It is the week of the Super Bowl, and the hometown Patriots are back competing for the championship. After being below .500 in four of the five years since Tom Brady left, and winning just four games in each of the past two years, the Pats had little hope coming into this year. All they could hope for was that their young quarterback, Drake Maye, and their new head coach, Mike Vrabel could string together a few wins, and at best make the playoffs. Drake Maye has led the team to greatly outlive these expectations, winning fourteen regular season games and making a playoff run to the Super Bowl. Now there’s one question left: can the Patriots finish off the season with a miraculous championship win?
It appears that the majority of people believe that the Seahawks will win as 80% of bets placed on the moneyline on CBS Sports have gone their way. The spread, favoring the Seahawks by 4.5 also signifies that the books think Seattle will win. Although these odds make it appear that the Seahawks will take home the championship, many Pats fans say otherwise. In a survey done among freshman boys going to SBRHS and Case High School, 62.5% of people surveyed believe that the Patriots will win, and 75% believe that they will cover. Assuming that the eight people surveyed are Patriots fans, it can be seen that the majority of supporters still have faith in their team.
As well as having the support of their fans, there are also some stats and pieces of history that provide a case for the Patriots to win. One moment that could benefit the Pats, is that in their last meeting with Seahawks starting quarterback Sam Darnold, they forced him to throw four interceptions and fumble. In this game they beat his team at the time (the New York Jets) 33-0 and he was overheard saying that he was “seeing ghosts” on the sidelines. In addition to this loss, Darnold has lost three other games to the Patriots, and has not yet won. In these games, his teams, the Jets and the Panthers, were outscored 123-23 and he had a passer rating of 41.2. After these past appearances, Darnold might enter the Super Bowl fearful of having a similar experience. There are also some stats that back the Pats. One of these is that in the past eleven Super Bowls, favorites are 1-10 against the spread. Also, underdogs have won the last three Super Bowls and covered in 15 of the last 22. If any of these three trends continue, it looks like the Patriots have a very good shot gambling wise and also a fair chance of winning. Also, a less serious stat, the Patriots are 5-0 this year when wearing white jerseys (which they will be wearing Sunday,) and teams wearing white jerseys are 16-5 in the past to Super Bowls. (These stats came from Bill Simmons and Sal Iacono on The Bill Simmons Podcast)
If the Patriots fans get what they are rooting for, New England will record their seventh Super Bowl win, and stand alone for most Super Bowl wins among teams in the NFL. This win would also mark what fans hope to be the start of the next NFL dynasty.
