The New England Patriots have touched down in Santa Clara to start their on-site preparation for Super Bowl LX against the Seattle Seahawks. Over the course of the next week, they will not just have to get
ready to face off versus possibly the best overall team in the NFL this season, but also maneuver their way through a process that is different from any other week on the calendar.
Whether or not they will successfully do so this week will be seen. That is not the only question on our minds heading into Super Bowl week, though.
What will Drake Maye’s preparation look like?
The Patriots’ starting quarterback popped up on the injury report last week because of a shoulder ailment he sustained in the AFC Championship Game against the Broncos, and was limited in the first of two practices last week. The second saw session him downgraded to non-participant: while head coach Mike Vrabel made it clear his shoulder would not have prevented him from taking part in the action, Maye was sidelined on Friday because of an illness.
By Sunday, the 23-year-old appeared to be over the hump again; Maye was among several Patriots players addressing the crowd at the team’s send-off rally at Gillette Stadium. Still, standing on a stage and getting ready for the biggest game of his career are two different things.
While our look at practice will be limited relative to the non-Super Bowl part of the season — only one pool reporter will be allowed in — Maye’s participation alone is one of the biggest story of the week. The Patriots will practice four times, starting on Monday.
Will Robert Spillane and company return to practice?
While Maye is the headline name, he was far from the only player on the injury report last week. A total of nine players were labeled as questionable heading into the weekend, with five among them not present on Friday: Maye was being joined by running back Terrell Jennings (IR/concussion protocol/hamstring), offensive tackle Thayer Munford Jr. (knee/illness), and linebackers Harold Landry (knee) and Robert Spillane (ankle).
Team captains Landry and Spillane in particular are in the spotlight. The former missed the AFC Championship because of his knee, while the latter got banged up early in the game and never reentered even after returning to the sideline.
Both have been big parts of New England’s defensive operation this year, and having them available would go a long way toward the Patriots taking the Lombardi Trophy back to Foxborough.
Will any new injuries emerge?
Yes, this is a relatively injury-centric article so far, but they are one of the biggest and most tangible pre-game stories every week. So, why would the Super Bowl be any different?
Obviously, the four full(ish)-speed practices on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday have the potential not just for players to return or up their workloads, but also for injuries to occur. The hope is that it doesn’t happen, for either team, but stranger things have happened.
Will any roster moves be made?
We already touched on this earlier on Monday, but the Patriots will have to make a pair of roster decisions this week: will running back Terrell Jennings and defensive tackle Joshua Farmer be activated from injured reserve in time for the Super Bowl? There are arguments for and against both, and the team’s decisions will give a hint at how it feels about them and the current depth at their respective spots.
Of course, those two moves are not the only ones that might happen. While we may not see a “Tyquan Underwood getting cut on the eve of the Super Bowl” situation, the state of an NFL roster and practice squad is one of fluidity.
Will there be bulletin-board material?
Odds are that a Mike Vrabel-led team will not be embroiled in scandal leading up to the Super Bowl. That said, with media presence on an entirely different level than during the normal parts of the season, the threshold for scrutiny is significantly lower.
We don’t expect any Patriots to deliver bulletin-board material or the like over the next few days — same thing with the Seahawks — but you just never know what is going to happen, or how people are going to react to seemingly innocuous remarks. The Super Bowl and its lead-up seem to follow their own weird rules at times.
