Patriots unlikely to beat Seahawks without a great Drake Maye, and other pre-Super Bowl week thoughts

Some thoughts as Team BSJ readies to travel out to the Bay Area to bring you coverage all week from the Super Bowl…

• Still very early in my prep work on the Seahawks — I’ve loaded up the computer with film for the flight out — but just the NFC Championship Game alone gives you a lot of information because it was a third meeting between divisional rivals, and Sean McVay is a Super Bowl-winning coach. The Rams beat the Seahawks by 2 in LA, and lost the final two matchups by 3 and 4 points, respectively. The Seahawks allowed an average of 16.4 defensive points per game in the regular season and postseason. The Rams averaged 28.3 against Seattle, and all three of their matchups were among the top five points allowed games (only Bucs at 38, and Cardinals – another divisional rival – with 22 were also in the picture).

There are certainly going to be some schemed-up plays and trick plays that Josh McDaniels uses in this game, because he’s not going to hold anything back. But my immediate reaction from the NFCCG film was that Drake Maye is going to have to be the best he’s been this season for 60 minutes. Because that’s what Matthew Stafford early was in that game, and it still wasn’t good enough because Seattle’s offense is that good against a team that knows them intimately.

My other thought watching that game: if Stafford wins MVP over Maye, I’m more than fine with it because his high-level throwing to all areas of the field is on another level than Maye at this point. And that’s not a knock, Maye is young and in his second season. Stafford has seen it all, and boy, can he still sling it from the pocket.

Look at the throws in this post:

I really hope Matthew Stafford comes back next season, because he played out of his mind in this game. Seahawks kept shifting from MOFO to MOFC, and every time they did it. Stafford would rip off another huge throw. pic.twitter.com/cLtImPDRmc

— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) January 26, 2026

Stafford wasn’t perfect in this game — he missed some shots down the field, had a bad miss in the end zone where he threw sidearm, and two turnover-worthy plays — but he had five big-time throws. That’s the fifth time he had at least five in a game this season (twice against the Seahawks), and he had a total of 58 this season. Maye never had more than