimeter.
That’s because star wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the focal point of Seattle’s offense, while shutdown cornerback Christian Gonzalez is the centerpiece of the Patriots’ defense.
Although Gonzalez typically lines up on the right side of the field, he has followed receivers — such as Tee Higgins and Emeka Egbuka — at different points of the season.
It will be interesting to see if Gonzalez does the same against Smith-Njigba, who lines up all over the formation, including in the slot.
Smith-Njigba led the NFL with 1,793 receiving yards in the regular season, during which he finished with 119 catches and scored 10 touchdowns.
If Gonzalez can slow down Smith-Njigba, it would go a long way in limiting the Seahawks offense.
KUPP COMEBACK
The last time Cooper Kupp played in a Super Bowl, he had eight catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns — including the game-winner.
Then a member of the Rams, Kupp was named Super Bowl MVP in that 2022 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, capping a season in which he won the NFL’s receiving triple crown.
Kupp, 32, is no longer that player, but he has turned back the clock a bit during Seattle’s playoff run.
In the Seahawks’ playoff-opening win over the San Francisco 49ers, Kupp made five catches for a game-high 60 yards.
And in the NFC Championship Game against his former team, Kupp scored a touchdown and converted a key third down late in the fourth quarter.
Kupp’s eight-year run in Los Angeles ended unceremoniously when the Rams released him last spring. But the Washington native’s hometown Seahawks signed the savvy veteran for a reason — and he could loom large Sunday.
FAMILIAR FOES
Last year’s Super Bowl was a true rematch, as many of the players and coaches for the Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs had met each other on the same stage two years earlier.
But while practically all of the faces are different this time around, Sunday’s matchup comes 11 years after the Patriots defeated the Seahawks in one of the most memorable Super Bowls ever played.
In the waning seconds of that 28-24 win, rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler intercepted a pass by Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson from the 1-yard line to clinch the victory.
More than a decade later, NFL enthusiasts still question why Seattle head coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell opted for a pass on that ill-fated second-down snap rather than a handoff to running back Marshawn Lynch at the goal line.
That instant-classic game marked the fourth of six Super Bowls won together by Brady and Belichick, while it denied Wilson and Carroll what would have been their second straight championship.
Sunday will be Seattle’s first time in the Super Bowl since then.
