What the Patriots need to do to win<\/p>\n
Pressure Sam Darnold. Darnold was outstanding in the NFC championship game when forced to throw under duress. But that hasn\u2019t been the case all season. The Seahawks rank sixth in EPA\/dropback when there is no pressure, but drop to 22nd when there is pressure. Collapsing the pocket is New England\u2019s best shot at success. Their interior pass-rushers, Christian Barmore and Milton Williams, will need to overwhelm Darnold. OC<\/p>\n
Keep Jaxon Smith-Njigba in check. New England\u2019s defense has been exceptional this postseason, and they will have their hands full with Seattle running back Kenneth Walker, who is red hot. But Smith-Njigba is a different animal. He can take over a game with chunk passes, deep passes, all passes. If the Patriots allow him to get into a rhythm, it could be a blowout. MJ<\/p>\n
Get to Darnold early and often. The Seahawks signal caller has regressed when the walls close in, throwing the bulk of his 14 regular-season picks while under duress. A few well-timed blitz calls from the Patriots could make this new, improved version of Darnold look more like the quarterback we saw when he was with the Jets. AL<\/p>\n
The Pats need to unleash the ghosts<\/a> on Darnold and transform the Seahawks QB into the Sam of Jets past. How? By using those ghosts to disguise coverages and confuse him, throwing a wrench into the progressions he can still struggle with. The 49ers and Rams couldn\u2019t do it, one reason why Darnold hasn\u2019t been picked off in these playoffs, and a big reason why Seattle are back in the Super Bowl. DL<\/p>\n Stop Walker. Seattle\u2019s running back has had an impressive season despite sharing carries with Zach Charbonnet but the Patriots have been even better at stopping the run. They have allowed only 214 yards on the ground in three playoff games combined. New England need to play to their strengths and force the Seahawks to rely on Darnold\u2019s arm. GS<\/p>\n Christian Gonzalez is an important part of New England\u2019s strong defense. Photograph: Charles Krupa\/APWhat the Seahawks need to do to win<\/p>\n Limit explosive plays. The Seahawks give up few chunk plays. They force opponents into short completions and then rally and tackle better than anyone in the league. They will need to sustain that against New England, who led the league in explosive play rate this season. The Patriots will struggle to sustain drives against such a well-rounded defense. If the Seahawks can limit them to only one or two splash plays, they will walk away with the trophy. OC<\/p>\n Darnold needs to replicate his NFC championship game performance. When spotlighting Seattle, you start with their defense and for good reason. But without Darnold\u2019s masterful performance under pressure against the Rams, we\u2019re looking at a different NFC champion. If Darnold lets the Patriots\u2019 defense turn him into a pumpkin, no one will care about his performance against the Rams. MJ<\/p>\n Stick with the offensive gameplan that brought them to the dance. Darnold\u2019s quick and accurate passing and Walker\u2019s grit on the ground help make the Seahawks one of the league\u2019s most disorienting play-action offenses. If Walker can keep the chains moving, and Darnold can maintain his connections with Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp (who has form on this stage<\/a>), Sunday could turn into an easy revenge game for the Hawks. AL<\/p>\n A lot, because it doesn\u2019t look good for them. Maybe focus on Drake Maye\u2019s fumbles: there were four of them against Houston, but he only lost two. Seattle will also have to nail down Maye when he\u2019s on the move, something they didn\u2019t have to worry about with grandpa quarterbacking the Rams in the NFC championship. They also should try to take away his backfield security blanket, running back Rhamondre Stevenson, who is more than capable of catching a ball out of the backfield and turning a messy sequence into a healthy gain. DL<\/p>\n Keep Maye\u2019s running locked down. The quarterback showed the damage he can do on the ground in Denver, so a defender must be positioned to keep watch over him trying to escape up field. The boost for the Seahawks is their pass rush is so strong it can run light and afford the defense an extra man in the secondary to spy him. GS<\/p>\n Key player for the Patriots<\/p>\n Milton Williams, DL. Williams was one of the stars of last season\u2019s Super Bowl<\/a> for the Eagles. Now in New England, he\u2019s proved he can be a consistent one-on-one force, both as a run defender and pass rusher. The Seahawks\u2019 weak links on offense are along the interior of their offensive line, particularly right guard Anthony Bradford and center Jalen Sundell. The Patriots will hunt matchups for Williams in the hope he can deliver a drive-killing play or two. OC<\/p>\n Drake Maye, QB. In three games this postseason, Maye has thrown for only 533 yards with a measly 55.8% completion rate. He\u2019s been sacked 15 times and thrown two interceptions. Still, he\u2019s also the first quarterback to win three playoff games against top-five defenses. But will Super Bowl nerves overwhelm him when he faces (arguably) the best defense of them all? MJ<\/p>\n Kayshon Boutte, WR. He nearly equaled his yardage total from last year with a third fewer targets \u2013 numbers that speak to his emergence as a downfield threat for the Patriots. These playoffs have quickly become a showcase for Boutte\u2019s incredible body control, sweet feet and sticky hands. AL<\/p>\n Christian Gonzalez, CB. He emerged this season to become a secondary genius, and now he\u2019ll be faced