Ahead of Super Bowl LX between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, experts have pointed to one way that the upstart Patriots can pull off the upset.
Force the “bad Sam Darnold game.”
On paper, the Seahawks are the favorites in Super Bowl LX for a reason, or a few of reasons if you want to look at it that way. Seattle has the top scoring defense in the NFL this season, and given how New England’s offense has fared so far in the postseason, there is not much confidence that Drake Maye and the Patriots are going to put up a ton of points on Sunday night.
However, New England’s defense has certainly played well in recent weeks, including in the playoffs. Yes, there is some context to be considered here — New England has not played the toughest schedule this year — but if the Patriots have a pathway to winning Super Bowl LX, it starts with their own defense, and forcing the “bad Sam Darnold game.”
Which begs the question: How much do you trust Sam Darnold?
If you have found yourself wondering that question, you are not alone. But ESPN’s Seth Walder is here to help. In collaboration with Bryan Knowles, they have crafted The Darnold Trust Meter, which is tracking in real-time how much football fans trust Darnold.
If this looks familiar, yes it is modeled after “The Needle,” an election-night feature at The New York Times.
As of Wednesday afternoon, there is currently a lot of trust in Darnold:
You can even view the history of how much fans have trusted Darnold, which you can see has been rising in recent hours:
According to Walder, the plan is to keep updating this site throughout Super Bowl LX, with a separate tracker to follow how much trust in him rises — or falls — during the Super Bowl:
So, how much do you trust Sam Darnold? Sound off in the comments below.
