3 players who could determine the Patriots' Super Bowl LX fate

The New England Patriots made their first Super Bowl of the Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye era. Through three "slug it out" performances, the Patriots were able to grind out wins in low-scoring affairs headlined by elite defensive performances.

They allowed just 3 points to the Chargers in the wild card and only 7 to the Broncos. In the divisional round, they forced five turnovers.

While the defense has been elite, the offense has been lackluster. Come the Super Bowl, they'll need their heads screwed on straight to find success against the league's premier defense. Aside from a team effort, some individual players will need to be at their best to ensure a Patriots win.

These Patriots could make all the difference come the Super Bowl

QB Drake Maye

Call me crazy, but a strong performance from the starting quarterback might just give a team the edge. While it may seem obvious, Drake Maye's play is the most critical piece to New England's success. After coping with the elements and the cold through three playoff matchups, Maye will be playing in the perfect weather of Santa Clara on Super Bowl Sunday.

Through his three playoff games, Maye has been disappointing through the air. His passing yards total has gone down each game, with his 86 yards against the Broncos being a career low. He's averaged 177.7 yards per game in the playoffs despite averaging 258.5 during the regular season, and his performances in big games haven't been great to this point in his career.

Maye will need a stellar performance against the best defense he's played so far this playoffs to be crowned a champion. Furthermore, he needs to have a clean game. Sunday marked the first time Maye hadn't fumbled or thrown an interception through the playoffs, but he did nearly throw an interception to Talanoa Hufanga on the second drive.

Devon Witherspoon and company will punish those mistakes.

Will Campbell & the Offensive Line

Will Campbell's performances as of late have been troubling, to say the least. The No. 4 overall pick is Maye's blindside protection on an offensive line that has allowed five sacks in each of their three playoff games thus far.

While Campbell himself didn't allow a sack on Sunday, he's allowed three this playoffs, and his nine pressures across the first two matchups were his most in a two-game span.

Against a group of edge defenders that features Demarcus Lawrence and Uchenna Nwosu, he'll need to be at his best. The duo combined for 13 sacks this year, and the interior will have their hands full with Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy.

While Campbell has been the main culprit for suspect play over the playoffs, the rest of the line also needs to step up. Mike Onwenu has offered consistency, but Jared Wilson and Garett Bradbury have been more volatile. With Williams and Murphy being two of the most disruptive interior players in football, they'll need to keep Maye on his feet.

DT Christian Barmore

The Patriots will need to put pressure on Sam Darnold in order to limit Jaxson Smith-Njigba and Rashid Shaheed's abilities as deep threats, and the best way to do that is through interior pass rush. Oddly enough, Barmore may find himself flying under the radar given Milton Williams' dominance and K'Lavon Chaisson's breakout on the edge.

With help potentially shifting towards the former, Barmore could end up with favorable matchups.

Grey Zabel is one of the league's best young guards, but the Patriots should be able to take advantage of matchups against Anthony Bradford and center Jalen Sundell. The $92 million man had a sack against All-Pro Quinn Meinerz last week, and they'll need more of that production from him against the Seahawks.

Barmore has also had four stops over this playoff run, something he'll need to continue to tap into against Kenneth Walker. While the Seahawks' running game wasn't elite last game, Walker did show some elite shiftiness. With Zach Charbonnet out, Walker will have the backfield to himself for the second straight game.

The Patriots will need to work as a unit to slow down a humming offense and to attack the league's best defense. While others will need to step up in a major way, too, the performances of Maye, Campbell, and Barmore may be what secures New England their seventh title.