Santa Clara, Calif. – The Patriots are one win away from football immortality as they prepare to play the Seahawks in Super Bowl LX and that means everything is on the table to get a win at Levi's Stadium on Sunday.
Seattle's defense ranks near the top of the league in many statistics, including points allowed, total yards, and EPA per play. If you dig even deeper, Seattle is third in passer rating allowed (78.6) and allows the lowest explosive-play rate (10.8%) on in-structure drop-backs, meaning conventional passes thrown from the pocket. In other words, it's extremely difficult to move the ball in structure against the Seahawks defense, which is one of the best units in the league at taking away initial reads and then pressuring opposing quarterbacks who have to hold the ball to progress past their first read due to sticky coverage.
However, one area where the Patriots offense could find a winning edge is using second-year QB Drake Maye's mobility to unlock a stingy Seahawks defense. Seattle ranks 29th in yards per rush allowed to quarterbacks (5.0) and is just 16th in EPA on out-of-structure drop-backs (scramble drills). Although there's some survivor bias involved, Seattle also allowed the most passing yards on extended drop-backs (414). Furthermore, the Seahawks ability to contain a dynamic mobile quarterback hasn't really been tested yet. Among the top-10 quarterbacks in yards per rush, Seattle has only faced one of them: Bucs QB Baker Mayfield in Week 5. Although it was much earlier in the season, Mayfield's Bucs scored 38 points.
Since they're so good at limiting explosives on traditional offensive plays, Super Bowl LX might come down to Maye's out-of-structure playmaking ability. This postseason, Maye has 141 rushing yards through three playoff games, the most by a quarterback in a single postseason in team history. He also only needs 30 rushing yards to crack the top-5 in NFL history for rushing yards by a quarterback in one playoff run, so Maye's legs are a major X factor in Sunday's game.
"On film, it's tough to pinpoint, 'Hey, I can maybe use my legs this week.' It's kind of something that just comes naturally. That's the biggest thing for me when I'm back there in the pocket. If I feel like something's there, I go try to take it and try to play instinctive," Maye said. "If I feel like there's a chance for me to make some yards, I'm going to go and try to make them."
From a stylistic standpoint, Maye's high-end athleticism in OC Josh McDaniels's system is a bit of a departure from McDaniels's coaching history. The Pats QB has mentioned several times that he has studied Patriots Hall of Famer Tom Brady operating McDaniels' offense. Although there's a lot of overlap still from the Brady drop-back passing game, McDaniels and the coaching staff went to work this season to find ways to amplify a trait that Brady didn't have: mobility. Maye led all quarterbacks with 62 scrambles, was ninth in designed rollout rate (9.4%), attempted 16.9% of his passes while on the run, and he has rushed the ball eight times on designed quarterback runs, including a rushing touchdown in the AFC title game.
During the lead-up to Super Bowl LX, McDaniels and others shared some insight into the process of utilizing one of Maye's best attributes, his elite athleticism for the position.
"It's an aspect of offensive football that is pretty common now with a lot of QBs you see having success in the NFL and in college. If you're fortunate enough to have a guy who can do that, it makes all the sense in the world to add that element to your offensive system and put pressure on the defense," McDaniels said. "It's been fun for me. I've only had a few opportunities in my past to coach guys who really were that way. Cam [Newton] certainly being the most prominent of those, but it's been a unique experience this year. One that we look forward to continuing."
The year that McDaniels referenced was the 2020 season, when Newton was a one-year starter at quarterback to bridge the gap between Brady and the next chapter in New England. In 2020, McDaniels completely shifted his offense to add a variety of designed QB runs for Newton, who is one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in NFL history. Although that gave him some experience with it, McDaniels explained that there were key differences between Newton and Maye as runners.
"Cam was a different breed altogether because you could run him between the tackles on quarterback power and those kinds of things because he was 260 pounds. He could really run like a running back," McDaniels said. "But there are definitely some things that we did in that year that were useful for us this year. That was a really good learning experience for me to listen to Cam that year and talk about things that he had done in the past.
"So, it's in our playbook. We haven't used all the things we used with him, but having Thomas [Brown], [Jason Houghtaling], Todd [Downing], Tony [Dews], and these guys that had some mobile quarterbacks in their past and do some of those things has been helpful to us also. We've added a lot this year and I still think we're just scratching the surface on where this is going," McDaniels continued.
Along with designed quarterback runs and scrambles, the Patriots have also called more bootleg concepts for Maye than in the past. McDaniels has done some of that previously, but TEs coach/passing game coordinator Thomas Brown worked under Rams coach Sean McVay in the West Coast offense, which specializes in moving the pocket.
One of the biggest plays of the Patriots season came on a run by Maye off a naked bootleg. New England had been spamming outside zone runs the entire fourth quarter to preserve a three-point lead against the Broncos in the AFC Championship Game. On a 3rd-and-5 with 1:57 remaining, Maye kept the ball himself and out-ran Broncos LB Jonah Elliss to the sticks to move the chains, allowing the Pats to kneel out the clock to reach the Super Bowl.
"Any time you have a mobile quarterback, using his legs to be able to either extend plays or change the launch point does two things. One, it marries some of the stuff with the run game, which is a big part of it. But it also gives relief downs for the quarterbacks and the offensive line. I think the two toughest spots to play on offense by far are quarterback and offensive line," Brown said. "Being able to get outside the pocket gives the QB an opportunity to get some easy completions and use his legs as well."
When you look for paths to victory for the Patriots offense, it's difficult to find many areas where Seattle's defense is vulnerable – they're that good. However, Super Bowls often come down to winning on the margins, whether that's converting a key third down or finding that one big play that tilts the game in your favor. On Sunday, Maye buying time for his receivers to uncover or making yards as a runner might be the difference against a defense that presents a huge challenge.
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