- Drake Maye’s turnover was crucial: Both quarterbacks performed eerily similar, but turnovers were the big differentiator.
- Sam Darnold performed better under pressure: Outside of turnovers, Darnold’s ability to perform adequately under pressure gave him the edge over Maye in Super Bowl 60.
- The 2026 NFL Draft season is here: Try the best in class PFF Mock Draft Simulator and learn about the top prospects of 2026 as you trade and sign for your favorite NFL team. Get 25% off your PFF+ annual subscription with code PFFFANTASYPODCAST25.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Super Bowl 60 is in the books and the Seattle Seahawks are NFL champions for the second time in franchise history with a resounding 29-13 victory over the New England Patriots.
This game featured a meeting between two quarterbacks who were not expected here at all last year. While Drake Maye was a prized prospect who broke out in Year 2, Sam Darnold had a similar pedigree but struggled early and became a journeyman before finding a home in Seattle.
Considering Seattle’s convincing victory in a never-behind game, you’d think Darnold beat Maye by a huge margin in this game. However, is that really the case?
Here we compare the two performances via different metrics.
Standard passing stats
- Darnold: 19-38, 202 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs
- Maye: 27-43, 295 yards 2 TDs, 2 INTs
A quick look at the standard passing stats would suggest that Maye had the more productive game, completing 62.8% of his passes, as opposed to Darnold’s 50%, while still throwing for 93 yards and another touchdown. Maye’s two interceptions shift the line much more in Darnold’s favor, as he didn’t turn the ball over once. Compounding this caveat, Maye earned four turnover-worthy plays, the second time in his career he threw as many, while Darnold finished with just one, suggesting that Darnold was much safer with the football than Maye.
Passing depth
- Darnold: 10.8 ADoT, 47.4 SS%, 42.1 PS%, 42.6 YAC%
- Results: 10.9 ADot, 44.2 SS%, 51.2%, 46.1 YAC%
We’re getting a little more advanced here with this next set of stats as we look at how far Darnold and Maye’s throws typically went. Their average depth of field (ADoT) is almost identical, as Maye achieved the smallest lead at 10.9 meters versus Darnold’s 10.8 meters. This is a trend that continued for much of the season, however, as Maye’s 9.5-yard ADoT in the regular season ranked fourth among quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks and tied Trevor Lawrence and Matthew Stafford for the highest among all quarterbacks who haven’t missed a game. The 10.8-yard mark is high for Darnold, whose 8.7-yard ADot was tied with Tyler Shough for 15th, though it was still one of the higher marks in the league.
Additionally, 47.4% of Darnold’s passes were thrown just in front of the sticks (SS%), while 44.2% of Maye’s throws failed to cross the first-down mark. In the regular season, both Darnold and Maye finished near the bottom of the league in SS%, as Maye’s 47.6 SS% was the 10th lowest among quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks, while Darnold’s 50.1% mark was the 17th lowest among the 45 qualifying quarterbacks.
Focusing beyond the sticks (PS%), Maye finished with the fifth highest frequency of 46.1%, making his 51.2 PS% not that surprising. However, Darnold finished in the middle of the pack in terms of how often he threw past the first-down marks, as he ranked 22nd with a percentage of 39.6 PS, tying Tyrod Taylor. That number was relatively consistent with his 42.1 PS% from the Super Bowl.
The yards-after-catch percentage (YAC%) also reflected how these two quarterbacks typically performed during the season. In the regular season, only five quarterbacks’ passing yardage totals were affected by yards after the catch less than Maye’s mark of 40.5%. Darnold’s regular season percentage of 43.5% was the 11th lowest and much closer to his Super Bowl performance, but they were close enough in this regard that it’s hard to give an edge one way or the other.
Pressure over
- Darnold: 7-16, 71 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT under pressure (18 dropbacks)
- Maye: 6-13, 75 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT under pressure (23 dropbacks)
Pressure was a big story in this game, as the Seahawks chased Maye repeatedly and never let him get into a rhythm. Maye’s pressure stats may seem okay at first glance; however, a deeper dive reveals a much more frustrating story. Maye’s success rate under pressure stood at 24.5, and he made three of his four turnover-worthy plays when pressured, while Darnold stayed out of harm’s way by not making such plays. In fact, if Darnold’s 65.2 enough pressure rating in this game were to translate into a full season, it would rank fourth in the NFL, behind only Dak Prescott, Brock Purdy and Matthew Stafford. One thing to note is that Maye’s extremely low passing mark in this match is not reflective of his entire season. Maye’s passing grade of 61.8 under pressure in the regular season was fifth best in the league, while Darnold’s regular season grade of 48.6 was 19th.
Pass cleanly
- Darnold: 12-22, 131 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTS when kept clean (22 dropbacks)
- Maye: 21-30, 220 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT if kept clean (30 dropbacks)
This may come as a surprise when you look at these stats, but Maye was only slightly better if retained, but not by much as Maye had a passing grade of 52.2 from a clean pocket while Darnold earned a 51.4. These passing numbers are shockingly low considering how well they played in the regular season when kept clean. Both were elite passers when kept clean, as Maye’s 92.4 clean enough ranked third, while Darnold’s 91.3 clean enough ranked fifth. However, if you convert their Super Bowl good numbers to the regular season, they would be closely comparable to the bottom two 2025 clean passers in Shedeur Sanders (51.4 clean pass numbers in 2025) and Brady Cook (46.3 clean pass numbers).
Overall satisfactory grade
Meeting the quality standards, neither quarterback had a particularly impressive game, hence the Super Bowl MVP going to Kenneth Walker III. While Darnold’s performance is slightly below average (a reminder that each player receives a starting grade of 60.0 that is adjusted based on performance), Maye’s was the worst of his young career. It was even worse than the 32.8 number he posted during a snowstorm in the AFC Championship game. However, these are the only two games in Maye’s two-year career with enough numbers under 50, so Patriots fans shouldn’t worry too much about this being a trend.
Final verdict
Watching this match, it was surprising to see how close the stats between Sam Darnold and Drake Maye really were. They had nearly identical ADoTs, very similar pure pocket passing numbers, and neither quarterback’s passing totals were affected by yards after the catch. While both took their fair share of pressure from opposing defenses, Darnold handled it significantly better than Maye, and that seemed to go a long way toward Seattle hoisting its second Lombardi Trophy and Darnold completing his redemption story.
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