Here we are, two days before Super Bowl 60 — LX for you Roman Numeral purists —between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks.
The Patriots? Who would have thought in September, when they were 1-2 and had scored just 27 points in losses to the Raiders and Steelers, that they would win 10 straight, displace Buffalo atop the AFC East, send the Chargers and Texans packing in the first two rounds of the playoffs and then outlast the Broncos in a Mile High Blizzard for the AFC Championship?
Absolutely nobody, that’s who.
But here we are, the second weekend in February, replaying the highlights of this magical season. We’ve seen quarterback Drake Maye mature from second-year question mark to possible NFL MVP. We’ve seen him pick apart opposing secondaries with his accurate passing and dodge would-be tacklers with his running.
We’ve seen the offense produce and the defense stand out. We’ve seen Mike Vrabel work with a steady hand and make a strong case for NFL Coach of the Year. We’ve seen Josh McDaniels do what he does best: design offenses and make bold calls.
We also have relived the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady question: Who was more responsible for the Patriots’ six Super Bowl championships since 2001?
We have seen Belichick snubbed on a first-ballot election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame because of Spygate, Delfategate or Grouchgate, take your pick.
We have read and heard about and replayed Malcolm Butler’s game-saving interception at the goal line against Seattle in Super Bowl 49 —XLIX — on Feb. 1, 2015.
We have heard chatter, banter and noise from Radio Row in the week leading up to the big game.
What is left to add? Well, here’s my pick: Seattle 20, New England 16. The Patriots’ offense struggles again in the postseason finale.
But don’t just take my word for it. I also turned to a pair of Rhode Island experts for their take.
Chris Merritt, head coach, Bryant University
Bryant has a history with the Patriots. The Pats held their training camp on Bryant’s Smithfield campus from 1976 to 2002, starting long before the Bulldogs had a football program of their own. They moved to their new Gillette Stadium in 2002, but a link between college and pro operations remains to this day.
Coach Chris Merritt takes his team to Foxboro during training camp so they can see how the pros prepare for the season. Christian Fauria, a tight end on the Patriots’ 2003 and 2004 Super Bowl championship teams, teaches a sports media course at Bryant. This week he took 10 students to the Super Bowl to set up on Radio Row.
And quarterback Drake Maye made an appearance at Bryant late in the season.
“Our campus has been electric all season with many Pats fans on our campus walking around, and when Drake Maye visited campus, it was like throwing a can of gas on the fire,” Merritt wrote in an email.
“I was walking around downstairs in November, and I just saw a bunch of our students wearing Drake Maye jerseys. It didn’t dawn upon me about the connection until I heard all these students screaming like a bunch of teenagers at a Taylor Swift concert. There was a lot of electricity on campus. It was just a good overall experience,” he told me in a follow-up phone call on Tuesday.
Merritt played football at Indiana University, graduating in 1993. He sees similarities in this year’s Hoosiers drive to an undefeated national championship season and the Patriots’ drive to a 17-3 record and the Super Bowl.
“I sit there and see places that are just process-driven, and it’s just reinforced some of the things that we focus on here when it comes to being process-driven,” Merritt said. “You can really tell there’s an attention to detail with the Patriots on defense, and ball security and winning the turnover battle, and just playing football and not beating yourself. That’s the biggest takeaway. They don’t make a lot of mistakes that really beat themselves.”
Merritt points out examples of the Patriot Way to his players.
“They have to see it. For them to relate to things, they have to see it. What I’m able to do is point out examples of really good teams and what they’ve accomplished. You put the stats up on the board. When it comes to the Xs and Os, and the execution and things like that, that’s really not something that we at our level really compare,” he said.
Merritt points out the penalties and the turnover ratio to his team.
“Those are the two biggest things that I think really hurt most programs. The best ones that are out there at the end are the ones that don’t hurt themselves. They don’t turn the ball over and they don’t penalize themselves.”
So what about the Super Bowl, Coach Merritt?
“At this point, it’s not who played the best all season. It’s who can play the best for three hours on Sunday,” Merritt said. “I see a defensive battle looming.”
He has conflicting emotions predicting a favorite. Seattle cornerback Josh Jobe, offensive lineman Federico Maranges and assistant director of pro personnel Armani Perez played for Merritt at Christopher Columbus High School in Miami. Alonzo Highsmith, in the Patriots player personnel office, was a defensive end at Christopher Columbus in the early 1980s.
“I’d love to experience the juice of a New England win, but I have to go with the young men I knew as teenagers and call it Seahawks 23-16, with a late field goal extending it to seven points,” Merritt wrote. “Yikes! Pats fans around here are going to boo me now.”
Ron Sposato, head coach, Westerly High School
As coach of the 2025 Rhode Island Interscholastic League Division II champions, Ron Sposato knows what it takes to win. Yes, Division II in the Ocean State is a long way from the Super Bowl — what isn’t, really — but winning is winning, right?
Sposato likes what he has seen from the rejuvenated Pats. And this coach, no surprise, respects the coaching.
“The Patriots’ turnaround from worst to first in the AFC is truly impressive. Robert Kraft hiring Mike Vrabel made all the difference in the world,” he wrote in an email this week.
“Vrabel seems like a player’s coach with a lot of energy who gets the most out of his players, but most importantly, he always has a positive attitude, which I believe is key to a great team culture,” he wrote.
“One thing I’ve noticed about this year’s Patriots is they look like they’re having fun. I want our players showing up every day with a positive attitude and ready to give 100% effort. As a coach, that’s really all I can ask for. We have a little motto here: ‘All business, but have fun doing it.’ We want our players locked into whatever they’re doing, but we also want to make sure they’re enjoying their time here.”
As for Super Bowl 60 itself, Sposato subscribes to that old-school nugget: defense wins championships.
“Both teams got here with great defenses and offenses that don’t make many mistakes. As cliché as it sounds, a defense is going to tip the scales and win this game. I predict a big 4th-quarter defensive play that will be the difference,” he wrote.
And the winner is?
“Seahawks 24, Patriots 17.”
Now, let the game begin! We could be wrong!
