by Hollywood Sports
Monday, Feb 16, 2026The Seattle Seahawks minus the points versus the New England Patriots was our 25* National Football League Game of the Year. I had several reasons why I felt so strongly about the Seahawks' side in that game, but one of the primary ones was my conviction that the Patriots quarterback, Drake Maye, was dramatically overrated.
I’m not a hater. Maye is a fine second-year quarterback with an extremely bright future. But his MVP case was on the back of (a) getting to play a slew of losing teams and (b) the lack of compelling alternatives in this transition year in the league. He then added more evidence to my suspicion in New England’s first three playoff games that many of the folks who talk or write about the NFL do not bother to actually watch the games.
Maye’s baseline numbers against the Chargers in the AFC Wildcard round looked solid — but his Success Rate in the passing game of 42% was the lowest since early November. He needs to send Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud birthday cards as a perpetual “thank you” since that nightmare performance offered him cover for his four fumbles and an interception in that game. That performance was telling since it was the first time all season he played against a top-eight defense using the Defensive DVOA metrics by the Football Outsiders (now at FTN). And then he encountered a Denver defense that ranked fifth in Defensive DVOA. Maye should probably thank Mother Nature, too, for the second-half blizzard giving him an excuse for his 10-of-21 performance with just 86 passing yards. Even if that was just first-half numbers rather than the full game, it would be underwhelming.
Overall, in the postseason, Maye completed only 56% of his passes and averaged 6.9 Yards-Per-Attempt as compared to his 70% completion percentage and 8.0 YPA mark in the regular season. Perhaps most concerning, he was sacked five times in each of his three playoff games. Blame playing great competition. Blame the weather. But this may simply be the case of the inevitable reappearance of the Regression Gods.
Maye’s 31 touchdown passes and eight interceptions in the regular season need to be tempered by the deeper metrics that indicate he only had 27 “Big-Time Throws” and committed 17 Turnover-Worthy Plays. Rookie left tackle Will Campbell deserves some of the blame for the sacks after getting exposed in the postseason. Texans defensive end Will Anderson made him look silly against a pass rusher who can quickly convert speed to power — and now the Seahawks’ Dexter Lawrence was his next assignment in the Super Bowl! Perhaps the concerns about his smaller hands before he got drafted were valid after all.
The Patriots were facing a Seattle defense that ranked number one in Total DVOA, Rushing DVOA, and Passing DVOA — and with two weeks to prepare for the game. Ultimately, what really worried me is that Maye has overseen victories in the postseason that had less to do with his efforts than those of the rest of his team. Was he ready to deliver in “gotta have it” moments when the pressure is on? Darnold’s resume addressing that question was much better.
The Seahawks won the Super Bowl with a 29-13 victory in a final score that fails to illuminate how much of a mismatch this game was. Seattle took a 19-0 lead in the fourth quarter and was later up 29-7 before the Patriots scored a late final touchdown. Maye’s frontline numbers look much better than how he performed for most of that game. He completed 27 of 43 passes for 295 yards, but most of that production was in the fourth quarter when the Seahawks coaching staff changed tactics with an eye to the ticking clock. Maye threw an interception to Seattle defensive back Julian Love, which was as bad a deep ball as one will see by an NFL quarterback (and left color commentator Chris Collingsworth almost speechless). He later threw a pick-six to Devon Witherspoon.
Maye’s QBR for the game was a devastatingly low 16.3. He will learn from the experience and should become a better quarterback next season. Given the Patriots’ first-place schedule, he will have to be.
Best of luck — Frank.
I’m not a hater. Maye is a fine second-year quarterback with an extremely bright future. But his MVP case was on the back of (a) getting to play a slew of losing teams and (b) the lack of compelling alternatives in this transition year in the league. He then added more evidence to my suspicion in New England’s first three playoff games that many of the folks who talk or write about the NFL do not bother to actually watch the games.
Maye’s baseline numbers against the Chargers in the AFC Wildcard round looked solid — but his Success Rate in the passing game of 42% was the lowest since early November. He needs to send Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud birthday cards as a perpetual “thank you” since that nightmare performance offered him cover for his four fumbles and an interception in that game. That performance was telling since it was the first time all season he played against a top-eight defense using the Defensive DVOA metrics by the Football Outsiders (now at FTN). And then he encountered a Denver defense that ranked fifth in Defensive DVOA. Maye should probably thank Mother Nature, too, for the second-half blizzard giving him an excuse for his 10-of-21 performance with just 86 passing yards. Even if that was just first-half numbers rather than the full game, it would be underwhelming.
Overall, in the postseason, Maye completed only 56% of his passes and averaged 6.9 Yards-Per-Attempt as compared to his 70% completion percentage and 8.0 YPA mark in the regular season. Perhaps most concerning, he was sacked five times in each of his three playoff games. Blame playing great competition. Blame the weather. But this may simply be the case of the inevitable reappearance of the Regression Gods.
Maye’s 31 touchdown passes and eight interceptions in the regular season need to be tempered by the deeper metrics that indicate he only had 27 “Big-Time Throws” and committed 17 Turnover-Worthy Plays. Rookie left tackle Will Campbell deserves some of the blame for the sacks after getting exposed in the postseason. Texans defensive end Will Anderson made him look silly against a pass rusher who can quickly convert speed to power — and now the Seahawks’ Dexter Lawrence was his next assignment in the Super Bowl! Perhaps the concerns about his smaller hands before he got drafted were valid after all.
The Patriots were facing a Seattle defense that ranked number one in Total DVOA, Rushing DVOA, and Passing DVOA — and with two weeks to prepare for the game. Ultimately, what really worried me is that Maye has overseen victories in the postseason that had less to do with his efforts than those of the rest of his team. Was he ready to deliver in “gotta have it” moments when the pressure is on? Darnold’s resume addressing that question was much better.
The Seahawks won the Super Bowl with a 29-13 victory in a final score that fails to illuminate how much of a mismatch this game was. Seattle took a 19-0 lead in the fourth quarter and was later up 29-7 before the Patriots scored a late final touchdown. Maye’s frontline numbers look much better than how he performed for most of that game. He completed 27 of 43 passes for 295 yards, but most of that production was in the fourth quarter when the Seahawks coaching staff changed tactics with an eye to the ticking clock. Maye threw an interception to Seattle defensive back Julian Love, which was as bad a deep ball as one will see by an NFL quarterback (and left color commentator Chris Collingsworth almost speechless). He later threw a pick-six to Devon Witherspoon.
Maye’s QBR for the game was a devastatingly low 16.3. He will learn from the experience and should become a better quarterback next season. Given the Patriots’ first-place schedule, he will have to be.
Best of luck — Frank.
