On Sunday, the New England Patriots will do what every team hopes to do at the start of the year: play in the final game of the season.
Facing off against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl 60, the Patriots have the chance to complete their quick turnaround with a championship. Despite that opportunity, the Patriots are still being questioned.
New England and its fans have heard all season long about the team having an easy schedule, and an unchallenging path in the playoffs. However, a recent stat shows that the Patriots may have faced stiffer competition than they are being given credit for.
On Tuesday evening, the NFL held the latest Pro Bowl, and Boston sports journalist Cerrone Battle shared a post saying that Drake Maye and New England faced every AFC Pro Bowl defender. While the stat isn’t completely true since the Patriots didn’t play Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Devin Lloyd, an alternate, the team did face all the other elite defenders in the conference.
Maye has faced every defender on the AFC Pro bowl roster.
— Cerrone Battle (@Cerrone_Battle) February 3, 2026
Will Anderson, Jeffrey Simmons, Zach Allen, Nik Bonito, TJ Watt,Tuipulotu
Roquan Smth, Azeez Al Shaair, Derek Stingley, Pat Surtain, Denzel Ward, Kyle Hamilton, Derwin James, Jalen Ramsey, Garrett and Crosby. Easy path... pic.twitter.com/paHmnrDV0T
Drake Maye and Patriots faced a number of elite defenders en route to Super Bowl
Battle highlighted this point to say that New England’s path wasn't as easy as people make it out to be.
Of course, critics will still push back, arguing that the presence of one or two elite playes on a defense doesn’t necessarily make a team good. Whether it be Jeffery Simmons on the Tennessee Titans, Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward on the Cleveland Browns, or Maxx Crosby on the Las Vegas Raiders, there’s certainly enough ammunition to argue against the point.
Ultimately, though, it doesn’t matter. People are going to say whatever they want, but it doesn’t affect what happens between the lines. So what if critics think New England had an easy path? The Patriots didn’t create their schedule, they just won the games.
As long as New England takes care of business and wins on Sunday, it won’t matter what people say about the Patriots’ path, as long as they remember to say it ended with the team holding up the Lombardi trophy.