After a hard fought 14-3 regular season and three playoff wins, the New England Patriots faced off against the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl on Sunday. While homers like me were holding out for a spectacular Drake Maye performance, what we saw was far from that. The Patriots were unable to score until the fourth quarter, and across the 10 drives prior to their first touchdown; they totaled just 78 yards, punting eight times and fumbling once. Five of those drives were three and outs. They turned the ball over three times in total, one of which was a pick-six.
The offensive line was a major culprit of the team’s downfall. Will Campbell allowed 14 pressures, the most of any single player in the NFL in a game this season. Jared Wilson looked lost as well, with both rookies struggling immensely against Seattle’s excellent defensive line. The backfield wasn’t much of a supplement to the passing game, either. Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson combined for 42 yards, and while New England was behind the entire game, the delta was just nine entering the fourth quarter. They easily could have continued to run the ball if it was bearing fruit for them. The pair had a combined 13 carries for 3.2 yards a pop.
The receiver group was as disappointing as they have been all playoffs. Stefon Diggs caught three balls for 37 yards in the biggest game of his career, while Kayshon Boutte had one catch. Mack Hollins stepped up as a deep threat, but his efforts were too little too late. Pop Douglas had an okay day underneath, with five catches for 45 yards. It was as clear as ever that the bunch-of-WR3s gimmick New England has run over the past few years isn’t an effective one. Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper had minimal contributions.
Defensively, the unit continued to show exactly why they’re one of the league’s best. Despite the Patriots offense having just 78 yards in the first three quarters, the defense continued to contain the Sam Darnold-led unit to just nine points in that time frame. They allowed only one touchdown, a pass to A.J. Barner. Across the playoffs, they allowed just two touchdowns.
While the unit struggled against the run more than usual in the game, there’s no way to give them anything more than the utmost respect and praise. Christian Gonzalez’s Super Bowl performance was one for the ages, as he didn’t allow a single catch in man coverage against the Offensive Player of the Year, Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
The offense throughout the playoffs was disappointing. Maye averaged three fewer completions and 51 fewer passing yards per game, while seeing a drop in completion rate of 13.7% compared to the regular season. Henderson’s 40 carries totaled 66 yards; Diggs averaged 27.5 yards per game, and Hunter Henry wasn’t much better at 30.5 yards per game. There needs to be major improvements made to bolster the offense going into 2026 if the team wants a chance to repeat their feat of making it to the Super Bowl.
As disappointing as it is that New England was unable to pull off the improbable, the team is well ahead of schedule. Going into the offseason, they rank 10th in effective cap space with 12 selections in the upcoming draft, all while having a superstar quarterback on a rookie contract. While 2025 wasn’t the year New England could claim their seventh Lombardi Trophy, they’ve put themselves in an excellent position going into the offseason.