To much of the football-watching public, the New England Patriots are one of the most surprise Super Bowl participants in NFL history.
But don’t tell that to Cory Durden or any of New England’s players.
Durden fired back at critics and naysayers who accused the Patriots of being a surprise team during his press availability Monday.
Many have accused the Patriots of playing one of the easiest schedules of any Super Bowl team in the now-60-year history of the game.
Plus, New England was fortunate to play in the AFC Championship against backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham and the Denver Broncos after Bo Nix was injured in their 33-30 overtime win over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Divisional Round.
Still, the Pats were the No. 2 seed in the AFC and boast a 17-3 record entering play against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX on Feb. 9 in Santa Clara, California.
Critics Of The Patriots’ Easy Schedule Can ‘Go To Sleep’
Though you have to beat the teams in front of you, critics citing New England’s historically easy schedule are backed by data.
After all, the Patriots entered the season with the third-easiest schedule (.429 opponents’ win% in 2024), and their opponents finished the year with just 91 total wins and a .391 win%, by far the lowest of any team. They also lost to the team that will be picking first overall in the NFL Draft in April, the Las Vegas Raiders, who went to Foxborough and left with a 20-13 win in Week 1.
But Durden, the Patriots defensive tackle, doesn’t care to hear any of that.
“To the guys that are pushing the schedule narrative, I think you can kind of go to sleep with that,” Durden said. “We’re in the Super Bowl, and we want to win the Super Bowl.”
The Seahawks Will Be The Best Team The Patriots Play All Season
Seattle will enter the championship game with a comparable record at 16-3 — the Seahawks, Broncos and Patriots all tied for the most wins in the NFL, but Seattle and Denver ended up with byes. But the Seahawks will be the most formidable foe New England has played by far.
The Seahawks will enter the Super Bowl riding a nine-game win streak where they have averaged 29 points per game and are surrendering just 18 per game. The Los Angeles Rams are the only opponent in Seattle’s past eight games to surpass 10 points, though they did it twice even though they lost to the Seahawks in both games.
Seattle leads the NFL in points-against per game (17.2) and was third in the league in points per game (28.4). Plus, even though Sam Darnold is a quarterback New England’s defense has historically held in check — he famously saw ghosts against New England as a member of the New York Jets back in 2019 — he looks like a different player with Seattle.
The Pats defense has carried them to this point by allowing just 26 points in three playoff games. But they’ll need to mimic the play of the Patriots defense in Super Bowl XXXVI against the then-St. Louis Rams to have a chance to win it all.
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