Editorial: Super Bowl LX Predictions

Brendan’s Prediction: Seattle Wins 20-17

The talk around this game is getting disrespectful.

Do the Seahawks have more talent than the Patriots? I’d say so. Was their path to the championship harder than New England’s? Yes.

Does this mean the game will be a blowout in Seattle's favor? No way.

The Patriots' path to the Super Bowl was littered with elite, borderline all-time level defenses. Facing the Chargers, Texans and Broncos, Drake Maye and company have already played and beaten three of the top five defenses in terms of yards allowed per game.

Seattle’s defense has played phenomenally this season, but it ranked sixth in this metric, which would technically be the worst defense New England has played in over a month.

The Patriot defense has also proven to be a force this postseason. Allowing just 26 points in three games, I’d be shocked if the Seahawks' offense continued their run of high-scoring outputs.

Now, this leads to my main concern for New England in this game: I don’t trust Drake Maye and the offense to play well enough to win.

Maye has had a shaky postseason. Coming off a sub-100-yard passing game against Denver, the offensive line showed its struggles in keeping Maye in clean passing situations.

This raises alarms against a Seattle defense that is elite on all three levels. This secondary is one of the most talented in the league, and Mike Macdonald’s coaching on that side of the ball has been a sight to behold.

It takes a world-class quarterback mind to process what Macdonald will throw at you. That’s hard enough to ask of a 23-year-old second-year player, but if the offensive line doesn’t give him time to read the defense, Maye might spend a good bit of the game under extreme duress.

I expect a low(er) scoring game with long, sustained offensive drives. In this type of game, I see Seattle coming out on top, but not by much.

Gwen’s Prediction: Seattle Wins 27-20

This Super Bowl rematch has been years in the making and will be a defensive battle through and through.

Sam Darnold is still playing through an oblique injury and has struggled with his range of motion in the Seahawks’ last two games. He did, however, seem far more impacted by the injury against the 49ers than the Rams, so the two-week break should have him ready to go on Super Bowl Sunday.

Drake Maye has had his own set of challenges playing in the first playoffs of his career. In the Patriots' games against the Texans, Maye fumbled the ball four times. He cannot struggle with ball security in this game because Seattle’s defensive line will capitalize on any mistakes.

Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker will be facing a talented Patriots run defense that will look to shut him down as an option and force Darnold to look downfield. This will highlight a matchup that may decide the game between Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Christian Gonzalez.

The pair have been consistently ranked in the top ten of their respective positions this season. Smith-Njigba had a breakout season in his first year as Seattle’s No. 1 receiver, and Christian Gonzalez caught the interception that sealed the AFC Championship for New England.

If Gonzalez can find a way to shut down Smith-Njigba, New England could have a legitimate shot at winning yet another ring. Still, Smith-Njigba has had too good a season to let off the gas in the biggest game of the year, and it is difficult to imagine him losing this matchup outright.

Given the defensive strength of these teams, it would not be surprising to see each team score at least one touchdown off a turnover. Both teams have top-five defenses, and their presences will be felt throughout the game.

Some fans and haters alike have predicted this to be a beatdown by the Seahawks, but this Patriots team has a fight in them that they’ve shown throughout this season. Expect a one-score game that could once again be decided by a late interception, this time in Seattle’s favor.

Nick’s Pick: Seattle Wins 31-23

Even though it seems like everyone has been saying the Seahawks will dominate the Patriots, I simply don’t see this as a possibility.

At the end of the day, the Patriots have been consistently dominant throughout the regular season, and they have now toppled the NFL’s strongest defenses in the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans.

However, based on what we have seen, I still see the Seahawks as the more talented team.

After all, they do have this year’s receiving leader, and likely offensive player of the year in Jaxon Smith-Njigba, along with both a highly ranked defense and an extremely consistent quarterback in Sam Darnold.

Kenneth Walker III has also given a boost to the running game through his three-touchdown performance against the Rams.

It is fair to say that Drake Maye has not exactly shown that he can be a Super Bowl quarterback recently, with him only throwing for four touchdowns and two interceptions across three games.

When they faced the Denver Broncos last week, playing with backup QB Jarrett Stidham, the Patriots' offense scored 10 points, despite having over seven minutes of extra possession time.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks have been absolutely decimating teams offensively, scoring 31 on the Rams last week, and winning by 35 points two weeks ago against the 49ers.

This game, however, should hold much less offensive pressure for the Seahawks, as the Patriots have a much stronger defensive roster than those teams.

They are also the current postseason leaders in sacks, 12, and interceptions, with a whopping 5 across three games.

I also trust the coaching of Mike Vrabel more, due to his storied playoff success as both a coach and a player in the past.

And while Mike MacDonald has already accomplished so much, a Super Bowl win would make him just the third coach in NFL history to win it in his first year with a team, with the last being in 1989.

Despite all these strengths of the Patriots, I still see the offensive struggles the Patriots have as simply too much of a burden to overcome, especially against a Seahawks team that has been playing at such an elite level across every aspect of the game.

Gwen Evans is a second-year majoring in Broadcast Journalism. To contact her, email gme5218@psu.edu

Brendan Kern is a second-year majoring in Broadcast Journalism. To contact him, email bwk5372@psu.edu

Nick Myers is a first-year majoring in Journalism. To contact him, email nwm5344@psu.edu.