On Monday, former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said of the Seahawks-Patriots matchup in Super Bowl LX: “I don’t have a dog in the fight.”
That left Brady’s former New England teammate Vince Wilfork with a bone to pick regarding Brady’s unwillingness to pick a winner for Sunday.
“That’s bullcrap, Tom,” Wilfork said in an appearance on WEEI. “All that political — this ain’t political. It ain’t political, what it is. Raiders ain’t in it. Say what it is, what you see. . . . At the end of the day, if you’re a Patriot for life, you know what it is. Don’t give me that political bullcrap. That just what it is. If you don’t think we’re gonna win, just pick Seattle then. Don’t straddle the fence. Don’t straddle the fence.”
It really is strange to see Brady not supporting the Patriots. Yes, he now owns a piece of the Raiders. But he has a statue outside Gillette Stadium.
As one former Patriots player who won multiple Super Bowls recently acknowledged, some guys from great teams of the past don’t want to be supplanted by another run of champions. For instance, unless and until the Patriots win another Super Bowl, Brady will be the only quarterback to ever win one in New England.
Once a new dynasty emerges, the last dynasty loses significance. Which means that the players who were part of it lose significance, too. Which means that some former Patriots players may be secretly hoping that this fresh crop of Patriots doesn’t win their seventh Super Bowl.
Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel says he knew what kind of quarterback Drake Maye was, even before coaching him.
Although Maye was a surprise MVP candidate in 2025, Vrabel says he’s not surprised at how well Maye has played, and in fact knowing Maye was special is a big reason he took the job.
“I probably realized that before I got here,” Vrabel said. “It’s a large part of the reason I wanted to be here. There were plays in training camp he made, the accuracy outside the pocket or on the move, the way he plays the position, he has an athletic nature to the way he plays. I think that’s somewhat unique. Everybody has a different skill set, he’s comfortable in the pocket, he has the ability to transfer up in the pocket, to make moves, to make throws off platform and at different angles.”
The Patriots were 4-13 last year in Maye’s rookie season, and although many expected them to improve in Vrabel’s first year, few expected them to be in the Super Bowl. Vrabel is not surprised.
The Seahawks listed rookie safety Nick Emmanwori as limited in Wednesday’s practice with an ankle injury. The pool report revealed the reason.
Emmanwori was injured while defending a pass late in Wednesday’s padded practice, according to pool reporter Kalyn Kahler of ESPN. He walked off the field on his own, with several players attempting to comfort Emmanwori before he left.
The severity of the injury is unknown.
“He had an ankle today,” coach Mike Macdonald told Kahler. “We brought him in to look at it, and we’ll kind of go from here and figure out what are the next steps.”
The Seahawks drafted Emmanwori in the second round, and he is a finalist for defensive rookie of the year. He had three pass breakups in the NFC Championship Game.
Macdonald said in the pool report that Sam Darnold’s limited participation in practice was a part of the plan as he continues to work his way back from an left oblique injury. The quarterback has not had a full practice since injuring his side in a Jan. 15 practice.
“Sam’s right on schedule,” Macdonald told Kahler. “So we’ve had this plan here over the last X amount of weeks, and it varies every day. And today he had a great day, so we’re right on schedule.”
The Patriots installed much of their game plan during practices last week in Foxborough.
However, coach Mike Vrabel told pool reporter Lindsay Jones of The Ringer that his staff saved several elements of that plan to present to players this week. It came at the suggestion of offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who is coaching in his 10th Super Bowl as a member of the Patriots’ staff.
“No one has more experience than Josh with this, and he felt like that we needed to do something to keep them engaged and stimulated, so they weren’t looking at some things for the second or third time,” Vrabel said in the pool report.
Team owners Robert and Jonathan Kraft arrived at the team’s practice at Stanford University in Palo Alto accompanied by former Patriots receiver Julian Edelman, the MVP of Super Bowl LIII. Like McDaniels, the Krafts and Edelman are familiar with Super Bowl prep, but it’s all new for most of Vrabel’s squad.
No Patriot remains on the roster from their last Super Bowl, and only five players on the current roster have previous Super Bowl experience.
Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold had another limited practice on Wednesday.
He has not had a full practice since injuring his left oblique on Jan. 15.
Darnold, though, was not given an injury designation last week for a hypothetical game over the off weekend. He is expected to start in Super Bowl LX.
Every player practiced for the Seahawks on the first official practice of the week.
Left tackle Charles Cross (foot), safety Nick Emmanwori (ankle), offensive tackle Josh Jones (ankle/knee), linebacker DeMarcus Lawrence (rest), fullback Robbie Ouzts (neck), wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (rest) and defensive end Leonard Williams (rest) were limited.
Wide receiver Jake Bobo (hand), linebacker Ernest Jones (chest) safety Julian Love (shoulder), fullback Brady Russell (hand), tight end Eric Saubert (hamstring) and linebacker Drake Thomas (shoulder) were full participants.
