Colin Cowherd: Super Bowl LX Breakdown & Predictions

I was joined on today’s show by ‘First Things First’ co-host Danny Parkins to talk Super Bowl LX.

One thing that stands out immediately to me is the age and experience gap between these two teams.

Seattle is the second-youngest team in the league. That matters on this stage. My guess is they could be a little tight. It’s the first Super Bowl for Sam Darnold and head coach Mike Macdonald.

New England is older in several spots. They spent over $250 million in free agency. Their defensive line is older. Stefon Diggs is older. Mike Vrabel has been here before. Josh McDaniels has been here multiple times. If one team is less likely to feel the moment, it’s New England.

Young Teams, Pressure, and Playing Angry

I’ve seen this before with young teams. When you tell young athletes they might get blown out, they often come out angry.

We saw it with Miami against Indiana in the CFP National Championship. Miami played emotional early, late hits, high energy. That lasts for a while, but eventually the game settles, and execution matters.

That’s part of why I look at this matchup and think New England could be a problem. They’re the underdog. Everyone wants Seattle to win. Seattle is the favorite and the popular team, and that adds pressure.

On tape, one team looks more athletic. The other looks very efficient.

Colin’s Lean: Patriots over Seahawks

Right now, I think I may pick New England to win the game.

They’ve won 16 of 17. They’re older. There’s less pressure playing as the underdog. We’ve seen this before. The Patriots dynasty started with Tom Brady as a big underdog against a team everyone loved.

Seattle looks like the better, more athletic team. New England looks more efficient.

Danny’s Counter: Seattle is Better and More Tested

Danny disagrees with me and is firmly on Seattle.

He bet Seattle immediately at -3.5 as soon as Championship Sunday ended and got the good number. The line opened at 3.5, moved to 4.5, and could reach 5 by kickoff.

Danny thinks Seattle is better top to bottom and far more battle-tested. Seattle got here through the NFC West. New England came through what he called a “very easy” AFC East schedule.

Simply put, he thinks New England loses earlier in the playoffs if Bo Nix doesn’t get hurt, and maybe loses to Houston if C.J. Stroud doesn’t play extremely poorly. That’s not calling them a fluke, but it does point to how things broke their way.

Seattle, meanwhile, finished first in blowouts, first in point differential, and was the only team to finish Top 3 in offense and defense. They blew out San Francisco in the playoffs and survived multiple close, high-level games against the Rams.

The Sam Darnold Discussion

We also talked about Sam Darnold and how difficult quarterback evaluation can be.

Since getting benched in Carolina in 2022 and regaining his job, Darnold has been the winningest quarterback in the league by percentage and has the most 100 passer-rating games over that stretch.

If he wins the Super Bowl, the question becomes where he ranks among quarterbacks. Danny said it would still be difficult to put him in the very top tier with Mahomes, Allen, Lamar, and Stafford, but that it would be reasonable to place him in the next group.

We both agreed early impressions die hard. Darnold entered the league young, played for unstable franchises, and only later landed with strong coaching and weapons.

Danny also pointed out that Seattle drafts extremely well and isn’t paying many of its core players yet. That allows them to absorb a quarterback contract without losing roster depth.

There’s a major difference between paying a quarterback $35 million and $65 million. That gap represents multiple starters. In Danny’s view, Darnold is still a bargain relative to his production.

Final Thoughts

I understand the argument for Seattle. Danny believes if you play this game ten times, Seattle wins seven of them.

I’m still leaning New England because of personnel experience and pressure dynamics.