Patriots offensive and defensive stats from Super Bowl LII via PFF

Our friends at ProFootballFocus.com were kind enough to share their quick stats from Sunday’s game. Make sure you check out their PFF Edge and PFF Elite products to give you insight, and an edge with your fantasy team. The PFF guys really know the game, so make sure you follow them at @PFF.

Patriots offensive stats

Even though WR Brandin Cooks had to exit the game early due to injury, the Patriots did not stop attacking the Eagles defense downfield. 11 of QB Tom Brady’s 49 pass attempts were targeted 20 or more yards downfield. In addition, Brady completed six of those attempts – one of the incompletions was a drop – for 185 yards and had a passer rating of 129.9 on these throws.

Brady excelled when kept clean in Super Bowl LII against the Eagles. The Patriots signal caller completed 19 of 30 pass attempts for 268 yards, three touchdowns and a passer rating of 125.4 when there was no pressure. Nevertheless, he still had a passer rating of 95.8 on his 20 dropbacks under pressure.

The Patriots’ offensive line could not sustain its postseason form against the Eagles. New England’s offensive line allowed 25 total pressures on 96 plays against the Titans and the Jaguars, leading to a pass blocking efficiency rating of 79.9. However, the unit gave up 19 total pressures on 49 passing plays in Super Bowl LII, which resulted in a pass blocking efficiency rating of 70.4.

Although they were not heavily utilized, Patriots running backs had an excellent day on the ground. Running backs Dion Lewis, James White and Rex Burkhead combined to break 6 tackles on 19 runs while they also averaged 3.53 yards after contact.

Tight end Rob Gronkowski was all over the field after a quiet first down. Even though Gronkowski caught only one of his five targets in the first half, he finished the game with 9 receptions on 15 targets for 116 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Furthermore, Gronkowski recorded a reception against six different Eagles defenders while QB Tom Brady had a passer rating of 123.9 when targeting the tight end.

Patriots defensive stats

Edge defender James Harrison came up big in the Super Bowl. Harrison played a season-high 67 snaps on defense (his previous high was 31 in the conference championship game), including 32 pass rushing snaps. The former Pittsburgh Steeler did not disappoint either as he led the Patriots with eight total pressures (two hits and six hurries).

Cornerback Stephon Gilmore finished the season strong as he had another impressive performance in the Super Bowl. Gilmore gave up just three receptions for 19 yards on six targets against the Eagles as he allowed a passer rating of 56.9 in coverage. Furthermore, he kept Eagles WR Alshon Jeffery without a reception as Jeffery was targeted three times in Gilmore’s coverage and failed to record a reception while the Patriots CB also broke up a pass intended for Jeffery.

Tackling was a problem for the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Leading up to Sunday’s game, New England missed 119 tackles on 870 attempts, leading to a missed tackle rate of 12.0 percent, which was the 12th lowest rate in the NFL. However, against the Eagles the defense missed 12.9 percent of its tackles as they missed 8 tackles and made 54.

Edge rusher Trey Flowers was New England’s best player in defense for the third straight game on Sunday. Flowers picked up five hurries on 42 pass rushing snaps against the Eagles and recorded at least five total pressures in every single postseason game this year.

Safety Jordan Richards struggled in coverage against Philadelphia. Even though New England’s safety had allowed a total of 217 yards in coverage prior to Sunday’s game, Richards gave up three receptions and a team-high 81 yards in coverage against the Eagles on just 11 coverage snaps (the 9th most on the Patriots defense).