Super Bowl LX: Mike Macdonald Paints A First Half Masterpiece On Defense

The first half of Super Bowl LX is over, and one thing we learned from it is that Mike Macdonald was ready for this. The New England Patriots’ offense, which was #1 in the NFL in EPA during the regular season, has yet to run a single play inside the Seattle 40 yard line. Even the Patriot offense from their first three playoff games was far better than this.

Drake Maye, who was a single vote away from winning league Most Valuable Player, has 48 passing yards, not much more than the number of sack yards he’s lost (30). A 21 yard Boutte catch and 11 yard Maye run are their only plays over 10 yards. With five drives (plus one kneeldown) under their belt, the Patriots are averaging 2 yards per play.

It’s a staggering performance to this point, fueled largely by a deadly Seattle pass rush that has gotten Derick Hall, Devon Witherspoon, and Rylie Mills (!!) to the quarterback so far. Nwosu threw in a good strong quarterback hit, and Boye Mafe even managed to force a throwaway. After a few months of a fairly neutered pass rush, it looks like the Hawks are bringing it today.

And it’s not just four guys winning against the Patriots’ offensive line, although there’s certainly some of that. Macdonald is dialing up blitzes, including some pretty big and risky ones, and they are finding paydirt over and over again. Maye, who beat defenses all season long when they dared to blitz him, has so far failed to find any success against it today.

We’re also seeing attacking behind the line of scrimmage unlike anything we’ve seen over the last few months. Jones and Jobe have made tackles behind the line of scrimmage. And it hasn’t compromised their run defense yet, as New England sits at three yards per carry. It got so dominant in the first half, the Patriots ran multiple give-up plays on third down.

Will this dominance hold in the second half? Only time will tell. But after an initial thirty minutes where the offense struggled to finish drives and Sam Darnold in particular has been given a hard time by the Patriots defense, we can say that that side of the ball came to play. After a particularly rough day two weeks ago against the Rams, they’ve shown up.

Thirty more minutes of that level of defensive dominance, and the Seahawks will be in excellent position to close out the season on the highest of notes.

Derick Hall joined the sack party in the first half. — Seattle Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall (58) sacks New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10). | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

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