Patriots Make NFL History With Unprecedented Super Bowl Run
One year after fighting for the first pick in the NFL Draft, the New England Patriots are going to the Super Bowl.
It’s been a historic turnaround and a charmed season for the Patriots, who are undefeated on the road this year and have won 16 of their last 17 games. Most of those wins came against weak competition during the regular season, as New England tore through the weakest schedule in recent NFL history.
The Patriots’ postseason path to the Super Bowl has been considerably harder, however. They faced three top-five defenses in the playoffs, and they beat them all.
In the process, they became the first team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to defeat three top-five defenses in the same postseason, according to FanDuel’s Kay Adams, proving Drake Maye’s MVP-caliber regular season was for real.
Maye and his teammates started by knocking off the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card Round, who ranked fifth in total yards allowed. Then they hung 28 points on the Houston Texans’ No. 1 defense in the Divisional Round, with Maye throwing three touchdowns in harsh weather conditions at Gillette Stadium.
New England completed its Super Bowl journey by edging the Denver Broncos and their No. 2 defense on the road on Sunday, capping off an incredible month of January. Maye relied on his legs in the snow, rushing for 65 yards and his team’s lone touchdown in the AFC title game.
The Patriots will face another elite defense in the Super Bowl in the Seattle Seahawks, who are slight favorites after ranking first in points allowed and sixth in yards allowed. Fortunately for Maye and his battle-hardened teammates, they now have plenty of experience beating some of the league’s best defenses.
If they can do it one more time, they’ll be champions.