The American Gaming Association (AGA) confirms that Americans wagered $1.39 billion on Super Bowl LIX in 2025. This year all bets are off. The AGA now projects that $1.76 billion will be wagered on Super Bowl LX in 2026, a 27% increase driven by the expansion of legal, regulated sports betting markets in the United States. As the LED spectaculars in Times Square predict, the Seattle Seahawks are the 4.5 point favorite, attracting nearly 70% of the action on both the spread and moneyline. Peanuts when compared to the NFL’s $23 billion empire. As Vince Lombardi once said, “If you'll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives.” Fresh off the an historic win at the Grammys, tune in to Bad Bunny’s 13-minute halftime performance for spin on Lombardi's message and vision for the game.

If the New England Patriots defeat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX, 23-year-old quarterback Drake Maye will become the youngest starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl in NFL history. Add to that offensive center Garrett Bradbury — with whom Maye shares a hometown in Charlotte, North Carolina, a family connection, and an on-field chemistry being described as their having “One Brain” — and you’ve got a dynamic duo poised to turn around the Patriots longest period of decline in over two decades.

Following Tom Brady’s 2019 departure, the team faced consecutive non-winning seasons, salary cap issues, and a 45-game streak of scoring under 30 points. Which culminated in the end of the Bill Belichick era, who fell short of the 40 of 50 required votes required from the selection committee to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Even New England’s owner Robert Kraft was snubbed, who in September 2025 sold a minority stake of the Patriots to private equity firm Sixth Street, marking the first time private equity has ever claimed a piece of the NFL.

On Sunday, 8 February 2026 @ 6:30 EST Super Bowl 60 will kickoff "dynamically" with immersive AR, hyper-personalized, real-time data overlays in broadcasts, advertisements entirely generated by AI and transform the viewer experience. NBC/Peacock Premium will stream the game in 4K HDR, offering high-quality multi-angle style viewing. OneCourt will enable blind fans to “feel the game in real time.” Even Oakley Meta AI glasses — featuring a 12 MP camera for 3K video/photo capture, open-ear audio, and voice-activated AI, optimized for fitness tracking, navigation, and capturing point-of-view content while remaining durable and stylish for athletic use — will be on display with this claim: “Athletic Intelligence is Here.”

Perhaps why the NFL’s new and improved CEO-style coaches aren’t all calling the offensive plays anymore, often passing the torch to their offensive coordinators who're increasingly using AI for in-game strategy and game-week preparation. When the offense stumbles, the new and improved head coaches needn’t look in the mirror, but rather toward and through a revolving door of human capital. Once stable organizations are experiencing high turnover due to the man at the top now focusing on the culture, per se, leaving the offensive coordinator and players as high-priced, easily replaceable parts.

To wit, Garrett Bradbury, a first-round pick for the Minnesota Vikings in the 2019 NFL draft, was released after spending six seasons with the team on 17 March 2025. Did Minnesota release Bradbury to save $5.25 million in salary cap space to upgrade their offensive line with veteran Ryan Kelly? Had Bradbury met the high expectations so often placed on early-round offensive linemen? Or was the move part of a larger now cultural movement to simply reshuffle players who’re choking?

Even so, Bradbury, now a free agent, quickly signed a two-year deal worth up to $12 million with the New England Patriots the following day as their starting center in the 2025 season; starting all 17 games allowing zero sacks and penalties across 1,070 offensive snaps. Bradbury explains:

It’s just a new opportunity for me. I feel like if you don’t seize the opportunity you’re not going to grow from it. It’s about reinventing myself. The minute you think you have it figured out—you’re gone.

While the Seattle Seahawks are favored to win Super Bowl LX, New England could present an elite offensive line performance if the O-line can protect Maye's "100 mph fastball;" elite arm, and perhaps the best deep ball in the NFL.

While the AGA expects a record $1.76 billion to be wagered legally on Super Bowl 60, the largest bet on Super Bowl LX so far is a $2 million wager via Caesars Sportsbook placed by Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale on the New England Patriots for the win. A win that will yield $4 million, and a wager on an idea whose day and time has come.

Maye and Bradbury have emerged as a key "dynamic duo" for the New England Patriots, the pair leading the Patriots to a 10-7 victory over the Broncos in the AFC Championship game to secure a spot in Super Bowl LX. They share the most critical, symbiotic relationship on an American football offense, functioning in tandem to set the protection, identify defensive fronts, and initiate every snap.

Bradbury, now among the top-graded pass-blocking centers in the league says, “the familiarity helped us trust each other quickly.” They share a love for golf and competitive ping-pong matches, too. The duo is seen as a cornerstone of the 2025 Patriots' offense, with veterans like Bradbury providing the stability and experience needed to support a young, MVP-finalist quarterback like Maye.

