Few players on the New England Patriots have been as heavily criticized for their Super Bowl performance as rookie left tackle Will Campbell. He gave up a sack and over a dozen pressures in their 29-13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, but declined to speak to the media after the loss.
However, Campbell finally spoke up about his Super Bowl performance to Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald this week. He said that he shouldn't have made himself unavailable for comment and that taking criticism is part of the job description.
“When I get emotional, I tend to have no mind,” Campbell said. “And that’s not the way that I need to approach this thing. I know myself, and if I would have spoken after, I would have said something that I didn’t need to say.”
“It comes with the job. When you don’t perform, obviously, I was (drafted) high, paid a lot. So people expect a certain thing, and I expect more of myself. So whenever I don’t perform, I don’t expect everyone to be like, ‘It’s OK, buddy.’ I mean, obviously, it sucks. But it doesn’t suck for anyone more than it sucks for me.”
Super No-Show
One could make the argument that the Patriots' entire offensive line deserves equal responsibility for the team's poor performance in Super Bowl LX. They wound up surrendering six sacks and dozens of hurries and hits on QB Drake Maye in that loss.
Were it not for some second half heroics, the Patriots might have become the first team to be shut out in Super Bowl history.
Campbell was so heavily criticized for his role in the loss that there have been open calls for him to lose his job over it. Head coach Mike Vrabel dismissed such calls this week, but there will almost certainly be extra eyes on every mistake he makes in 2026.
Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images
The Patriots offensive line wasn't exactly a wall in 2025 either. Maye took over 45 sacks, going down on more than eight-percent of his dropbacks.
Campbell should be a big part of his future and should perform better in 2026 and beyond. But if the Patriots get a performance like that in a similar big spot, the calls for change will only get louder.