Super Bowl 60 Observations

Perfect

I watched the edited version this morning, so I got a good night’s sleep and mercifully missed the commercials and the halftime show. Some people didn’t like the NFL’s choice of performer, but I always hated the halftime show even if it were someone good. Like who decided we need some cheesy pop music performance at all? It’s always the lowest common denominator of the culture, shoved in our faces while we’re trying to watch a game. Imagine if during some musician’s tour, they had to have an intermission wherein NFL players had a flag football game for 20 minutes. It’s ridiculous someone even came up with the idea.

In any event, I don’t mean to sound salty because that game went almost perfectly from my standpoint. I had Seahawks -4.5, and it was never in much doubt because elite defenses tend to overperform in Super Bowls. I’m not sure why this isn’t obvious to everyone by now, but the lines never seem to reflect it. I sure hope it stays that way.

Two bets I should have made but didn’t were Seahawks -14.5 at 3:1 and Kenneth Walker for MVP (not sure the odds). If you have the favorite winning in a defensive-oriented blowout, there’s a good chance its sole good running back has a strong game and its QB a modest one, especially with an elite corner on his lone elite receiver. But easier to see that after the fact.

• Sam Darnold is the first player from the 2018 QB class that includes Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson even to make, let alone win, a Super Bowl. He had one key scramble and mostly did a good job not making any mistakes. You want to be a caretaker with a defense like that.

• Walker had a big workload and earned the MVP, breaking tackles and showcasing his breakaway speed. He was a bad fantasy pick this year because the Seahawks managed his workload on purpose so he’d be fresh when he was most needed.

• JSN was checked for a concussion at one point, but did little on his 10 targets. Christian Gonzalez had a great game. Cooper Kupp led the team with 12 targets but had only 61 yards. The best thing about the Seahawks passing game was zero turnovers and only one sack taken.

• The Seahawks kicker and punter were difference makers. Jason Myers didn’t miss a kick, and Michael Dickson pinned the Patriots inside their own five twice.

• Drake Maye was under pressure all game, took six sacks and threw two picks. The Patriots didn’t have enough playmakers, and the Seahawks were getting to Maye with only four rushers, the key to dominating quality offenses.

• The Patriots had no running game to speak of — it was all Maye mostly throwing short and intermediate passes and occasionally scrambling.

• This game had very few penalties. It’s always nice not to have to talk about the refs.

• It’s always nice seeing a game go almost entirely how you imagined it and getting paid for the experience. It’s not that common, unless one of the teams has an elite defense in the Super Bowl.