Drake Maye wasn’t quite seeing ghosts during Super Bowl 2026, but the Seahawks enjoyed playing games with the 23-year-old star.
“Classic young quarterback,” Julian Love said to fellow Seahawks defender Cobe Bryant in a mic’d-up conversation just before an interception that helped seal a 29-13 Super Bowl victory over the Patriots.
Love pointed out that Maye had a hitch in his step right before throws.
“As soon as that back foot hits, he’s going to where he wants, but he’s pausing for a second to confirm that [the receiver is] open,” Love, a former Giant, told Bryant.
“He’s not blindly doing it like (Matt) Stafford. There’s like a little hitch there. Be sure you jump that.”
That split-second hesitation that Love pointed out gives NFL defenders just enough time to adjust their reactions, something he was able to use against him to notch a fourth-quarter interception that thwarted a New England comeback attempt.
Uchenna Nwosu then all but ended the game later in the fourth quarter with an interception returned for a touchdown.
Cornerback Devon Witherspoon also pointed out a different tell the team used to gain a defensive edge.
“We had a tell on their guards and their tackles, how they like to set. They gonna overset on certain rushes, they’re gonna fall for certain moves,” Witherspoon said in a radio interview.
Nwosu added that that stopping Maye was the Seahawks’ entire game plan Sunday.
“We knew he’s their whole team,” Nwosu said of the plan to slow down New England by making Maye second-guess himself.
“If we affected him, their whole game plan would be nothing.”
Maye ended the game with 295 yards and two touchdowns, though most of that was stat padding after the game got out of hand.
The Patriots now head into an offseason where they hope to pick up the pieces of a highly successful season, but one in which they were able to reach the Super Bowl without facing Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson in the playoffs.
The unusually easy road to the Super Bowl is unlikely to happen again, but New England should have enough cap space to fix issues along their offensive line.
The front five did not perform well in the postseason, particularly No. 4 overall pick, Will Campbell.
