Bryce Young Has Bad News for Drake Maye, Patriots Hopefuls in Super Bowl

Carolina Panthers QB Bryce Young faced the Seattle Seahawks defense this season, and they made his life genuinely awful. He completed 14 passes for just 54 yards in that game. He knows the trouble Drake Maye and the New England Patriots are about to be in.

Maye has had to run a gauntlet of NFL defenses thus far. He's faced three top-10 NFL units by DVOA, including the number two defense by that advanced metric. The Seahawks, unfortunately, are number one in DVOA.

And according to Young, this Seahawks defense is truly on another level. He spoke about what it was like to play them. Avert your ears, Patriots supporters or Maye fans.

Bryce Young shares how difficult Seahawks defense really is

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) runs in past Seattle Seahawks safety Ty Okada | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Bryce Young got absolutely throttled by the Seattle Seahawks in Week 17. He had nowhere to go with the ball all game long. It was one of the most smothering performances by a defense all season long.

What did it teach him? Inadvertently, it revealed that Drake Maye might have a really tough time this Sunday. Maye, who came up just short in MVP voting, is better than Young, but the challenge remains.

Bryce Young talks about facing Seattle’s defense.

The Patriots are in TROUBLE on Sunday...🫣 pic.twitter.com/JhHjN9EjtA
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 6, 2026

He said, "A really tenacious group, like really aggressive. They talked some of the most, not in a disrespectful way, but you could tell, they had an intensity about them."

Young revealed that they would hype each other up after every play, creating an aggressive energy that kept them rolling. "There was a lot of communication with each other," he said. "We see great defenses, they're always doing stuff like that."

The Panthers QB also revealed that there is no weakness. He said they're "really good in the box," and have a strong front seven to get after the quarterback. "Secondary's really good as well," he concluded.

That might be an understatement. Young, as mentioned, threw for 54 yards and an interception. After the game, Tetairoa McMillan revealed that they totally switched up their defensive gameplan and threw the Panthers all the way off. They never recovered, in part because they just couldn't get open.

That's the mark of a genuinely elite defense, and that figures to play up in the Super Bowl.

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