On Sunday, 8 February, the New England Patriots will take on the Seattle Seahawks at Super Bowl LX. The match, which is typically the biggest sports event in the USA each year, will take place at Levi's Stadium in California.
Both teams are now rightly considered worthy Super Bowl contenders; however, at the beginning of the season, you would have got odds of 60/1 on the Seahawks winning it all and 80/1 on the Patriots. Neither side was meant to be here, but there can be no arguments after how they both fared during the regular season.
Bet £10 on Super Bowl XL, get £40 in Free Bets at talkSPORT BET
18+ New customers only. Opt in, deposit and bet £10 on any NFL market (odds 1/1+) within 7 days of sign up. Get 4x£10 in Free Bets for set markets. Free Bets expires in 7 days. Scroll down for T&Cs. GambleAware.org. Please gamble responsibly
The Seahawks were the #1 seeds in the NFC, finishing the regular season with a 14-3 record. Meanwhile, the Patriots were the #2 seeds in the AFC with an identical record. As a result, the Pats have had to play one more postseason game to reach the Super Bowl. Could that end up being an advantage or a disadvantage on Sunday?
How the bookies view it: Seahawks are big favourites
The Seattle Seahawks come into the match as the red-hot favourites to win the Super Bowl on Sunday. Bet365 have priced a Seahawks victory as short as 5/12, while a win for the Patriots has been priced at 39/20. The Patriots have been written off at several key moments all season, though, so these odds will not faze them.
Recent head-to-head: Advantage Seahawks
As cross-conference rivals, these two teams don't meet regularly, so it is hard to take too much stock in the recent H2H record. They have only met twice in the Pats' post-Tom Brady Era, and the Seahawks came out on top on both occasions, including an overtime victory in the most recent clash last season.
The most significant recent meeting between the Patriots and the Seahawks came in 2015 when they met at Super Bowl XLIX. On that occasion, the Patriots overturned a ten-point deficit after three quarters to win 28-24.
Players to watch: Will Maye buckle under the pressure?
There are a lot of people who believe the outcome of the match will be determined by how Drake Maye, the Patriots' quarterback, deals with the pressure, both emotionally and physically.
The Seahawks have multiple players capable of rushing the QB and have demonstrated over the course of the season that they have the best defence when it comes to pressuring the passer. They have three players – Leonard Williams, Uchenna Nwosu and Byron Murphy – who all have seven sacks each for the season.
Under ordinary circumstances, facing a pressure-happy defence like this can be challenging, but when you're doing it as the second-youngest quarterback to ever start a Super Bowl, it's a whole different ball game.
Maye's stats this postseason aren't exactly anything to write home about, either, so the concerns around him are fair. He ranks eighth in the postseason for pass completion and 11th for yards gained. It's not as if they can bank on their running game on Sunday, either, as the Seahawks have the third-best rush defence in the NFL.
Anything else catch the eye?
It's not just the Seahawks who have excelled defensively this season, with the Patriots also impressing on this side of the field. Across their three postseason matches, the Patriots only conceded 26 points at an average of less than nine points per game.
While that will be difficult to match on Sunday, the fact that both of these teams are stronger on defence than on offence suggests we are in for a low-scoring Super Bowl.
Super Bowl LX prediction: Our tips
- Drake Maye under 222.5 passing yards – 10/11
- Uchenna Nwosu to record a sack – 21/10
- Total points under 42.5 – 6/5
Andy is tipster who has been calling Golf tournaments for several years across many different platforms. He has covered all tournaments from the Asian Tour to the Masters. He's also a keen football fan and is an expert on European football.
GambleAware