An inside take a look at the Patriots-Seahawks Tremendous Bowl 2026 battle in Santa Clara, Calif. on Sunday night time:
Marquee matchup
Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba vs. Patriots CB Christian Gonzalez
In coaching camp, that is known as “good on good.’’
Gonzalez is among the many handful of the very best cowl corners within the league, and Smith-Njigba rose to prominence this season, with 117 receptions (fourth-highest within the league), an NFL-high 1,793 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Will Gonzalez journey throughout the sphere to stay with Smith-Njigba?
He lined up on the suitable facet 72 % of the time this season, although when the Patriots confronted the Buccaneers he did journey with Emeka Egbuka.
The Rams within the NFC title sport couldn’t decelerate Smith-Njigba — 153 receiving yards and one TD. Gonzalez provides the Pats an opportunity to a minimum of hold him in examine, considerably. “He can do the whole lot,’’ Gonzalez stated, “He’s superb.’’
4 downs
Sam I’m: Sam Darnold’s rise from struggling younger quarterback to the Comeback Child is outstanding, and if he completes the mission with a Tremendous Bowl victory, extra energy to him.
What can’t be ignored is that he stays a turnover-prone participant.
His turnover-worthy play fee of seven.2 % was the worst amongst all beginning quarterbacks, in line with Subsequent Gen Stats.
He threw 14 interceptions and misplaced six fumbles for an NFL-high 20 turnovers.
Holding onto the ball and accepting a sack is preferable than handing it over to a Patriots protection that intercepted C.J. Stroud 4 instances within the divisional spherical.
“Everyone, when you get a pair hits on the quarterback and assault them in as some ways as potential, all quarterbacks are going to be pissed off with that and discover a strategy to put themselves within the droop,’’ Patriots edge rusher Ok’Lavon Chaisson stated.
Huge play alert: The quarterbacks on this sport ranked within the high 5 throughout the common season in completion proportion, landing to interception ratio and yards per try on passes 20 or extra yards downfield.
Darnold and Drake Maye can each fling it. However they are going to be going in opposition to two of the very best defenses, when it comes to stopping deep passes from reaching the top zone.
The Seahawks allowed only one landing, and the Patriots gave up simply two touchdowns on passes 20 or extra yards downfield. Which of those traits wins out?
Laborious to defend: Probably the most dominant unit on this sport is the Seattle protection, which allowed the fewest factors within the NFL this season, helped alongside by two former Giants, Leonard Williams and Julian Love.
“I’d say that is probably the most full protection and probably the most full staff I’ve been part of,’’ Williams stated. “Our protection isn’t just good on all three ranges, we’ve depth on all three ranges.’’
One caveat: The Seahawks usually are not at all times nice within the tackling division. They missed 162 tackles this season — Twelfth-most of any protection, in line with Professional Soccer Focus, with 102 of these misses coming in opposition to the move.
Maye day: When all else fails, run. That isn’t precisely the Patriots Means, but when it really works, why not?
Maye within the AFC Championship sport got here up with a fake-handoff bootleg run on third-and-5 to choose up a primary down and deal the deal in a 10-7 victory over the Broncos.
He led the league in scrambles for first downs (27) and was third in whole scramble yards (432) within the common season. He’s run it almost seven instances a sport since Week 15.
If the mighty Seahawks protection has a weak point, it’s containing opposing quarterbacks, who averaged 5.3 dashing yards per sport, fourth-most within the league.
Paul’s decide: Seahawks 23, Patriots 19
