SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Patriots offensive line was taken to the Dark Side in Super Bowl 2026.
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye was under siege all night as the Patriots had no answers for the Seattle pass rush and it led to punt after punt after punt for the Patriots in a 29-13 loss to Seattle. The Seahawks sacked Maye six times in the game, forced him to fumble once and caused him to throw one of his two interceptions.
Pass protection was an issue for New England all postseason. They had allowed 20 sacks, the most ever in the playoffs, but the Patriots had been able to squeak by in their other playoff games, but not the Super Bowl.
“Sacks, it’s a team number,” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said. “Whether we block them every time or the quarterback’s responsible or whether there’s somewhere to go with the football. Without having a look, I know the sack numbers, we went through this, there were times throughout the season when there were sacks where somebody got beat, there were times where it was on the quarterback and there were times where it was on the guys we were throwing to. I’m sure one of those three things led to the six sacks we had.”
The Seahawks defense, which is nicknamed the “Dark Side,” got after Maye with some straight rushes and some blitzes. They hit him 11 times. The Patriots were the first team in Super Bowl history to have two rookie starters on the offensive line with Will Campbell and Jared Wilson starting on the left side.
They did not have a good night.
Derick Hall pushed Campbell into the backfield and then came off of his block when Wilson hit him on his way to sacking Maye. Hall came up with a second sack and it was a huge one, forcing Maye to fumble late in the third quarter.
Even the Seattle secondary got to Maye. Cornerback Devon Witherspoon sacked Maye for a 10-yard loss when he blitzed through the right side of the Patriots defense.
Witherspoon did not get credit for a second sack but his hit on Maye led to an Uchenna Nwosu interception that he returned for a touchdown. Defensive lineman Murphy sacked Maye twice and Rylie Mills had one, too.
