A lot went wrong for the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl as they were dominated across the board by the Seattle Seahawks. The defense, which had been steady throughout the postseason, fought longer than most units could have under those circumstances, but it should’ve done better. While head coach Mike Vrabel preached team unity in defeat, a key defensive player’s sideline conversation told a very different story.

“It wasn’t us, bro,” DT Christian Barmore said when talking to fellow DT Milton Williams, believing the loss was not on him or his unit. “It wasn’t us, man. It wasn’t us, twin. Now we just gotta build on it… Keep getting better and better,” Williams replied.

Barmore’s comments hinted that the offense was the major concern for that day. The Patriots‘ defense tried everything, as Sam Darnold was pressured 14 times, affecting 41.5 percent of his dropbacks, and that disruption resulted in one hit and one sack. But that pressure still usually makes a big difference to how a quarterback and the offense perform, regardless of the stat line.

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Under head coach Mike Vrabel, the defense kept the game within reach for as long as it could, as Seattle converted just one of four red-zone trips and four of 16 third downs, numbers that usually rack up a win. The broader issue was that the offense never capitalized, and the other units eventually broke down.

It was a rough day for the New England Patriots offense, and it showed snap after snap. They posted a negative play rate of 13.4 percent, moving backward nine times on 67 offensive plays. And because of that, the rhythm never came.

Drake Maye was under constant pressure, went down six times, and never looked settled in the pocket. As the game wore on, the mistakes followed: Two interceptions and one lost fumble. Altogether, it was the kind of performance that made the entire offense feel stuck in quicksand.

That said, the defensive front wasn’t flawless either. They missed tackles on key runs by RB Kenneth Walker, who finished with 27 carries for 135 yards, and advanced metrics credited him with +42 rushing yards over expected, including +26 on a 30-yard run and +24 on a 29-yarder.

Walker’s night ended with him holding the Super Bowl MVP trophy, the first RB to do so since Terrell Davis in 1997. However, it’s not entirely clear where Barmore believes the responsibility lies, whether it’s the offense, other units, or Mike Vrabel’s scheme, but what’s clear is that he doesn’t see himself or the defensive line as the reason the game slipped away.

Nevertheless, Vrabel’s tone was a little different after the game.

Mike Vrabel doesn’t want to play the blame game

The Pats were coming off consecutive 4-13 seasons when the front office decided it needed more than schematic tweaks, turning to someone who understood the building and its history by hiring Mike Vrabel, a former Patriot who won three Lombardi Trophies as a linebacker.

The result was that New England won the division for the first time since 2019 and earned a trip to the Super Bowl, but the ending, however, didn’t provide the full-circle finish they envisioned, falling to the Seahawks on the biggest stage. Regardless of the disappointing loss, Mike Vrabel didn’t finger-point anyone.

“We can sit here and try to put it on one guy. You’ll be disappointed cause that’ll never happen,” Vrabel said. “It starts with us as the coaching staff, and making sure that we’re doing our part, and then obviously, we have to be able to execute, we gotta be able to protect.

“When we do protect, we have to be able to progress through and throw to the guys open and help the quarterback, and then he’s gotta be better. That’s just how it goes. That’s never gonna change.”

Quarterback Drake Maye was sacked six times and threw two interceptions, and the OL struggled big time, but Vrabel made it clear he wasn’t isolating one position group or one player. He wants to run it back again next year and knows how important it is to maintain the team’s morale.

“We got to be pissed together,” he told players as they walked off the field. “307 days, that’s all it was. We got a lot more days ahead of us.”

With this mindset, the Patriots might rise again next season.