with a stern test: limiting Smith-Njigba. If Gonzalez can somehow cancel the receiver out, the job simplifies for the rest of the Pats defense. Watching this game within the game will make for fascinating viewing. DL<\/p>\n Mike Onwenu, RG. The capstone of a completely retooled line that jumped from one of the NFL\u2019s worst to a top-five crew. Onwenu\u2019s experience and consistency has been the bedrock of the team\u2019s explosive passing attack. He missed only 13 of 1,286 snaps all season while playing every single one at right guard for only the second time in his six-year career. GS<\/p>\n Jaxon Smith-Njigba has become one of the most feared receivers in the NFL. Photograph: Johnnie Izquierdo\/Getty ImagesKey player for the Seahawks<\/p>\n Kenneth Walker, RB. The Seahawks\u2019 run game came alive in the second half of the season. They do most of their damage out of heavier personnel groupings, planting big bodies on the field to clear paths for running backs. That\u2019s also where the Pats run defense is at its best, matching big-on-big in the trenches. But Walker can turn any glimpse of daylight into a huge run. He\u2019s a homerun hitter with serious juice. New England will be content to let the Seahawks churn out yards on the ground, but it\u2019s Walker who could turn those small openings into massive gains. OC<\/p>\n Byron Murphy II, DT. The second-year player has been a disruptive beast all season. Murphy\u2019s seven sacks were second among defensive tackles in the regular season, and he\u2019s the anchor of a run-defense that hasn\u2019t allowed an opposing back to top 55 yards in Seattle\u2019s two postseason games. MJ<\/p>\n Rashid Shaheed, WR\/return specialist. GM John Schneider loves himself a Percy Harvin type \u2013 and he has that and more in Shaheed, as much a threat to flip the field in the return game as he is in the Seahawks\u2019 deep-ball packages. The Patriots already have their hands full trying to stop Smith-Njigba and Kupp; that offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak also has Shaheed to throw out there feels unfair to Pats rookie slot corner Kobee Minor, who better be ready to make like Hawks great Marcus Trufant and <\/a>jam<\/a>. AL<\/p>\n Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR. Seattle are already down half of their running back attack after Charbonnet\u2019s season-ending injury broke up his tag team with Walker. Smith-Njigba had 153 yards receiving against the Rams so Seattle\u2019s underwhelming run game didn\u2019t matter much in that track meet. Things will tighten up considerably against New England, so Smith-Njigba\u2019s output will be consequential. DL<\/p>\n Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR. Seattle\u2019s confidence in their star wideout was clear before the season began. They traded DK Metcalf away and brought in a quarterback the receiver\u2019s talent would boost rather than the other way around. If New England have an off-day in the backfield they will lose heavily chasing the heels of Smith-Njigba. GS<\/p>\n The coaching edge goes to …<\/p>\n The Patriots \u2013 just. The Seahawks are a more talented team \u2013 and their coaching acumen jumps off the screen. But the Patriots are only here because of the quality of their coaching. Between the two offensive coordinators, the edge goes to Josh McDaniels. McDaniels has won six Super Bowl titles as a coach. He won\u2019t be intimidated by the stage, and always has a couple of special plays stored up for big occasions. OC<\/p>\n The Patriots, especially McDaniels, thanks to his extensive experience. Sunday will mark the 10th Super Bowl McDaniels had coached in. He\u2019s seen every defensive formation, every attempt at trickery, and, most importantly, understands the vastly different cadence and routine of a Super Bowl. MJ<\/p>\n The team with the three-time Super Bowl champion linebacker and a six-time Super Bowl champion offensive coordinator whose organization will do whatever it takes to nab that seventh ring. AL<\/p>\n Look at what Mike Vrabel did in just one season. When you take your team from 4-13 to 14-3, from the 30th-ranked offense to the second, from the 22nd-ranked defense to the fourth, I don\u2019t care how weak your schedule is. Yes folks, this is scary, and another New England run seems upon us. Which means you and I having to put up with mouthy Massholes for a really long time. DL<\/p>\n The Patriots\u2019 only clear edge lies in their more experienced coaches. McDaniels has six Super Bowl wins from 10 (10!) trips with the Patriots while Vrabel has rings from the first three of those victories as a player. Hopefully those ties to Foxboro mean they still have Bill Belichick\u2019s number. They have a mine of knowledge from the Brady era with a specialism in winning ugly, which they will definitely have to do to beat Seattle. GS<\/p>\n One bold prediction<\/p>\n Vrabel will create a rules controversy. Game management and understanding of the rulebook are the two advantages the Patriots\u2019 head coach brings on gameday. He sits on the NFL\u2019s rules committee and has a deep knowledge of every nook and cranny. Maybe it\u2019s a wonky formation, a quirky substitution or something those on the outside haven\u2019t imagined. But if there\u2019s a rule to, umm, circumvent while staying legal, Vrabel will find it. OC<\/p>\n A kicker will win MVP. There\u2019s a first for everything, right? In a defensive, low-scoring battle, Jason Myers\u2019s six made field goals (three for more than 55 yards) will be the reason Seattle walk away with the Lombardi. Myers has been perfect this postseason on field goals and extra-point attempts. MJ<\/p>\n