Patriots, Seahawks rate as favorites to reach Super Bowl
The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks are the favorites to reach Super Bowl LX at Santa Clara, Calif.
The Patriots are 5.5-point road favorites over the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday. Denver's chances took a big hit when standout quarterback Bo Nix broke his ankle in Saturday's 33-30 overtime victory over the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round.
New England recorded a 28-16 home win over the Houston Texans on Sunday.
Seattle is 2.5-point home favorites over the NFC West-rival Los Angeles Rams in the NFC title game. It will be the third time the Seahawks and Rams meet this season.
Seattle steamrolled the visiting San Francisco 49ers 41-6 on Saturday, while Los Angeles registered a 20-17 overtime victory over the host Chicago Bears on Sunday.
Seattle (+145) is listed as favorites to win the Super Bowl by DraftKings. The Rams (+210) are next in line and New England (+270) follows while the Broncos (+1100) are decisive long shots.
The Seahawks and Rams split the two regular-season meetings.
Seattle's third and final regular-season setback was a 21-19 road loss to the Rams on Nov. 16. The Seahawks have since won eight straight games.
Seattle defeated Los Angeles 38-37 at home in overtime on Dec. 18 when Sam Darnold tossed a game-ending two-point conversion pass to Eric Saubert.
DraftKings has set the over-under at 47.5 for this matchup.
The Rams posted a 34-31 road win over the host Carolina Panthers in the wild-card round on Jan. 10 prior to beating the Bears.
The Patriots and Broncos are meeting for the first time since Christmas Eve 2024 when New England won 26-23 in Denver. Bailey Zappe (Patriots) and Russell Wilson (Broncos) were the quarterbacks.
New England has allowed just 19 points while beating the Los Angeles Chargers and Texans in the postseason. DraftKings listed the over-under at 40.5 for the contest against Denver.
The Patriots intercepted Houston's C.J. Stroud four times and had five takeaways on Sunday. One week earlier, New England sacked Justin Herbert six times in a 16-3 home win over the Chargers in the wild-card round.
Denver will be starting journeyman Jarrett Stidham, who has made four career starts, two with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022 and two with the Broncos in 2023. He is 1-3 in those games.
Stidham's top yardage outing came for the Raiders late in the 2022 season after the team benched Derek Carr. He passed for 365 yards and three touchdowns but was also picked off twice in a 37-34 overtime loss to the visiting 49ers.
Stidham was a member of the Patriots from 2019-21 and was nearly the replacement for Tom Brady. But the franchise signed Cam Newton shortly before 2020 training camp opened and Stidham appeared in five games as a backup.
Stidham missed a large chunk of the 2021 season due to offseason back surgery and didn't get any game action after his return. The Patriots traded him to the Raiders in the offseason.
Stidham is minus-107 to pass for 190 or more yards against New England. Patriots starter Drake Maye is minus-111 to throw for 231 or more yards.
Matthew Stafford of the Rams is minus-108 to pass for 260 or more yards, while Seattle's Sam Darnold is minus-106 to throw for 240-plus yards.
Maye and Stafford are the leading NFL MVP candidates.