Patriots’ Super Bowl resume lacks playoff punch

First, the New England Patriots got to the Super Bowl despite their own offensive futility. But they opened the eyes of head coach Mike Vrabel. Still, to be blunt, the Patriots’ Super Bowl resume lacks playoff punch.

New England won three playoff games without the opponent offering playoff-level offensive resistance. And now they will face the red-hot Seattle Seahawks. That’s a leap from the disjointed and banged-up Chargers, Texans, and Broncos to a team that has almost everything clicking.

The Seahawks are primed on offense, capable of elite play on defense, and scary with their special teams.

How did the Patriots reach the Super Bowl?

New England had an impressive regular season. After an unsightly loss to the woeful Raiders in Week 1, the Patriots won 11 of their next 12 games. And they often looked very good doing it.

They got clipped by the Bills, but finished with three straight wins.

Then in the playoffs, the Chargers were a mess. They couldn’t block anybody. Yes, the Patriots played good defense. But it didn’t take a good defense to beat the Chargers in that situation.

Next, the Texans got a dysfunctional performance from CJ Stroud. Four first-half interceptions put the Texans in a hole they could not overcome.

In the AFC Championship Game, the Patriots faced the Broncos without their starting quarterback. With Bo Nix out injured, Jarrett Stidham tried to avoid being the reason the Broncos missed the Super Bowl.

And then he basically handed the Patriots their only touchdown of the game. His panicked backwards “pass” led to a 6-yard scoring run by Drake Maye. That tied the game at 7-7 in the second quarter. And the Patriots needed only a 23-yard field goal in the third quarter to steal the win.

Now, the Patriots do not have to apologize for reaching the Super Bowl. And they can hang their hat on the defense.

Patriots’ defense playing with a shoulder chip

One thing that won’t hurt is that the Patriots believe in their defense, according to Sports Illustrated.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that’ve been counted out,” defensive tackle Milton Williams said. “Nobody really believed in us and what we can do. They’re probably going to say, ‘It’s just how (the Broncos) played. We ain’t do nothing. It’s what they did.’ We’ve got one more game to go out there and take care of business and see if we will get some credit then.”

Some people will point to the Patriots’ defensive numbers against the Broncos. But that’s a false narrative. Denver’s offense wouldn’t have been good against a weak defense with Stidham at quarterback. And then the weather conditions made it so tough that even a premier offense likely would have struggled.

If the Patriots think they will ride that defensive effort into the Seahawks game as an advantage, they will get exactly what they deserve.

At least Williams seemed to have the right perspective.

“I heard that all week,” Williams said. “I don’t care about numbers and all that. Whatever. We’ve gotta go out there, and we’ve gotta play. All that stuff doesn’t matter. When you get between the lines, we’ll see what’s going to happen. Cut the tape on and see what happened today.”

The Patriots’ offense is Super problem

This is a team that almost backed into the big game, from an offensive standpoint.

It’s not that the Patriots don’t have players on that side of the ball. They do. Maye played like an MVP candidate in the regular season. Running back TreVeyon Henderson is a legitimate weapon. Receiver Stefon Diggs can still play. Rhamondre Stevenson is a rock-tough running back.

But the Patriots’ offensive line will likely struggle against the Seahawks ferocious defense. That’s true even though the Patriots have improved this year, ranking No. 11 in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus.

“Perhaps no offensive line improved more year over year than New England’s,” Zoltán Buday wrote. “After finishing 31st in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency rating last season, the Patriots’ offensive line tallied an 86.5 PFF pass-blocking efficiency rating this year, which ranked seventh in the NFL. The unit gave up just 13 sacks after allowing 33 last season.

“That had a lot to do with first-round pick Will Campbell. The LSU product gave up pressure on 6.3% of pass plays — the 12th-best rate among 32 qualifying left tackles.”

Still, the Patriots’ offensive line didn’t hold up against the Broncos. But … they managed to win. And maybe they can hope for a fourth iffy overall performance to win the Super Bowl?