Sounding Smart: 3 Super Bowl LX Observations

You saw the Seattle Seahawks totally dominate the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX to the tune of 29-13. You’ve seen Drake Maye struggle — and you look like the second-youngest quarterback to ever play in the Super Bowl. You saw the Bad Bunny concert – and maybe you noticed the musical artist carrying the ball into the end zone for a touchdown before one of the Seahawks or Patriots players. The defenses were so good. But let’s try to move things forward, dig deeper and think outside the box about what we’ve witnessed. It’s “Sound Smart,” where we get you ready for Monday morning with Super Bowl observations. If I do my job, you will master the NFL Grand Final. 1. IF THERE’S ONE THING YOU NEED TO KNOW Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald just delivered his magnum opus with this defensive game plan. There were times when Sam Darnold looked frantic. Totally out of control. And there were times when it almost played into the hands of the Patriots defenders, literally. Looking back, it was all so unnecessary. Darnold had nothing to do. If he wanted, the Seahawks could have handed the ball to Kenneth Walker III from start to finish. The Seahawks mainly relied on Jason Meyers’ leg during the first three quarters and on his defense for… the entire season. Man, that Seahawks defense. “We were mad that they scored points,” Leonard Williams said after the game on NFL Network. It was so good that it must have ruined most Super Bowl parties. How many people thought about shutting down the game in the fourth quarter? How many have done it? And I hope that’s a compliment to Seattle, because even the most good-looking NFL fans could have seen that the Seahawks had this game under control. They had made him boring to a level they should be proud of. “I would like to focus on defense,” Walker said on NFL Network, despite winning the Super Bowl MVP. “We wouldn’t be able to get this far without these guys. They call themselves ‘the dark side,’ and the dark side has come to play.” The Seahawks held the Patriots to 13 points. Seattle didn’t allow New England into the red zone — let alone the end zone — until the fourth quarter. It was Maye – not Darnold – who seemed to see ghosts. This was likely the worst performance of Maye’s NFL career, which included a deeply forgettable rookie season where he and the Patriots went 3-9 in his starts. Maye just couldn’t anticipate Seattle’s crafty blitzes, especially those from cornerback Devon Witherspoon, who finished with four pressures and a sack on his six blitzes. Yes, Witherspoon is a defensive back, which is a testament to the unusual and tricky game plan Mike Macdonald had for Maye. The young QB was helpless, failing to provide accurate passes to his open players — and, in some cases, not even seeing them when they got open. Maye threw two interceptions, took six sacks (and 11 QB hits) and saw six pass deflections. The Seahawks scored 17 points on three Maye turnovers (2 INT, 1 fumble). Macdonald absolutely stuck with the Patriots, using their young MVP finalist against them. “DeMarcus Lawrence was joking with the team about having to have a Harvard education to play on this defense because there’s so much blitzing and pressure,” Williams told NFL Network. “We’re constantly making adjustments based on what the offense is doing. We want to make the last call and make the last move.” For all the hype that Mike Vrabel was the second coming of Bill Belichick from an X’s and O’s perspective, it was actually Macdonald who delivered the Super Bowl masterclass in coaching, harkening back to what Belichick once did. 2. PICK UP THE CURTAIN So what went wrong for Maye? This wasn’t the Maye we saw in the regular season – the guy who almost won the MVP award. This wasn’t even the Maye we saw in the playoffs – the guy who relied on his defense and did just enough to get by. His poor acting on the biggest stage will inevitably lend itself to extravagant shots. But Maye wasn’t an imposter. There will be people – who haven’t watched him in his other 20 games this year – who will claim he was never as good as his stats claimed. Don’t buy it. He beat a lot of good defenses. But this one broke him. “We couldn’t get into any rhythm [or] position on the ground. We need to get into better offensive practices,” Vrabel told reporters afterward. “We were just catching up. …But in the end, the turnovers cost us dearly. Vrabel declined to call his quarterback. “We can sit here and put it all on one guy, but you’ll be disappointed because it’s not going to happen,” Vrabel added. “It starts with the coaching staff. ” The Seahawks blitzed on only 13.2 percent of Maye’s dropbacks, and against those blitzes, he was 3 of 6 for 18 yards, an interception and a sack, according to Next Gen Stats. He also saw six pressures at a pressure rate of 85.7 percent. When Seattle sent an extra rusher, it happened to Maye. And most of the time, he didn’t know it was coming, unable to read the pre-snap defense, but those blitzes were the exception 52.8% of the time. And then, even when the line improved, he rushed and missed easy throws. [plays] would I like to come back? Go back to the beginning. Do it again,” Maye told reporters after the game. “Too many plays in the first half, there were plays where I could have made a better throw or a better decision. What the Seahawks did was far better than anything he had seen. “If you don’t play, you’re sitting on a podium crying,” said Maye, who had tears in his eyes during most of his postgame interviews. In the Super Bowl, Maye’s final stats (27-43, 295 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions) don’t reflect all the times he missed directly. They don’t show the disappointing moments when he failed to do what had been so easy for him in the five months that got him to the Super Bowl in the first place. I’ll list a few: There were simple slant and seam runs where Maye threw behind Hunter Henry and Stefon Diggs; there were back shoulder throws where Maye didn’t put the ball on frame to Demario Douglas and Henry; couldn’t keep his eyes on the ground; there was the upset when Austin Hooper opened the scoring in the fourth quarter. Most inexplicable: There was the final interception to safety Julian Love. The pitching was unlike anything we had seen from Maye all year, where Maye had established himself as one of the league’s standout talents. MVP: CB Devon Witherspoon — In coverage, he allowed just two catches on two targets for 16 yards. And that might have been enough. But the coach sent Witherspoon after Maye had a sack and four pressures. in the bank for Walker, who is a pending free agent. He was the only explosive player on the Seahawks offense. And it turned out he was everything they needed: 27 carries and 135 rushing yards. Good: Special Teams – Yes, it was that kind of Super Bowl, where we praise kicker Jason Meyers’ oft-forgotten third-down 5-of-5 on field goals and 2-of-2 on extra points – which made him the leading point scorer. (17). Punter Michael Dickson managed to generate 47.9 yards per punt, including three punts inside the 20-yard line. And the team contained an elite punt returner in Marcus Jones to just two returns for four yards. Bad: Sam Darnold – The team carried him and gently pushed him aside as the Seahawks took more and more control of the game through their defense, which he quickly achieved (to his credit). and completed just 50% of his passes for 202 yards and a touchdown and had one sack. His passing percentage compared to expectations was -9.4%, and he struggled considerably against pressure. Darnold’s greatest credit was that none of his mistakes cost the team – but there were plenty that could have and probably should have. of the game while doctors evaluated him for a concussion. But it didn’t have that typical novocaine presence. (As Denzel Washington said in Remember the Titans: “Like novocaine, give it time. It always works.”) No, Smith-Njigba finished with four catches on 10 targets for 27 yards. Patriots… Good: CB Christian Gonzalez – The Patriots CB has been exceptional, spending most of his time covering the NFL’s best receiver, Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Gonzalez nearly intercepted a pass to Smith-Njigba late in the first half to hold the Seahawks to a field goal and Gonzalez also threw a nicely thrown ball to Rashid Shaheed at midfield early in the second quarter. England’s most dominant player. Bad: OC Josh McDaniels – We’ve dove into Maye’s significant shortcomings, so let’s take this opportunity to talk about McDaniels’ struggles. He couldn’t figure out how to get his quarterback to settle against this defense – or prepare his QB for pre-snap complications. His quarterback wasn’t good at first, but he went from bad to worse as Macdonald gained a bigger and bigger advantage over McDaniels: LT Will Campbell – It was just an extremely tough game for the rookie, who finished with one sack allowed and a game-high 14 pressures, according to Next Gen Stats. He also had a false start where he was completely clubbed after the whistle. In Sound Smart, we dive deeper and think outside the box on the week of NFL action.