Denver Broncos fans being forced to watch Drake Maye and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX was torturous for a variety of reasons. Of course, Broncos fans already don't like the New England Patriots, but the hatred for New England heated up a little bit with the fact that it should have been Denver playing against Seattle in the Super Bowl.
Broncos fans -- and many others around the NFL world -- are absolutely convinced that if Bo Nix had never gotten hurt, things would have gone very differently in both the AFC Championship Game and maybe the Super Bowl as well.
And to put it kindly, Drake Maye's performance throughout his first NFL postseason was horrendous. The Patriots were able to outlast all of the Chargers, Texans, and Broncos, but aside from a couple of throws in each game, Maye was more of a liability than an asset. And one thing we saw from him during the postseason run, in particular, shed some light on exactly what makes Nix such a special player.
Bo Nix's ability to avoid sacks sets him apart from Drake Maye
Drake Maye, who received 23 votes for the NFL MVP award, was sacked an NFL-record 21 times in four NFL playoff games. As Sean Payton has stated in the past, sacks are more often a quarterback stat than anything else, and Maye taking that many sacks is absolutely ridiculous for a player who received 23 votes for league MVP and a second-team All-Pro nod.
To put in perspective just how special Bo Nix is when it comes to avoiding sacks, he was sacked just 22 times this past season overall. That includes the Broncos' Divisional round win against the Buffalo Bills, where he wasn't sacked a single time.
There's no question that Drake Maye is a phenomenal talent at the quarterback position. He was a 2nd-team All-Pro selection for a reason, and had a great year for the Patriots in 2025. There is no disputing that and it would be disingenuous to try and discredit his season overall.
But it's reasonable to be critical of his postseason performance when so many people were questioning the validity of that regular season due to the Patriots having the "easiest" schedule of any team in the league. As soon as the going got tough in the playoffs, it required a herculean effort from the New England defense to get the team as deep into the postseason as they went.
That was especially true in the Divisional Round for the Patriots, where New England's defense forced five turnovers to compensate for three turnovers by the offense. And against the Broncos, the Patriots only scored a touchdown on the Denver defense because Jarrett Stidham threw a backward pass inside the red zone, setting up the only Patriots touchdown of the game.
Otherwise, it was an uphill battle for New England to even reach the 50-yard line against that Denver defense, even before the snow started falling. The Patriots were extremely lucky to play the Broncos basically with two hands tied behind their back, hopping on one leg, in a blizzard on top of it all.
There is undoubtedly some saltiness from Broncos Country right now toward the Patriots, and justifiably so. The Patriots were an embarrassment on the game's biggest stage, while the Broncos had been one of the most clutch and resilient teams all season. To have this past season stolen because of a Bo Nix injury at the worst possible time is pure torture.
And knowing what we know about Bo Nix compared to Drake Maye in terms of their ability to avoid being sacked, it will be fun to see how these two teams continue to progress as powerhouses in the AFC in 2026 and beyond.