Joe Schoen is on the verge of handing a Super Bowl to back-to-back NFC foes if the Seattle Seahawks topple the New England Patriots Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
Here is your Giants’ and Jets’ Super Bowl LX Daily News viewing guide explaining why and which familiar faces will show up on Sunday:
Sam Darnold, Seahawks quarterback: The former Jets first-round pick has reset the narrative on his career from being a near-journeyman to a respected and established franchise QB. He erupted with a statement performance in an NFC Championship Game win over the L.A. Rams, and he will be Sunday’s MVP if he does it again.
Leonard Williams, Seahawks defensive tackle: The Jets traded their former first-round pick to the Giants in 2019. He helped the Giants get back to the playoffs in 2022. Then Schoen traded Williams in 2023 to the Seahawks for a high second-round and fifth-round pick. The process of the trade seemed to make some sense at the time for the irrelevant Giants. But Schoen used those picks on disappointing safety Tyler Nubin and developing offensive lineman Marcus Mbow. Williams, meanwhile, was one of the most dominant defensive players in football this season for a possible Super Bowl champion.
Julian Love, Seahawks safety: The former Giants draft pick is not a dominant talent like Williams, but he is a leader, a glue guy and a huge part of Seattle’s character and execution while running coach Mike Macdonald’s defense. Giants players, including Dexter Lawrence, did not like seeing Schoen trade Williams in 2023, even though they understood the business reasons why. But Schoen’s decision to let Love walk in free agency in 2023 especially did not — and still doesn’t — sit right with the Giants’ players who were in that locker room.
It wasn’t as bad as letting Saquon Barkley sign with the rival Philadelphia Eagles and lead them to last year’s Super Bowl, but it’s closer as an unforgivable mistake than most people realize. That solidified the Giants GM’s complete lack of understanding of what leadership and locker room chemistry looks like. And it helped send Seattle to Super Bowl LX.
Ben McAdoo, Patriots senior defensive assistant: McAdoo led the Giants to the playoffs in 2016 for the first time since 2011 and didn’t even make it to the end of the 2017 season when he and GM Jerry Reese were scapegoated for the Eli Manning benching. Co-owner John Mara acknowledged in 2018 to the Daily News that he failed McAdoo by not being more supportive and hands-on with the young coach.
“We probably did a very poor job of helping [Ben] get through it [all], and when I say we, I mean myself,” Mara said then. “With Tom [Coughlin], if Tom only saw you once a week, that was fine with him. He liked to do things on his own and to be left alone. But he was an experienced, accomplished, successful head coach. He didn’t need daily support; Ben did… He could have used more support from me.”
McAdoo is one of several former Giants employees whose careers recently have been derailed by the Giants’ dysfunction and web of allies. But now he’s on the verge of winning a ring.
Drew Lock, Seahawks backup QB: Lock is one of the most relatable and human players to walk through the Giants’ locker room since I began covering the team in 2016. He memorably followed a bad start for the Giants in Atlanta last season with a 309-yard, five touchdown win over the Indianapolis Colts. And then coach Brian Daboll made the postgame about himself, saying: “That’s how the offense needs to perform. That’s how the quarterback needs to perform. If you get good quarterback play, then you have an opportunity in every game.”
Lock could be called upon to be the hero on Sunday. Who knows? That would be fitting, because if Lock does get in the game, he will be playing in honor of his late father, Andy, who tragically passed away at age 57 last April. And it would shock no one if Lock rose to that moment, especially since everyone outside of New England would be pulling for him.
Tommy DeVito, Patriots third-string QB: Tommy Cutlets and Jameis Winston both received barely any snaps in Giants training camp last August while Russell Wilson was handed a starting job that he held for a total of three weeks before Jaxson Dart took over and the team went 4-13. DeVito’s release ended a feel-good local story in New Jersey, but he has found a home in a more stable organization and might be able to call himself a champion Sunday.
THE REST: Patriots defensive tackle Leonard Taylor III, whom the Jets released in October, blocked a potential Broncos game-tying field goal in the AFC Championship Game. … Former Giants draft pick Shane Lemieux is on the Seahawks’ practice squad/injured list. … Ryan Cowden, Schoen’s former Giants executive advisor, is the Patriots’ vice president of player personnel. … The Patriots have three former Giants coaches on staff: interim defensive coordinator/inside linebackers coach Zak Kuhr, assistant special teams coach Tom Quinn and director of sports performance Frank Piraino. … Seahawks left tackle Charles Cross never played for the Jets or Giants, but there were people in the Giants’ building who liked him coming out of Mississippi State in 2022. The Carolina Panthers drafted tackle Ikem Ekwonu at No. 6 overall that April. Schoen and the Giants took Evan Neal at No. 7. The Seahawks got Cross at No. 9.
