Seahawks coach, players reflect on terrorizing Patriots QB Drake Maye in Super Bowl win

Shortly after second-year New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye endured a nightmare outing during his club's 29-13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX, first-year Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel defended his starter. 

Meanwhile, some understandably wondered if Maye hit a figurative wall while playing in his 21st meaningful game of the long and grueling season. Per Michael Silver of The Athletic, one unnamed Seahawks assistant coach said after the Super Bowl that Maye simply encountered the Seattle defense that has become known as the "Dark Side." 

Facing Seattle defense in Super Bowl was "a bad movie" for Patriots QB Drake Maye

"He’s a really good player," that coach said about Maye. "But he just got pulled into a bad movie."

That movie involved Maye taking six sacks and committing three turnovers (one fumble, two interceptions), the last of which resulted in Seattle essentially putting the game to bed with under 4:30 to play in the fourth quarter. While the numbers show that Maye completed 27-of-43 pass attempts for 295 yards and two touchdowns, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated noted that the Seahawks outgained the Patriots in yards 271 to 78 over the contest's first three quarters.

According to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk, Patriots left tackle Will Campbell surrendered 14 pressures in Super Bowl LX. That was the most pressures allowed by an offensive lineman in any game from Week 1 of the 2025 regular season through Sunday night. 

"We knew their offensive line couldn’t hold up against our rush," Seahawks nose tackle Byron Murphy II said. "We tried to keep (Maye) rattled. We knew he liked to hold onto the ball a bit. We also knew where he liked to step up and escape. We tried to take that way and to make it very hard for him. It looked like he was frustrated. It looked like he was kind of spooked out there." 

Drake Maye ran into "a great defense" at the worst time

Seahawks linebacker Uchenna Nwosu said he and his teammates realized ahead of Sunday's game that the New England offensive line "was a little shaky, especially on the left side." Seattle cornerback Tariq Woolen suggested this won't be the last time that Maye, a 2025 MVP finalist, will be part of a season's final game. 

"He’s a young guy," Woolen explained. "He’s gonna go back and look at this game, and he’s gonna grow from it. Drake Maye was in the MVP race for a reason. It’s just that [Sunday], he played a great defense." 

Maye likely wasn't helped by the fact that he needed a pain-killing injection for his injured right throwing shoulder before the start of the Super Bowl. One will never know what could have been had he been feeling more like his usual self, but he likely would have needed more than a healthy shoulder to have done anything of note against a menacing Seattle defense.