The 60th Super Bowl in NFL history has been locked in following a captivating conference championship weekend. The Seattle Seahawks will look to avenge one of the most egregious Super Bowl losses in history as they
face the team that defeated them in the big game 11 years ago, the New England Patriots. Despite not having Tom Brady or Bill Belichick, the Patriots will play in their 10th Super Bowl this century. They are officially football’s version of Thanos.
The Patriots punched their ticket to Super Bowl LX by beating the Bo Nix-less Denver Broncos on Sunday by a score of 10-7. The game turned into what the South has been over the past few days: cold and snowy. Patriots’ quarterback Drake Maye iced the game (no pun intended) by scrambling on a third-down run with less than two minutes left to secure the victory.
There really weren’t many highlights from this game, but for Georgia fans, the biggest news is that former offensive lineman Jared Wilson will have a chance at an NFL ring as a rookie. He could become the first rookie Dawg to win a Super Bowl since Sony Michel, who did so with the Patriots by scoring the only touchdown in their Super Bowl LIII win over the Rams.
Speaking of the Rams, their season came to an end Sunday after a 31-27 loss to the Seahawks. Despite the loss, Matthew Stafford had one of his best games of the season, throwing for 374 yards and three touchdowns. The likely league MVP stated that he will make a decision on his football future over the offseason. If this was the curtain call for the Texan Dawg, he went out with one of his best games and individual seasons of his career.
I mentioned last week that Kenny McIntosh was the only former Dawg on Seattle’s roster. He will not be active for the Super Bowl due to an ACL injury, however. Amazingly, I completely forgot about head coach Mike Macdonald’s connections to the University of Georgia.
Macdonald grew up in Roswell, GA and played football at Centennial High School. Injuries ended his football career, and he would enroll at UGA to earn a degree in finance after graduating. He was still determined to pursue a career in football, and in 2010, he joined Mark Richt’s staff as a graduate assistant. From 2011-2013, he worked as a member of the defensive coaching staff before joining the staff of the Baltimore Ravens. He ultimately returned to college as the defensive coordinator at Michigan in 2021 before returning to the same position with the Ravens.
Shortly after he was hired by Seattle as their head man, Coach Richt praised Coach Macdonald as a “sharp guy” and someone who has a strong work ethic and has what it takes to succeed.
The storylines leading up to this game in Santa Clara will be interesting to follow. Nonetheless, this should be a great game between two teams that were at the top of the NFL for most of the regular season. Best of luck to the players, especially all the former Dawgs playing (or coaching) in this game.
