- Running back postseason PFF grade: There are over 200 total instances of a running back playing 50-plus snaps in a postseason in the PFF era. Before now, none of these running backs had ever achieved an overall PFF grade above 90.0 in the playoffs. As it stands, Kenneth Walker III holds an overall 90.3 PFF grade during this playoff run.
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We have fresh blood in the Super Bowl after a barrage of Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers appearances in recent years, so naturally, this infusion of new schemes, players and styles offered by the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks will lead to some postseason records.
Once we conclude Sunday’s game, the PFF era — which started back in 2006 — will officially reach two decades' worth of advanced statistics on NFL games.
While revisionist history tends to look back more upon regular-season statistics where all teams play an equal number of games over a large sample size, there’s something prestigious about holding a statistical record in the postseason.
Only a handful of teams every single year even achieve the right to play multiple playoff games, making every milestone that much more difficult to attain.
Naturally, this list lends itself more to the New England Patriots, who have three playoff games under their belt while Seattle has only played two, the first of which felt over by halftime.
Not all of the records listed below are strictly positive. Sometimes, surviving and advancing as far as the Super Bowl can work to a player’s detriment! Of course, the main goal for both teams on Sunday will be to win, and I’m sure no player or coach will explicitly care about the statistical milestones at stake.
However, as football fans and analysts, they can serve as a great indicator of how these teams’ playoff runs compare to the 250 playoff teams to come before them in the PFF era.
Sacks in a playoff run — Drake Maye
The state of quarterback play has not been exemplary throughout this postseason, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that no passing records will be broken for the right reasons this time around.
The league-wide postseason passer rating, yards per attempt and PFF passing grade during these playoffs are all currently at decade-long lows.
The one regrettable quarterback-related record at risk is the total number of sacks a quarterback has taken in a single playoff run. Drake Maye has been sacked 15 times across the Patriots’ three playoff outings, which is the second most of any postseason, not just in PFF history, but dating back as far as 1969.
Only Joe Burrow’s 19-sack postseason in 2022 — when he led the Bengals to a Super Bowl appearance — surpasses Maye. Burrow was sacked seven times in that Super Bowl defeat against Aaron Donald and the Rams.
The Seahawks would need to bring Maye to the deck five times for this record to find a new holder. Despite their prolific season, the Seahawks haven’t landed a five-sack showing in any of their last thirteen games.
Running back postseason PFF grade – Kenneth Walker III
There are over 200 total instances of a running back playing 50-plus snaps in a postseason in the PFF era. Before now, none of these running backs had ever achieved an overall PFF grade above 90.0 in the playoffs.
As it stands, Kenneth Walker III holds an overall 90.3 PFF grade during this playoff run. He backed up his elite divisional round performance with a solid showing in the NFC Championship Game, but to keep his overall grade above 90, Walker will need to cap off his incredible season in style on the biggest stage of all.
The Seahawks are no strangers to elite running back performances in the playoffs. Neither are their upcoming Super Bowl opponents. Six of the seven highest-graded running back postseasons in PFF history have belonged to either a member of the Patriots or the Seahawks.
Even an above-average performance from Kenneth Walker in the Super Bowl will see him join the legendary status of Marshawn Lynch’s incredible back-to-back playoff runs of 2013 and 2014, along with the less-referenced Thomas Rawls postseason in 2016 which graded out seventh-best in PFF history.
Least receiving yards by tight ends — Seattle Seahawks
No team participating in a Super Bowl in the PFF era has entered with fewer receiving yards to tight ends over their playoff run than the current Seattle Seahawks.
Second-year tight end AJ Barner has caught just two receptions for 13 yards over Seattle’s two playoff victories, and no other tight end has gotten their hands on the ball.
You could chalk this up as a statistical anomaly, given the fact that Seattle has only played two games, especially when considering Barner closed out the regular season with eight straight games with more than his measly 13 playoff receiving yards.
In the PFF era, the 2007 Patriots hold the record for the fewest tight end receiving yards of a team to participate in a Super Bowl. In a time before Rob Gronkowski, New England’s tight ends finished the postseason with just 35 total receiving yards to go with their crushing Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants.
