Tom Brady broke a boatload of Super Bowl and franchise records out of attrition. He played in 41 postseason games as a Patriot, so he was obviously going to crush yardage, touchdown and win records simply because he had so many opportunities (and also because he was really good, or whatever).
Now, it’s Drake Maye’s turn to run the show in New England, and it’s his first time behind the wheel. That means that if he’s breaking records, he’s breaking them based on his own merit (more or less). Here are some of the personal and franchise records that we’re looking at on Super Bowl Sunday.
Most sacked quarterback in the postseason
- Current record: Joe Burrow, 19 sacks
- Drake Maye: 15 sacks
If it seems like Maye has been taking a lot of sacks this postseason, it’s because he has. He’s gone down 15 times so far. The record is held by Joe Burrow, who in 2021, was sacked a whopping 19 times in his four-game journey. There’s a pretty big difference between their two paths.
Burrow was sacked twice by the Raiders in the Wild Card round, nine times by the Titans in the Divisional round, once by the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game, and seven times by the Rams in Super Bowl LVI.
Maye was sacked five times by the Chargers in the Wild Card round, five times by the Texans in the Divisional round and five times by the Broncos in the AFC Championship game. If anything, Maye and his offensive line are consistent. And if they keep that consistency going, five more sacks would earn them a new record!
And that's a record that’s going to take a while to be broken for two reasons. The first is because the more games you play, the more chances you have of getting sacked. Duh. Teams that allow a bunch of sacks aren’t normally good teams, and those kinds of teams don’t make deep postseason runs.
The second reason is that when Burrow broke the record in 2021, he broke a record that had been standing since the 1987 season. That was 34 years of Wade Wilson being the most sacked quarterback in a single postseason (14). Not great.
Youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl
- Current record: Ben Roethlisberger, 23 years, 11 months, 3 days
- Drake Maye: 23 years, 5 months, 9 days
It feels like Ben Roethlisberger has been 40 years old for the past 20 years, but shockingly enough, he was 23 years, 11 months and three days old when he won Super Bowl XL in 2005. That made him the youngest starting quarterback to ever win a Super Bowl.
In 19 seasons, there wasn’t anyone who’s even had a chance to take the crown from him, and in all reality, that’s a crown that the NFL would probably like to give someone else, given the things Roethlisberger was allegedly doing in his early to mid-20s.
Everyone likes an even number, and 20 years after Big Ben won, Maye has an opportunity to be the youngest. On Sunday, Maye is going to be 23 years, five months and nine days old. With the lack of young cats who have made it to the Super Bowl, and Maye six months younger than Roethlisberger was, this could be a record that sticks for a loooooong time.
Most franchise Super Bowl wins
- Current record: 6, Patriots, Steelers
- Patriots: A win would give New England sole possession of the all-time lead
The Patriots and the Steelers are currently tied in first with six Super Bowl wins. Three years into the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin era, they won a Super Bowl (XLIII in 2008), and it seemed like they were ready to stifle the Patriots' run toward the all-time leader. That didn’t happen.
Now, 17 seasons later, the Patriots have a chance to officially make the Steelers a historical afterthought. If you’re a Yinzer (or part of the Steel Curtain) who cares about clinging to that perverted relevancy, you’re absolutely wishing for the worst for Maye.
Most franchise Super Bowl losses
- Current record: 5, Patriots, Broncos
- Patriots: A loss would give New England the most Super Bowl losses in NFL history
The Patriots and the Broncos are currently tied in first (last?) with five Super Bowl losses. It turns out the problem with making it to a billion Super Bowls is that people not only remember but also celebrate your losses.
Here’s the deal: Enough time has passed from the Tom Brady era in New England, and now it’s totally fine for the general public to acknowledge how good he was without sounding like you have Stockholm Syndrome.
If the Patriots lose to the Seahawks and get their elusive sixth Super Bowl loss, all of us (read: everyone who is anti-Patriots) can say that Drake Maye tarnished Brady’s legacy by making the Patriots the Super Bowl losing-est team in the history of the sport.
Highest completion percentage
- Current record: 88%, 22-of-25, Phil Simms
- Drake Maye: Would need near-perfect efficiency on a low-volume passing day to challenge the mark
The story of Drake Maye’s season was his incredibly high completion percentage; he set the Patriots’ single-season franchise record at 72%. That’s the fifth-highest completion percentage of all time. Let’s make an assumption: Maye really is that good and it has nothing to do with the defenses that he played.
If that’s the case, then there’s reason to believe that Drake Maye could break the record for the highest completion percentage. Right now, Phil Simms has the record of 88% from Super Bowl XXI. He went 22-of-25 for 268 yards and three touchdowns. That’s a hell of a record.
One thing that could really help with Maye breaking this record is a run-heavy game plan, which is probably the way that Mike Vrabel will want this game to go. There’s a real world where Maye throws the ball 20 (maybe fewer) times. If those are short, schemed open, and high-probability completions, you could maybe see him getting to 88%... but that’s a hell of a long shot.
Lowest completion percentage
- Current record: 36.8%, 14-of-38, John Elway
- Drake Maye: A rough, high-pressure outing could put this record in play
Now, maybe Maye’s completion percentage is an absolute sham. He went from that 72% completion rate in the regular season to a 55% completion rate in the postseason.
Is that because of the stakes and the script of win-or-die games, or is it because he played three consecutive games against top-10 passing defenses? Regardless, the Super Bowl has the highest stakes, a potentially conservative script, and it’s against a top-10 passing defense. So, all three of those things at once.
Right now, John Elway holds the record for the lowest completion rate (minimum 20 attempts) in Super Bowl history from Super Bowl XXII when he went 14-of-38 (36.8%). It’s tough to have that bad a day. For reference, the only quarterback to have a lower completion percentage than that this season was Pro-Bowler Shedeur Sanders, who was 4-of-16 (25%) in Week 11 against the Ravens.
If your choices are either Maye has the highest completion rate in Super Bowl history or the lowest completion rate in Super Bowl history, it really feels like the lower option is more likely. Keep in mind, he was at 47.6% in the AFC Championship game (he only threw the ball once during the fourth quarter blizzard).