Here are a few tids, bits and random thoughts while we all try to wrap our heads around the fact the Patriots are returning to the Super Bowl:

First, the Patriots irony of playing Seattle in the Super Bowl matches the weather forecast. Ten years ago the New England region got clobbered with 30 inches of snow midway through the week of the game against the Seahawks won by Malcom Butler’s interception, screwing up a ton of travel plans to Phoenix. This week we got the monster storm and this weekend we’re looking at a possible/probable Nor’easter. Ugh.

—– As reports have it, Broncos coach Sean Payton went into his office after all the interviews and conversations were done, sat down, and said, “I can’t believe we lost.” Payton only has himself to blame, going for it on fourth and a long 1 in the first half against the Patriots and skipping a chip shot field goal in good conditions. Not only that, his play call of having backup QB Jarrett Stidham roll out and throw into traffic. Actually, word is that wasn’t the play he really wanted to use but the Patriots came out with a six man defensive front he and his staff had never seen before. Score one for Vrabel & Co.

—– And that leads to another question: Did anyone really expext a blizzard in the second half that completely changed the way the game was coached and played? The forecast yours truly had heard simply called for possbility of flurries in the second half. What we saw for 90 minutes was way more than just flurries, and the Patriots were built much better to win that kind of game than, surprisingly, Denver.

—– A Fanduel graphic matches Drake Maye’s first three playoff starts with those of Tom Brady. Brady’s in January of 2002 would have been vs. the Raiders in the Snow Bowl game, then at Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship Game that he lasted only into the second quarter after injuring his ankle, and of course the franchise’s first ever Super Bowl victory. Anyway, both went 3-0, Maye had 533 passing yards, rushed for 141, has five TD passes to two interceptions, and a passer rating of 84.0

Brady?He had 572 yards passing, just 22 rushing (not a surprise), two TD passes with one pick and a passer rating of 77.3 Interesting, who would have thunk it?

—– Many have to be shocked Sam Darnod is taking the Seahawks to the Super Bowl. He had a tough postseason with the Vikings last year, but a good regular season under the tutelage of Vikings head coach and quarterback whisperer Kevin O’Connell. He’s thrived under Seahawks and hot head coaching candidate Klint Kubiak and QB coach Andrew Janocko. But the last quarterback to take his team to the Super Bowl yours truly can remember – or who stands out the most – after being pulled from the scrap heap goes way back to former Patriots QB Jim Plunkett. Plunkett, now 78, was the top pick in the 1971 NFL Draft by the Patriots, was good but couldn’t get them wins and after the 1975 season a banged up Plunkett was dealt to the 49ers, didn’t do much there and three years later signed with the Raiders as a backup. But eventually he became the starter and led the Raiders to two Super Bowl triumphs, SB XV over the Eages in January of 1981 and again a couple years later in Super Bowl XVIII. Amazing. He and Eli Manning are the only two quarterbacks who have won two Super Bowls not inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, although Manning may get his chance next week.

—- Speaking of which, the Pro Football Writers will gather in a room, some 50 of them, and decide whether Manning and others get in but the ones Patriots fans and media will be waiting on is whether Bill Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft get in. Belichick one has to think is automatic; the question is Kraft. Both have to get 80 percent of the vote and they’re competing in the coaches/contributor category of five in which only a maximum of three can be chosen. Kraft will have taken three coach-QB combinations to the Super Bowl, which has to really count for something. That and the fact for what they accomplished together, Kraft and Belichick should go in together. Let’s hope it happens.

Tom King may be reached at X @Telegraph_TomK, or via email at tking@nashuatelegraph.com