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.
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye has pronounced his right shoulder as “good” all week. The team’s injury report confirms that.
Maye remains on the injury report, but he had a full practice on Wednesday.
He was limited on two reports last week, one of which was an estimate, and then sat out Friday with an illness.
That led the Patriots to list him as questionable to play in a hypothetical game over the off weekend.
Maye said he was not limited in a bonus practice on Monday that did not require an injury report.
Linebacker Robert Spillane (ankle) was the only player who didn’t practice, and linebacker Harold Landry (knee) and offensive tackle Thayer Munford Jr. (knee) were limited.
Defensive lineman Joshua Farmer (hamstring) was a full participant, and wide receiver Mack Hollins (abdomen) has exited the report.
Running back Terrell Jennings (hamstring/cleared concussion protocol) will not return from injured reserve after not being activated before his 21-day practice window expired.
Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold has not missed any game action because of the oblique injury that popped up ahead of the divisional round of the playoffs and it doesn’t sound like it is creating any difficulty for him leading into Super Bowl LX either.
Darnold was listed as limited in practice last week and head coach Mike Macdonald was asked at his Wednesday press conference about how much work Darnold will do in the team’s practice later in the day. Macdonald did not get specific about how many reps the team has planned, but his answer suggested there is little concern about Darnold’s health.
“We’ll see today,” Macdonald said. “It’s definitely gradually increasing by the day. Some days more than others, but he’s in a great spot. Know he’s really confident, we’ll see how today plays out. Not entirely sure how many throws or what percentage of throws.”
The team’s injury report will provide a final answer on Darnold’s participation level, but it appears there would have to be a major change in Darnold’s condition for his Sunday availability to become an issue.
Patriots linebacker Robert Spillane missed time with an ankle injury at the end of the regular season and he aggravated the issue in the AFC Championship Game, but he gave a positive update on his condition Wednesday.
Spillane did not practice at all last week, but said at a Wednesday morning media availability that he is confident that he will be able to play against the Seahawks in Super Bowl LX.
Spillane started the first 13 games of the regular season before missing New England’s final four games. He had 97 tackles, one sack, two interceptions and a forced fumble. He also had 14 tackles in the team’s three postseason games.
The Patriots will issue their first injury report of Super Bowl week after their Wednesday practice.
