As the dust settled on a third, and final Seahawks-Rams instant classic, it was Seattle again standing victorious and clinching their first trip to a Super Bowl since 2014. The best game of Sam Darnold's career, a superstar performance from Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and some redzone resilience by the Hawks defense is all(!) it took to overcome another fantastic effort from their NFC West rivals. With the Super Bowl two weeks away, we’re going to split this preview into two parts: a look at the New England Patriots' offense this week and their defense next week.

Despite his slump, Drake Maye is incredibly dangerous

After an MVP-level regular season, Drake Maye has had a rough go of it in these playoffs despite the Patriots' overall success. Maye has averaged 177.7 passing yards per game through three playoff games, a far cry from his 258.5 yards per game in the regular season, and his completion percentage has dropped from 72% to 55.8%. Despite this, Maye has found a way to move the Pats offense down the field when needed by using his legs more, averaging 47 rushing yards per game in the playoffs, including a bootleg run that sealed the AFC Championship.

Maye’s other way to beat you is his incredible deep ball. During the regular season, he threw 11 touchdowns and just two interceptions on passes of 20+ yards while grading out as the league's third-best passer on those throws. He’ll attempt and complete jaw-dropping throws weekly, like his bomb to Kayshon Boutte against the Houston Texans ...

... or his off-platform dime to Hunter Henry against the Chargers.

With better weather, Maye is going to present one of the toughest challenges the Seahawks defense has faced this season

The Patriots have a versatile group of weapons

The Patriots don’t have Puka Nacua or Davante Adams, and frankly, nobody on the roster comes close, but what they do have is a large group of quality skill players that are rotated effectively and put in the proper role to succeed by the offensive coaches. In the backfield, Rhamondre Stevenson has carried the load during the playoffs with 51 carries for 194 yards. It’s an uninspiring 3.8 yards per carry, but 140 of those yards have come after contact, thanks to a glaring blocking issue that will be discussed later. Treyveon Henderson is the more explosive back, but it’s clear the coaches don’t fully trust the rookie yet, and he’s averaged 2.4 yards per carry in the playoffs. I’d expect Henderson to be a bigger part of the plan as New England hunts explosive plays.

Out wide, the Patriots have five receivers you’ll see throughout the game. Stefon Diggs is the natural number one guy, and he’ll split his time lined up in the slot and out wide. His role is mainly as an underneath guy at this point in his career, with 65.5% of his targets coming 0-9 yards from the line of scrimmage. When Diggs leaves the slot, Demario “Pop” Douglas will fill in, and he’s effectively Walmart Diggs, working underneath and doing a good job against man coverage.

Kayshon Boutte is exclusively an outside receiver, and his job begins and ends with two words: go long. Six of his seven scores have come on receptions of over 20 yards this season, and 67.2% of his targets come on throws over 10 yards. When he’s off the field, rookie Kyle Williams will take over as the field stretcher, and he’s made a few nice grabs this year.

Mack Hollins is the last receiver to be mentioned before we move to the tight end room because his role is effectively that of a move tight end/fullback. He leads all Patriots receivers in snaps as a run blocker by a mile, with 317. His work in the passing game shouldn’t be undersold, though, as he’s third on the team in targets, and his work as an intermediate receiver has been critical on third downs.

The actual tight end room has two guys who see regular time. Hunter Henry is the teams second best receiving option, and his red-zone presence has been evident all season with eight touchdowns. He’ll do most of his work lined up out wide or in the slot. The in-line tight end role is filled by Austin Hooper, who only has 30 targets this year but has 326 snaps as a run blocker.

But … the offensive line is a flashing red light

The Patriots' offensive line was below average in the regular season. The team averaged a solid 4.4 yards per carry, but Drake Maye was sacked 47 times. Some of those sacks were on Maye for not getting the ball away, but Maye also escaped quite a bit of pressure. Throughout all of it, Maye never seemed to get rattled by the pressure, and that was a major factor in the Patriots sustaining their offensive success. That hasn’t been the case this postseason. The line, mainly rookies Will Campbell and Jared Wilson, has cratered ...

... allowing 33 pressures and 15 sacks through three playoff games. Campbell specifically has been beaten like a drum, as 11 of the pressures and three of the sacks can be charged to him alone. These issues in pass protection have compounded and led to Drake Maye fumbling six times and throwing two interceptions. The simplest way for Seattle to dominate this game is to try to isolate these two rookies and force them to effectively communicate and pick up stunts all game long.

Ultimately, the Patriots' offense has shown it can be effective in multiple ways, but has yet to showcase that ability against top-tier competition in the playoffs.