While anything less than a victory is meaningless at this stage, I’m sure AJ Barner wouldn’t mind seeing a few more balls thrown his way in the process on Sunday to shrug off the label of ‘least impactful tight end group in modern Super Bowl history.’
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When we think about the greatest playoff pass rushes of the PFF era, the 2015 Denver Broncos and 2021 Los Angeles Rams certainly spring to mind.
While the Patriots don’t possess a slam-dunk future Hall of Fame pass rusher like those teams did, the numbers do not lie. This Patriots defense has been one of the most effective teams in playoff history at putting the quarterback under pressure.
No team has ever entered the Super Bowl with a pressure rate in excess of 50% until now. The next closest candidate — the 2015 Broncos — entered Super Bowl 50 with a 47.5% pressure rate, improving to 48.7% on the day against Cam Newton.
As of now, those Broncos own the highest team pressure rate throughout an individual postseason of any team to reach the Super Bowl. The Patriots are set to overtake them, currently holding a 51.1% playoff pressure rate.
None of New England’s players will compete for Nick Bosa’s almost unbreakable postseason pressure record of 27 — the closest candidate is K’Lavon Chaisson at 18 pressures — but the Patriots' defensive line has been a sum of its parts all season long, and statistically, they are one of the most effective units we have ever seen.
Lowest passer rating allowed — New England Patriots
While it’s fair to argue the Patriots' defense was fortunate to be dealt ‘Jarrett Stidham in a blizzard’ as its final step toward a Super Bowl appearance, it doesn’t change the fact that the Patriots have been playing lights out in coverage this postseason.
They are allowing a 56.1 passer rating over their three playoff games. The lowest postseason passer rating surrendered by a conference champion up until this point is the 2015 Panthers, who held opposing quarterbacks to a 67.7 overall mark.
This record is well within reach for the Patriots if they can hold Sam Darnold to around an 85.0 passer rating for the game, which has been the case for six of Seattle’s nineteen games this season.
While the Patriots’ passing defense has been excellent overall, we can dive even deeper into this and look at one individual coverage defender who has been particularly remarkable in defending the pass over January.
Lowest passer rating allowed in coverage — Craig Woodson
One of the true unsung heroes of the Patriots' defense, rookie fourth-round safety Craig Woodson has played 124 snaps in pass coverage during his inaugural playoff run, allowing just three receptions for 17 total yards.
Woodson also snagged one of New England’s five interceptions thrown by C.J. Stroud and dropped a chance at another — albeit on fourth down — against Jarrett Stidham one week later.
As it stands, Woodson is the only defensive player in PFF history with at least 10 targets in coverage over a playoff run to allow a 0.0 passer rating. It’s not like Woodson is simply avoiding the action either — he leads the Patriots in tackles throughout the postseason.
Former Patriots legend Asante Samuel previously held the record for the lowest passer rating allowed during a postseason (2.8 in 2006). It may be an uphill battle for Woodson to remain perfect in coverage, particularly against Sam Darnold, who has been giving safeties nightmares all season long.
Bonus Record: Special teams tackles — Brenden Schooler
No need to watch for this record on Sunday night — Schooler has already broken it. His six tackles over New England’s three playoff games are, believe it or not, a PFF-era record.
Special teams tackles can be hard to come by when you only play a select number of snaps per game and all 10 of your teammates on the field have the exact same goal as you — bring the ball carrier to the ground!
We figured this record was on borrowed time when the NFL tweaked the kickoff rules to ensure more tackling opportunities than ever before on special teams. Sure enough, Schooler wrapped it up by the end of the first quarter in the AFC Championship Game.
Playing with house money and the possibility of growing his tackling tally even further in the Super Bowl, Schooler will look to etch his name alongside Patriots special teams legends like Matthew Slater, Nate Ebner and Brandon Bolden — the three leaders in NFL playoff special teams snaps over the last two decades.
As an entire unit, the 2025 Patriots are the fourth-highest graded postseason special teams unit since PFF first began grading in this area in 2013. This has been quite a dramatic improvement for a special teams unit that finished the regular season ranked 23rd in the NFL.