SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The final pool reports of Super Bowl week are out, and it’s good news for the Patriots and Seahawks.
The biggest news is Drake Maye (shoulder) and Seahawks safety Nick Emmanwori (ankle) practiced fully and are off the injury report for the game. Emmanwori did not practice on Thursday after tweaking his ankle on Wednesday.
“No designation for Nick,” Mike Macdonald said. “Turns out he’s alive.”
The Patriots had their normal lively Friday practice. From the report:
To keep things normal, the Patriots finished the stretching period just before 1 p.m. to the sound of the song “Friday” by Sir Charles Jones, just as they have throughout the season during their Friday practices in Foxborough. At 1:30 p.m., players gathered in the end zone to watch eight of the team’s assistant coaches face off in four rounds of one-on-one drills. Offensive assistants Riley Larkin, who played QB at John Carroll, and Chuckie Keeton, a former college quarterback at Utah State, each caught touchdowns that led to loud cheers from the team’s offensive players. Vrabel celebrated Keeton’s catch against special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer with a demonstrative fist pump and a short dance. These coach-vs.-coach battles have become a fun staple of Vrabel’s final practice session each week.
“It’s Friday, we’re 48 hours before the game, and that’s just how we normally operate,” Vrabel said.
But Vrabel doesn’t typically send his team off the field and into the locker room an hour into practice like he did Friday. After a special teams session, Vrabel blew his whistle at 1:52 p.m. and motioned players to leave the field. Players spent 14 minutes inside while Bad Bunny songs (among others) played over the stadium speakers.
Practice concluded with a final set of team drills for the starting offense and defense against the scout team. Vrabel gathered his team for a long final huddle, and then smaller groups of players split off for their own huddles or final individual work. Quarterback Drake Maye, tight end Hunter Henry and receiver Efton Chism III were the final players to leave the field.
“We still have time to prepare. There’s a lot of time to fine tune things and to get themselves physically and mentally ready to play, but I also want them to be able to enjoy their time with their families and people they care about,” Vrabel said.
Linebackers Robert Spillane and Harold Landry III were both limited in Friday’s practice and are officially listed as questionable for the Super Bowl. Spillane, who is dealing with an ankle injury, did not practice on Wednesday, and Landry, who is recovering from a knee injury, missed Thursday’s practice.
“They’re doing everything they can to be ready for the football game and we’ll see how they respond from practice today,” Vrabel said.
The Patriots will return to Stanford Stadium for a team picture on Saturday afternoon.
Seattle’s Friday practice was a tempo the Seahawks call ACT.
“ACT is alignment, communication and technique,” Macdonald said. “It was a normal Friday workload, all the stuff we do on Friday, so par for the course. Just gonna stick to our process.”
The first team offense practiced with simulated crowd noise played loudly instead of music. The first team defense also practiced with crowd noise.
“We do [crowd noise] every week,” Macdonald said. “Not sure what the noise level is going to be during the game. We try to hit all those different scenarios.”
Defensive end Leonard Willams broke down the team to finish their final Friday practice of the season. Players’ families are now in town and Macdonald said they will have the rest of the night to spend with family.
“They’ll get a chance to be with their families, which would be great and we’ll be back to work in the morning,” Macdonald said.
Seattle’s three quarterbacks stayed on the field after practice closed to work with passing game coordinator Jake Peetz.
Macdonald said Seattle will have another practice tomorrow, also at ACT tempo.
