Tom Brady’s feelings about Super Bowl LX didn’t sit well with his former Patriots teammate Vince Wilfork and a current member of the team had a similar feeling about Brady’s take.
Brady said this week that “I don’t have a dog in the fight” when asked about who is pulling for in the matchup between the Patriots and Seahawks, which came as a surprise to many people given Brady’s long history with New England. Patriots linebacker Robert Spillane had an even stronger reaction when asked about it on Thursday.
Spillane said, via Karen Guregian of MassLive.com, that “personally it makes me sick” to hear Brady say that he’s not partial to his former team. One of Spillane’s former teams is likely the main reason why Brady is taking that stance.
Brady is now a minority owner of the Raiders and his current club is expected to hire Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak as their new head coach once the Super Bowl is over. Given those circumstances, it’s not hard to understand why Brady would not want to be seen waving the flag for the Patriots this week but that doesn’t make it any easier for Spillane to swallow.
Seahawks rookie safety Nick Emmanwori injured his ankle at practice on Wednesday, but he downplayed any concern about it impacting his availability for Super Bowl LX when he spoke to reporters on Thursday.
Emmanwori said he rolled his ankle near the end of the team’s practice session and evaluations by the team’s medical staff did not turn up any serious issue. He said he expects to limit his participation on Thursday to the walkthrough portion of practice, but is confident that the “training staff’s got a good plan” heading into the weekend.
“Once I’m out there, my adrenaline will be pumping. Last game of the season, so I’ll be good to go,” Emmanwori said, via Tim Booth of the Seattle Times.
Emmanwori was a second-round pick last year and he had 81 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and an interception in 14 regular season games. He has eight tackles and a fumble recovery in the postseason.
The state of Patriots quarterback Drake Maye’s right shoulder may have created some concern in the aftermath of New England’s AFC Championship Game win over the Broncos, but there’s been little reason for it this week.
Maye said on Monday night that he’ll be fine for Super Bowl LX and he was listed as a full participant on the team’s first practice report of the week. At a press conference on Thursday morning, Maye insisted that there’s no gamesmanship taking place when it comes to how he’s feeling.
“I’m not trying to lie to you guys when I say I’m feeling great,” Maye said. “I’m feeling great, and looking forward to getting out there today. Another day of practice, we got one tomorrow, and feeling pretty good.”
The Patriots will issue another practice report on Thursday and Friday will bring their injury designations for the matchup with the Seahawks, but it doesn’t look like there will be anything on either to contradict the message that Maye has been sending all week.
When it comes to ready-made storylines for Super Bowl LX, it’s hard to resist the one attached to Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold’s career arc.
Darnold was the third overall pick in 2018, but the Jets moved on from him after three seasons and his future as an NFL starter was in doubt after an unsuccessful two-year run with the Panthers. Darnold spent a year as a backup with the 49ers and seemed destined to remain in that role with the Vikings until J.J. McCarthy suffered a season-ending knee injury ahead of the 2024 season.
The Vikings won 14 games with Darnold as their quarterback, but he didn’t play well when the team lost in both Week 18 and the wild card round of the playoffs. The Seahawks signed him as a free agent, but there were plenty of people who questioned the move and misgivings about Darnold’s ability to rise to the occasion remained throughout the 2025 season. They’ve gradually slipped away during Seattle’s run to the Super Bowl, but Darnold said he’s not drawing motivation from the chance to prove anyone wrong.
“It doesn’t really come down to that for me,” Darnold said in his Wednesday press conference. “It’s always just been about putting in hard work, every single day. Hard work and all the dedication and hours I put in in the offseason, during the season, it leads to this moment. That’s the mindset I have, and really the mindset I’ve had my entire career.”
Darnold may not be interested in playing the vindication card, but others will be more than happy to do it for him if he’s holding the Lombardi Trophy on Sunday night.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame will announce tonight at NFL Honors whether Adam Vinatieri has been elected. Patriots coach Mike Vrabel has no doubt that he should be.
Vrabel, who is now the Patriots’ coach and was Vinatieri’s teammate as a Patriots player, said today at Super Bowl LX that the last-minute 45-yard field goal Vinatieri made on a snowy night against the Raiders on the Patriots’ run to Super Bowl XXXVI may have been the single best play Vrabel has ever seen any player make.
“You always knew that when he kicked they were going to go in,” Vrabel said of Vinatieri. “That was just what we thought and knew if we got into those situations. The kick in the snow, that’s probably the greatest feat, one of the greatest feats I’ve ever seen on a football field. We could barely run, let alone approach and kick a field goal of that length.”
Vrabel believes that Vinatieri, who won three Super Bowl rings with the Patriots and one with the Colts, deserves recognition for how important his contributions were to those titles.
“During those years that I was here, Adam was certainly one of the players that meant a lot to our football team and our success,” Vrabel said.
Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft were reportedly voted down by the Hall of Fame selection committee, but there’s still a chance that the Patriots dynasty will get a representative in the Hall of Fame Class of 2026.
