Welcome back to The MMQB newsletter. It's officially Super Bowl week, with the NFL beginning to descend upon San Francisco ahead of Sunday's big game. Starting today, The MMQB will publish a newsletter every day leading up to the Super Bowl, featuring daily dispatches from our writers. We will have plenty of reporting from Radio Row, analysis of the Seahawks and Patriots' matchup and Super Bowl LX predictions throughout the week. Albert Breer kicks things off, unpacking the three lessons from Sam Darnold's rise in Seattle. But before we dig deeper into the current iteration of the big game, let's take a look back at past Super Bowls. Gilberto Manzano turned back the clock 11 years, revisiting Seahawks legend Marshawn Lynch's iconic five-minute interview from Super Bowl XLIX media day. Michael Fabiano listed 60 fantasy football facts from Super Bowl history. In a less exultant account, Matt Verderame broke down the 12 teams that have never won a Super Bowl and why. Let's start, though, with how Lynch made himself plenty of money after uttering his famous catchphrase, and the valuable lesson the media learned from the ordeal. |
|
|
By Gilberto Manzano Perhaps the funniest observation from Marshawn Lynch's iconic five-minute interview from Super Bowl XLIX media day 11 years ago was seeing the reporters ask one another what the Seahawks' running back said as if he didn't repeat himself countless times. That was easy for me to say because I was watching NFL Network from home, where I could hear Lynch say, loud and clear, that he was only there so he wouldn't get fined. I've been to a handful of these events—which have since been moved into prime time and rebranded as Super Bowl opening night—and it can be very challenging to hear if you're not standing in the front row. Also, it's not rare to see reporters nearly come to blows at one of these crowded interview scrums because those in the back are often fighting for the best position to shout their questions. And everyone thinks their question is the most important one. So I can imagine a few reporters angrily asking each other, "What's your deal?" as if they were Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll meeting at midfield. At the same time, Lynch sat at the podium eating Skittles and repeatedly saying, "I'm just here so I don't get fined." This is the perfect time to revisit Lynch's famous interview because the Seahawks and Patriots will again clash in Super Bowl LX at Levi's Stadium on Sunday. This Super Bowl rematch is 11 years in the making, with the prior meeting ending in controversy after the Seahawks made the head-scratching decision not to give Lynch the ball at the goal line, opting for a Russell Wilson pass that was intercepted by cornerback Malcolm Butler to seal the victory for the Patriots in one of the greatest games of the past quarter century. |
|
|
By Matt Verderame In just over a week, the Super Bowl will celebrate its 60th anniversary in Santa Clara, Calif. Of the 32 NFL teams, only 12 haven't experienced the exhilaration of winning it all. Surveying the league, the wealth has been hoarded by seven teams. The Patriots (6), Cowboys (5), 49ers (5), Steelers (6), Giants (4), Packers (4) and Chiefs (4) have won 34 of the 59 championships in the Super Bowl era, or 57.6%. Conversely, of the dozen who have never won a Super Bowl, only the Browns, Texans, Lions and Jaguars have never graced the field on Super Bowl Sunday. With the big game looming, we dug into why each of the dozen ringless teams is still without its first Super Bowl banner, and whether it's a case of long-term ineptitude or merely some bad luck. We start with the Cardinals, who, unfortunately for the team and its fans, fall into the former category. |
By Albert Breer There's a lot you can take from Sam Darnold landing in this spot. And, it starts with the Seahawks moving quickly in a challenging situation last February and March. There was some luck involved, too, to be sure. The end result, of course, looks nice and neat and impressive. Darnold, making a little more than half of what Dak Prescott got in Dallas, finished the season fifth in the NFL in passing yards (4,048), tied for ninth (with Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts and Bo Nix) in touchdown passes (25) and 11th in passer rating (99.1). His team is in the Super Bowl, and he played his best game in the NFC title game, which was the second time this year he lit up the Rams. Yes, the Seahawks are smart for having signed him. No, it wasn't always part of the plan. But, again, you can give them a ton of credit for pivoting when they did. Moving on Darnold started with Seattle's knowledge that Geno Smith was going to require a contract extension going into 2025. And while the Seahawks did make him an offer for around what Darnold got (three years, $100.5 million, $55 million guaranteed), it was more than $10 million per year less than where Smith wanted to be. So GM John Schneider and coach Mike Macdonald started to consider their options. Having Smith's old coach, Pete Carroll, on the hook for a trade for Smith, the idea of pursuing Darnold came into focus. The only catch was that it would require a leap of faith—the Raiders wanted to agree to a deal before free agency began. Schneider liked Darnold as a replacement, but also knew Minnesota was trying to keep him and that the Steelers would be involved, too. Still, Seattle had a combination of two things the others couldn't match. |
|
|
Matthew Emmons/Imagn Images |
By Michael Fabiano It's Super Bowl LX week! Will Sam Darnold and the Seahawks take home their second Lombardi Trophy, or will Drake Maye and the Patriots win what would be a record seventh Super Bowl (and their first in a championship game that was not started by Tom Brady)?
