One Factor That Helped Seahawks & Patriots to Super Bowl May Also Decide Winner

The Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots are two very different teams with different styles. However, they do have several things in common that helped get them to where they are now, one week removed from the Super Bowl.

To dumb it down as much as possible, both teams' foundation is a strong defense, a good run game and dynamic quarterbacks who can take big chunks out of the field at any given moment.

Competing in the modern NFL requires teams to do a lot of things well - but above all it means producing as many explosive plays as possible and preventing the other team from doing so. The Seahawks and Patriots did this better than any other teams in the regular season. Meanwhile, third and fourth place went to the Rams and Broncos, who lose in the conference championships.

Interesting graphic from the great Scoop City newsletter. The NFL today is all about explosive plays.

The top four teams in explosive play margin were the final four teams.

The top two teams are playing for the Super Bowl. pic.twitter.com/aeVMULIdF0
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) January 30, 2026

Seattle's most-explosive weapons should be well known by now. At the top of the list is Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who posted 27 plays of 20 yards or more, tying Puka Nacua for the most in the league. Next up was Kenneth Walker III, who managed 10 on the ground and five more as a receiver. Cooper Kupp finished third with eight. Zach Charbonnet had five, but nobody else had more than four.

As for the Patriots, Stefon Diggs led New England with 17 explosive catches, followed by 11 from tight end Hunter Henry, 10 from Kayshon Boutte and eight from Mack Hollins. On the ground they got seven rushes of 20 yards or more from Rhamondre Stevenson and six from TreVeyon Henderson.

As you can see, the Seahawks' explosive producers are a bit more top-heavy. Take JSN away and Walker becomes the only real consistent threat in this department. Meanwhile, the Patriots have a lot more options when it comes to hitting those home run plays.

Managing all those big-play threats will put Mike Macdonald's defense to the test, but so far this unit has mastered every challenged they have faced this season - and the chart above shows they allowed explosives at a significantly lower rate than any other team except the Broncos.

Countless factors will go into deciding the Super Bowl, but this will be one of the most critical.

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