Albert Breer Gives Latest Intel on Injuries, Super Bowl LX Prediction

All right.

Welcome in to the Brew Report for Friday, February 6th.

We're here on Radio Row.

Just two days to go until Super Bowl 60, the AFC champion New England Patriots against the NFC champion Seattle Seahawks.

And our first topic will be game-related, news-related, the injury situations for both teams.

Really, there are 3 big ones to watch, and both quarterbacks are listed on the injury report.

Seahawks quarterback.

Sam Darnold, who injured his oblique just before the divisional playoff game against the Niners, he's still on there, but he's been a full participant in practice both days this week.

I'd expect him to be 100% good to go.

It doesn't mean he's 100% healthy, but I can't imagine that he'd be limited in any way in the game on Sunday.

And then Drake May.

Listed with the right shoulder again, he's been a full participant the last two days.

Of course, anything involving a quarterback's arm in any way, the shoulder, the elbow, the wrist , you're going to be paying attention to.

But the fact that he's been a full participant both days this week with 1 day of practice left gives you a good idea of where he's at, and that leaves the injury that happened this week, and that's the Seahawks' safety.

Nick Emanwori , their rookie 2nd round pick, who's already playing at a Pro Bowl level and is such a key to the defense.

We talked with Nick Emanwori yesterday, detailed how the how the injury happened in practice.

He was going up for a ball, he landed on a front on it funny.

Seahawks coach Mike McDonald termed it a low ankle sprain.

It's something that they have to manage.

He did not practice on Thursday.

These are important reps for players to get leading up to the game, so this is something you're certainly going to want to watch.

He was 100% confident that he's going to be able to play.

The question is at what level is he going to be able to play and is he going to be able to finish the game.

Obviously, these sorts of injuries can be aggravated in the course of action, and this is a really, really important player for the Seattle Seahawks.

In a lot of ways, when you look at the Patriots and how they've played offensively over the course of the last couple of months.

These sorts of players have given them issues, and there are two in particular that relate directly to even Warri, both from a scheme standpoint and a stylistic standpoint.

That's Kyle Hamilton in Baltimore, and that's Derwin James with the Los Angeles Chargers.

The two defensive guys there , Zach Orr in Baltimore at the time, Jesse Minter in Los Angeles at the time, are former co-workers of Mike McDonald in Baltimore, so there's scheme similarity, how they deploy those guys as big nickel type players, really important piece of what they do.

If you look at what the schemes are.

Um, what Nicky Minwori does, which is similar to what Derwin James does, which is similar to what Kyle Hamilton does, he allows you to play in a nickel front, but not give up much in the run game.

And the way that the Patriots hunt up, hunt up matchups in the passing game.

They're able to do it by changing personnel groupings.

When you've got a safety like that who can basically play as a linebacker, it limits an offense's ability to do that and take advantage of you that way.

And I can just tell you this the Patriots' game plan back in December when they went to Baltimore on offense was built around Kyle Hamilton.

And same thing when they played the Chargers in January.

Their game plan was based around Derwin James.

So Nicky and Mori's availability first and foremost, of course I expect him to play, but his availability and his ability to get through the game, his ability to play at a high level, a very big key.

I think it's a more important piece of the puzzle right now than either of the quarterback injuries because I think the quarterbacks will probably be OK.

Topic number 2, what this means for the program.

That Mike McDonald is building in Seattle.

And to really encapsulate this, I'm gonna take you back 3 or 12 years to Super Bowl 48 in New York and how a really talented group of young players there, your Richard Sherman's, your Cam Chancellors, Earl Thomas, Bobby Wagner, Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett.

Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch, this uber talented group.

Wound up winning a championship, showing just how good they are.

There's a quiet confidence to the Seahawks group.

You can feel it being around them.

The term that they use is loose and focused.

You can feel that 100%.

And so this is a group that's coming in confident and feels like they're going to show the world just how good they are.

And I think this game for Mike McDonald can be a launching point for his program to take it to another level and set up a period of sustained success here for the franchise.

As for what this means for Mike Vrabel and his program in New England, and this will be our 3rd topic.

I think Mike Vrabel's team comes in playing with house money.

They've got the young quarterback, a 23 year old superstar, and Drake May.

I think you can count on sustained success in New England.

They're going to have flexibility to build the team.

They've again, got the proven head coach .

They've got some key pieces now and, and young guys like Will Campbell, like Christian Barmore, like Christian Gonzalez to build around Traveon Henderson.

They're gonna have, they've got a full complement of draft picks in April.

They're going to have cap flexibility with their quarterback still on a rookie contract.

So whereas I think the Seahawks have a chance to really establish themselves as a superpower in the NFL and take that core to the next level and have everybody seeing that core differently, the same way the Seahawks did 12 years ago when they were on this stage.

I think for the Patriots this is a chance to go out there.

You're playing with house money.

You can show everybody how good you are.

You can show everybody that you're a little bit better than everybody thought.

And in a way it parallels back to that franchise's past and a team that Mike Vrabel was actually a player on .

You go back to 2001, look at what that Patriots team was.

It was seen as one of the least talented teams to ever win the Super Bowl at the time.

But in retrospect, when you look back at what that group was, and you look through the group, Teddy Bruschi, Richard Seymour, Willie McGinnis, Troy Brown, Matt Light, Tom Brady, Lawyer Malloy, Ty Law.

It was a more talented group than we gave it credit for at the time, and I think there are a lot of people in that Patriot organization that think on Sunday with a win, they're going to show everybody that they have the same sort of group this time around.

Vrabel himself, of course, has a lot of perspective on that.

That was his first year in New England back in 2001.

And a bonus topic, if you guys want my pick, you can get this fleshed out on the website and a full explanation on the website.

I'm picking the Seahawks.

To win their 2nd Super Bowl in franchise history, 23 to 20, our editor Mitch made me make a bold prediction.

That bold prediction Jackson Smith Njigba will tie the record for receptions by a receiver in a Super Bowl was set by Demaryius Thomas a little over a decade ago.

I think Smith Njigba is going to go off.

I think he's the most difficult cover in the NFL, and I think he's going to be the MVP of the game.

So Seattle 23, New England 20.

You can come back next week to tell me how wrong I am, or you can just leave your comments down below here on our YouTube page.

You get to me on my social media as well at Albert Breer on Twitter, at Albert Aubrey on Facebook, at Albert_Breer on Instagram.

Enjoy the game, everybody, and we will see you next week when it will be officially the 2026 offseason.