Predicative algorithms aside, can player-turned-coach Mike Vrabel lead the New England Patriots to become the first franchise to win seven Super Bowls? One of the original eight members of the American Football League (AFL) in 1959, today New England by rights is the “underdog.” And for those placing prop bets, it’s well to know that "underdogs" have won each of the last three Super Bowl titles, four of the last five, and have covered the spread in five consecutively. Underdogs have won 11 of the last 18 Super Bowls. Favorites have lost the Super Bowl an outright 22 times in Super Bowl's 59-year history.

For the Patriots who’ve been dismissed and disrespected throughout the season, few thought they'd make it all the way to the final game of the campaign. Many experts didn't even predict they'd make the playoffs. Even after winning 10 games in a row and clearly establishing themselves as a legit contender in the AFC, people still didn't take the Patriots seriously due to their being young, inexperienced, and not properly battle-tested. New England’s motto this season: "We all we got. We all we need." Lombardi went further: "People who work together win. Whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society."

Mike Vrabel — whose led the 2025-26 New England Patriots to a rapid turnaround and a Super Bowl appearance — has done so by developing young talent (Maye); betting on second chances (Bradbury); and employing a strong defensive strategy focused on hard-nosed accountability. Thats because Vrabel is a quintessential “team player.”

His leadership focus on consistency, in-game adjustments, and discipline turned a 4-13 team into a 14-3 contender. The goal was to rebuild a modern NFL franchise; and build upon head coach Bill Belichick’s six New England Patriots' Super Bowl victories. For Vrabel, Belichick and Brady's "team first" mentality had always focused on acquiring and utilizing players who best served winning regardless of their past. "Respect the team and earn the right to be here every day."

Vrabel invitees players share their personal stories in team meetings — history, heroes, heartbreak, and hopes — and creates genuine bonds that extend beyond football. After every game, he races to the locker room to give a hug or handshake to every player, then gives individualized shout-outs followed by a team "one clap.” He's brought back player introductions and uses game-specific captains based on personal connections to opponents or locations.

He’ll famously dive into a practice scuffle during joint practices, showing he's right there with his players. As Maye says, “it's about accountability, and bringing your best to the field every day.” Maye's offense was great during the regular season, but when it dipped in the playoffs 23-year-old Kayshon Boutte, a receiver who specializes in big plays, if not the most cinematic catch of the playoffs, picked up the slack. Wide receiver Stefon Diggs says, “Vrabel is the best coach in my 11-year career,” emphasizing that he fosters authentic, trust-based connections with players. "He focuses on us as people rather than just assets."

Vrabel has created a unique coaching style based on human capital that sits squarely on the shoulders of one of the greatest NFL coaches in history; defined by an unparalleled 24-year stint with the New England Patriots; who won six Super Bowls, appeared in nine, and secured 17 AFC East titles. Bill Belichick is remembered for his "hobo-chic" attire and discipline, adaptability, situational mastery, accountability and philosophy: "Do Your Job.”

As for Bradbury’s comeback, we defer to Lombardi who said, "Life is like football in a sense. We always have the opportunity to take the field again.” It’s why we love the game; why Lombardi’s personal crusade — to create an egalitarian, prejudice free national pastime — became the American Game; and why beyond all the bells and whistles the synergy between players like Bradbury and Maye still epitomize “The Patriot’s Way.”

On June 2, 2021, the NFL announced that they would halt the use of Race-Norming that assumed Black NFL players started out with lower cognitive functioning in a $1 billion dollar brain injury settlement.

Mr. Irrelevant

In the 2022 draft, San Francisco selected Brock Purdy with the final pick (262nd overall) making him that year’s “Mr. Irrelevant.” The Athletic later obtained the scouting report of another NFL team that evaluated Purdy. “Purdy is not a very good athlete... and has a limited arm both in strength and throw repertoire.”

While seven 'Mr. Irrelevants' went on to become NFL quarterbacks, former 49er and Hall of Famer Steve Young says that "Purdy was overlooked in the draft because his calmness under pressure wasn’t apparent.” Young explains:

The quarterback position is really about guile. In some ways, to be able to have your heart rate go down when everyone else is in anxiety and pressure. In the NFL, very few are naturally at peace. We all grew into it but some guys just show up. Patrick Mahomes and Brock Purdy both show up in peace.

And if your wondering about Patrick Mahomes’ passing style, he’ll tell you it was influenced by his first dream of becoming a professional baseball player in the "National Sport." A flexible spine + lyrical torque = awkward angles and a terrorizing, 2x NFL spectacular passing touchdown leader. “I’m just trying to get the ball to the playmaker any way I can,” says the NFL and Super Bowl MVP.

Its something owners all understand, and 56% of the NFL’s ethnic players, 15 head coaches, and Taylor Swift, too. "People don't know how to read me and think I'm slow," Mahomes says, and therein lies an exquisite improvisation to a traditional power dynamic of the new "American Sport."