You may or may not believe in announcer jinxes, but one thing is for sure: you do not want to be on the side of any panel of experts picking your favorite team unanimously.
But that’s exactly the position the Seattle Seahawks find themselves in after ESPN’s first preview for Super Bowl LX.
The Seahawks are just 4.5-point favorites against the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. However, given the Patriots’ good fortune, easy schedule and the fact that Seattle came through a much more difficult NFC West gauntlet, it’s easy to see why Seattle might be favored to win its second Super Bowl.
But unanimous? Now we’re just giving Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye all the bulletin board material they could ever ask for as the big game approaches.
In its first preview of the game, ESPN asked a dozen of their NFL experts and analysts for an early prediction with the Super Bowl more than a week away. Yes, we’ll see hundreds more picks on the game and as it gets closer we will hear dozens of reasons why either side will win. But for the moment, all 12 of 12 analysts including Dan Orlovsky, Dan Graziano, Lindsay Thiry, and Field Yates picked the Seahawks to win the game.
We literally just saw this earlier in the postseason when the entire NFL Live cast picked the Texans to defeat the Patriots in the divisional round, and we know how that turned out as C.J. Stroud seemingly threw 89 interceptions in defeat. Then, the Pats squeaked past backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham and the Broncos to advance to the Super Bowl in what could best be described as a very fortunate playoff run.
Surely someone at ESPN will pick the Pats in the lead-up to Super Bowl LX. A lot has changed since the days when Tom Brady and Bill Belichick were racking up Lombardi Trophies in New England. But this year’s Patriots team will most likely cherish playing the role of plucky underdog once again.