We'll find out in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8! The Super Bowl has been around since 1966, and I've always enjoyed the statistical and historical side of the games as it pertains to, what else, fantasy football. But before I dive into that, here are some pretty cool Super Bowl facts that you might not know. A single ticket for Super Bowl I between the Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers cost as little as $6, and it wasn't called the "Super Bowl" at the time. Instead, it was the "AFL-NFL World Championship Game." What's more, the game didn't sell out! Held in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, there were over 32,000 empty seats at the game.
That's a far cry from Super Bowls today, which are always sold out and now cost a small fortune to attend. Ticket prices from Super Bowl LX range from $6,000-$7,000 for the worst seat up to $35,000 or more! Oh, and if you think that's a lot of dough, consider this: Advertisers will pay around $7 million for a 30-second commercial spot! Here are a few more fun facts. There's only been one player named Super Bowl MVP who didn't play on the winning team. That was Cowboys LB Chuck Howley back in Super Bowl V (the game was held back in 1971). His team lost to the Baltimore Colts and the combination of Johnny Unitas and Earl Morrall in what's infamously known as the "Blooper Bowl," 16–13. |
Lexi Thompson/Imagn Images |
By Conor Orr Another NFL coaching carousel has come and gone. This season may have been one of the most surprisingly eventful of the past five years and led a handful of league sources to joke that we are never again to predict that a coaching cycle will be a snooze. Not in this modern climate which, motivated by the unfathomable chaos of college football, allows for more callousness and less loyalty than ever. Despite the lack of Big-Chair-Ready, play-calling offensive coordinators, this carousel provided a spark in different ways. Three of the league's most tenured coaches were either fired or walked away on their own accord. This created mass market chaos, the heroic wooing of several big-time candidates and situations where, down to the last moment, some candidates who got jobs were wondering whether the constant upheaval would yank the rug out from underneath them. Grading these situations is always perilous. I'll never escape the praise of Urban Meyer, the thumbs down on Doug Pederson to the Eagles or other guarantees that made me absolutely certain a coach would be a slam dunk hire, only to see them on the market again a year later. That said, I think it's a worthwhile exercise to praise the process and weigh the grades based on what we know about staffing so far, which may be a little unfair to the Raiders and Cardinals in particular, as their hires were just made official, or pseudo-official, this weekend. But let's grade all 10 new hires and rank them in grade order. |
Steven Bisig/Imagn Images |
|
|
By Matt Verderame The 2025 NFL season has been bizarre. It's been enthralling. It's also down to one game. In the Super Bowl, the Seahawks and Patriots will square off at Levi's Stadium with each looking to add to their trophy cases. Seattle has just one championship, famously falling a yard shy of back-to-back titles when it lost to New England in Super Bowl XLIX. Of course, the Patriots have won plenty over the years with six championships to reminisce about. This game, though, is about the present. It's about Sam Darnold trying to prove he was worth a top-three pick so long ago in New York. It's about Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye trying to restore the glory years in New England, years that seemed so distant not that long ago. It's about veterans like Stefon Diggs and DeMarcus Lawrence attempting to fulfill a lifetime ambition and win their first titles. But like every game, it's also about the matchups within the matchups. It's about the little-known numbers that could loom large as the contest heats up. And for those, we dive in deep with our first look at Super Bowl LX. |
|
|
Get the print edition of Sports Illustrated delivered to your door |
|
|
We may receive compensation for some links to products and services included in this email.
Sports Publishing Solutions Inc.
625 Broadway, 10th floor
New York, NY. 10012 You are receiving this email because you are subscribed to the MMQB newsletter. You can unsubscribe here . Privacy Policy – Terms & Conditions © 2026 Sports Publishing Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ABG-SI LLC. All betting and gambling content included in the MMQB newsletter is intended for individuals 21+ (18+ in DC, KY, NH, RI, and WY). Betting and gambling content, including picks and predictions, are based on individual commentators' opinions and we do not guarantee any success or profits. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER or texting 800GAM. |
Click this link to view the newsletter in your browser. |
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment