All season long, folks were waiting for the rug to be pulled out from underneath the New England Patriots. In Super Bowl LX, that finally happened, as the Pats were handed a devastating 29-13 defeat by the Seattle Seahawks.
The Pats’ struggles throughout the postseason reared their ugly head once again, and against a formidable Seahawks team, that proved to be too much to overcome. As difficult as it may be, we must look back at this game to figure out what went right and what went wrong, so let’s pick out four studs and four duds from New England’s final game of the season.
Studs
Craig Woodson
What a way to end the year for Craig Woodson. The rookie safety led the Patriots with 10 tackles, three of which went for a loss. He also deflected a pair of pass attempts, as the defense did everything it could to hang in this game. The selection of Woodson in the 2025 NFL Draft was questionable, but he’s a surefire starter heading into 2026.
Christian Gonzalez
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Another member of the secondary who put the clamps on Seattle’s top pass catchers was Christian Gonzalez. The superstar cornerback had four tackles and three pass deflections, and he played a primary role in holding the 2025 Offensive Player of the Year, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, to just four catches for 27 yards.
Milton Williams
The former Philadelphia Eagles stud did all he could to replicate his performance from Super Bowl LIX. Williams had two tackles, both of which went for a loss, and the Pats’ only sack of the game. The $104 million man continually found his way into Seattle’s backfield, and he once again proved to be worth every dollar of his pricy contract.
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Mack Hollins
Besides Rhamondre Stevenson, nobody other than Mack Hollins really had anything going for them in this game. Hollins caught four passes for a game-high 78 yards and a touchdown, and while most of this production came when the game was out of reach, it’s fair to wonder if things would have been different had he been targeted more in the air.
Duds
Will Campbell
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Will Campbell had a solid rookie year, but there’s no hiding from his play in the postseason (even if he wants to keep ducking the media). Campbell allowed a whopping 14 pressures in this one, which was the highest total among all offensive linemen across the NFL in a single game this year. Simply put, you can’t win a title with this sort of performance.
Drake Maye
A desperate fourth quarter made Drake Maye’s numbers look better than they were (27/43, 295 YDS, 2 TD, 2 INT, 5 CAR, 37 YDS, 1fumble lost), but the tale of the tape tells the real story. Maye was jumpy in the pocket as he struggled to diagnose the Seahawks’ coverages, and while he faced a ton of pressure, his trademark accuracy was nowhere to be found.
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Josh McDaniels
Admittedly, the two guys above Josh McDaniels on this list were not 100% healthy for this game. And yet, even when given two weeks to prepare for this game, McDaniels had nothing in his bag of tricks to help either Campbell or Maye out. His conservative and wildly uncreative gameplan was appalling considering the stakes of this game.
Kayshon Boutte
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You could put pretty much anyone else on offense here, but we’ll single out Kayshon Boutte, who turned his five targets into just one catch for 21 yards. Boutte has a crucial drop on a third-down play along the way, and given how frequently Maye was looking his way, his inability to help out his struggling quarterback earns him the final spot on this list.
