Bedard: With Maye's magic limited again, Patriots advance to Super Bowl on trenches and defensive plays

DENVER — Stop me if you've heard this before: the Patriots are advancing in the postseason, and not because of the possible NFL MVP, Drake Maye.

This time, however, they didn't (somewhat) win despite Maye, who put the ball in harm's way and on the ground too many times in the first two playoff victories. Fortunately, it was against outgunned opponents with sieves for offensive lines.

But, despite completing just 47.6% of his passes for 86 yards and a season-worst 14% completion percentage above expected, Maye did have a big hand in this 10-7 victory because he, and the rest of the Patriots' offense, had the biggest stat line of all: zero turnovers, even when the second half turned into blizzard conditions. It seemed fairly obvious that, with Jarrett Stidham on the other sideline, Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels were fairly content going conservative on offense to avoid the big mistake that could put the game in jeopardy.

"Just protect the football and let our defense keep doing their thing," said Maye. "It was tough elements for offenses. Defenses were playing great. Really, just give our chance to not lose the game and turn the ball over or do something where we put our defense in a bad spot. Our defense showed up every time, time and time again."

As a result, the Patriots scored only 54 combined points in their three playoff games so far in 2025. That's the fewest points scored by a team that played three games prior to making the Super Bowl, breaking the previous record low held by the 2000 Ravens with Trent Dilfer.

On the other side, the Broncos had two crucial turnovers — and another if you want to add the failed 4th-and-1 play up 7-0 deep in Patriots territory — that helped send New England back to the Super Bowl.

Maye made his biggest plays with his legs, with 10 carries for 65 yards, including the lone touchdown on a 6-yard designed QB draw where he was virtually untouched.

No turnovers and Maye's legs were the formula for a victory. But it was the Patriots' lines and different players making huge plays that sent the Patriots to the most improbable Super Bowl appearance in 25 years.

TRENCH WARFARE

Going into this game, the consensus, including in this very corner, gave the Broncos a checkmark in both line battles. When it came to the Broncos' offensive line against the Patriots' defensive line, you figured the running game would be at least a draw, if not a win for the Patriots. The Broncos haven't run the ball well consistently in weeks, at least since starter JK Dobbins was lost to injury. And the Patriots, with Milton Williams and Robert Spillane (left early), have been a very good run defense for the first half of the season, and since Williams came back. That held true, as the Patriots had their fifth-best defensive run success rate against the Broncos.

This game was going to come down to whether the Patriots could get enough pressure on Stidham, who is a completely different quarterback under the gun, behind the Broncos' offensive line, which entered the game as one of the league's best by all metrics. And they boast two first-team All-Pros in LT Garrett Bolles and LG Quinn Meinherz.

One x-factor coming into this game was how the Broncos' line would fare without the legs of QB Bo Nix, which is baked into everything they do, including Nix being the best QB in the league at avoiding sacks. Would the Broncos' pass blockesr be as good with the less mobile Stidham?

The matchup was a decided win for the Patriots. Stidham was under pressure more than