SI:AM: Two Different Paths Led the Patriots and Seahawks to the Super Bowl

Good morning, I’m Tyler Lauletta, filling in for Dan Gartland one more time before I hand him back the keys to the newsletter. It’s been a delight to be in your inbox the past few mornings. If you enjoyed our time together, please give us a follow at our other morning newsletter, SI:CYMI.

On to the show!

In today’s SI:AM:

🏒A new USA-Canada beef

🏉Patriots belief

🏌️Scheffler’s fast start

A Fresh Super Bowl Matchup

Sunday was our second-to-last day of NFL football for the season, and oh what a day it was. The conference championships produced two worthy combatants for Super Bowl LX in two weeks, and each team will arrive in San Francisco by way of two very different wins.

First, the Patriots outlasted the Broncos in a game that devolved into a snow brawl by the end of the fourth quarter. Denver backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham led the Broncos to an early 7–0 lead in the first quarter, but he would be shut down from there on out by New England’s defense.

The Patriots’ offense didn’t fare much better than the Broncos, with their only touchdown coming after Denver turned the ball over deep in their own territory. But as it had done against the Chargers and Texans this postseason, New England did enough to escape with a win even without a perfect performance.

The Broncos had a chance to tie the game with a field goal attempt with less than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. By that point, the conditions in Denver had moved past inclement to “find shelter and provisions” territory, and Patriots defensive tackle Leonard Taylor III blocked Wil Lutz’s 45-yard attempt. Earlier in the game, coach Sean Payton had elected to go for it on fourth down in the red zone. The Broncos failed to convert, and those three points they passed up on would linger over the rest of the game until the score went final: Patriots 10, Broncos 7.

With the win, Mike Vrabel made history, becoming the first coach to lead his team to a Super Bowl appearance in his first season after taking over a team that had fewer than five wins the previous year.

In Seattle, the Seahawks triumphed in a game that was about as different as one could imagine from the whiteout conditions in Denver.

Sam Darnold had the best game of his season, throwing for 346 yards and three touchdowns. Stunningly, he will be the first quarterback from the 2018 draft class—a group that includes Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen—to start in a Super Bowl.

Wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba continued to show he’s the best offensive weapon in the sport right now, finishing the night with 10 receptions for 153 yards and a score. While it was a back-and-forth affair, the Seahawks' defense found one stop when they needed it, forcing a turnover on downs in the red zone late in the fourth quarter.

Seattle survived one final desperation attempt by the Rams, and the matchup was set: the Seahawks and Patriots will meet in San Francisco in two weeks for the right to be named champions.

At the start of the season, this was a difficult reality to imagine. The Patriots were coming off back-to-back four-win seasons, and Vrabel was just getting back into the head coaching ranks. They entered the year as 80 to 1 long shots to win the Lombardi Trophy. While the Seahawks had won 10 games in 2024, it’s safe to say that very few saw this sort of potential in them. Darnold had a successful season with the Vikings, but was still largely seen as a journeyman who had found a system that worked for him rather than a quarterback ready to carry a team to a championship. Seattle was 60/1 to win the Super Bowl—not as long odds as the Pats, but not much shorter either.

But that’s why we play the games, folks. The Chiefs’ dynasty finally started to crack. The Eagles couldn’t get out of their own way to mount a real title defense. The 49ers got bit by the injury bug again. The Bills still couldn’t get over the hump in the playoffs, even with Allen being gifted a path to the title game that avoided Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow. The Bengals lost Burrow to turf toe for most of the season, the Ravens missed a field goal, and every other team in the NFL came between one and one thousand plays short of earning the right to practice for two more weeks.

While this might not be where we expected this season would end, it feels undeniable that these are the two teams that should be battling it out for the title. Seattle hasn’t lost since November and has shown an impressive ability to win games pretty, ugly and everywhere in between. New England has lost just one game since September, and Drake Maye has played like an MVP all year.

After the likes of the Chiefs, Eagles and 49ers dominating Super Bowls in recent years, it’s going to be fascinating to see a brand new cast of characters have the chance to make the leap from greatness to champion.

The next two weeks should be thrilling.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Hockey’s fiercest rivalry has gotten has intensified. Pat Forde lays out what’s happening between the U.S. and Canada, both on and off the ice.
It’s time to believe in Mike Vrabel’s Patriots. Albert Breer has more on New England, Seattle and coaching situations around the league in his championship Sunday takeaways.
A team led by defense and special teams survived the NFL’s best division and is now one more win from a championship. Greg Bishop writes about how the Seahawks embraced the darkness and became Super Bowl favorites.
Matt Verderame explains that the Patriots will need Drake Maye to play like the MVP candidate he was during the regular season to defeat Seattle.
Gilberto Manzano argues that Sean McVay and Les Snead must prioritize fixing the Rams' obvious flaws to put the Rams in a position to return to the Super Bowl.
Sean Payton passed up three points in a game where points were scarce. Conor Orr dives into a decision that swung the AFC championship.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler started his year off with a dominant victory and again put himself in the same conversation with Tiger Woods, Max Schreiber writes.

The top five…

…things I saw this weekend:

5. Nothing was going to stop George Kittle from enjoying some offseason golf, especially not a torn Achilles.

4. Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland shouts out all the grounds crew and support staff that helped make sure his team was able to play this weekend—a sentiment I would like to second across the entire sports landscape.

3. No one turns the tennis court into a fashion runway like Naomi Osaka.

2. Kiyan Anthony throws down a dunk with his pops, Carmelo in the building.

1. Jordan Chiles, a perfect 10.