The 5 best NFL player matchups to watch during Super Bowl 60
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba takes on Christian Gonzalez with everything at stake: Two 2023 first-round picks will square off on the league’s foremost stage.
- The Patriots‘ offensive line faces a tough test against the Seahawks: Leonard Williams clashes with Mike Onwenu, while DeMarcus Lawrence should do battle regularly with Morgan Moses.
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What made the NFL’s conference championships so exciting is true of every fresh slate of action: Watching individual player matchups. The ability to analyze some of the NFL’s brightest and most burgeoning stars clash with one another nearly every snap shouldn’t be taken for granted.
Indeed, while one play can alter an entire game flow, the victor of conference championship’s top individual wars swayed the arrow of victory in their team’s direction. Consider Will Campbell allowing only one pressure against Nik Bonitto in the Patriots’ victory.
After 21 weeks of action, we’ve arrived at the finale of this series — and it’s only fitting that it comes on the grandest stage. As Super Bowl 60 gets underway in Santa Clara, focus on these five head-to-head matchups.
While there are lots of notable individual showdowns in Super Bowl 60, none is bigger or better than this clash between two ascending greats at their respective positions.
In the playoffs, Smith-Njigba has picked up where he left off in the regular season. Across two games, the Offensive Player of the Year has registered a 91.1 PFF receiving grade with 3.13 yards per route run, 10 first downs gained and an almost incomprehensible 151.0 passer rating when targeted.
Gonzalez was a bit inconsistent in the regular season as he battled injury, but he’s been especially stout in the postseason. The Patriots stud has played to a 78.0 PFF coverage grade in three showings, allowing only 10 of his 25 targets to be caught on an exceptional 39.6 passer rating when targeted.
Even when the calendar pivoted to mid-January, New England didn’t adjust much of its defensive philosophy, deploying man coverage on 30% of its postseason snaps thus far — the fourth-highest mark of any playoff team. That means that these two 2023 first-round picks should go to war for much of Sunday night. In fact, it wouldn’t come as a shock if Gonzalez outright shadowed Smith-Njigba.
Smith-Njigba vs. Gonzalez will command most of the spotlight, but this matchup between a star veteran and an all-world rookie is also tremendous.
After an outstanding regular season, Diggs has mostly been a non-factor in the playoffs. Through New England’s three contests, Diggs has produced only a 59.8 PFF receiving grade with 0.88 yards per route run and three first downs. For context, he ranked among the top 10 qualified receivers in the regular season in each of those metrics.
Emmanwori has continued to gain momentum throughout the year, and has now become an indispensable part of Seattle’s fantastic defense. The second-round pick hasn’t hit any type of rookie wall, earning a 77.9 overall PFF grade with a 75.4 PFF coverage grade in the playoffs. Emmanwori stole the show against the Rams two weeks ago with an 89.9 coverage mark, forcing three pass breakups in the process.
If the Patriots want to prevail as underdogs, they’ll need Diggs to have a more focal presence in the team’s passing attack. But with the long, athletic Emmanwori lurking, Diggs’ gauntlet of great slot corners opposed in the playoffs won’t get any easier — even if the rookie is battling an ankle sprain.
Both the Seahawks and Patriots feature a mix of touted rookies as well as accomplished veterans along their offensive lines. Here, the latter will be on display on the inside.
Williams has been as disruptive as ever with Seattle this season, ranking third among interior defenders in pressures (66) and tied for 15th in pass-rush win rate (12.2%). In two playoff games, he’s found a way to turn things up a notch with eight pressures, a 15% pass-rush win rate and a 69.2% PFF pass-rush grade.
Meanwhile, Onwenu was the lone returner on New England’s revamped offensive line, and he’s remained a rock-solid right guard. The 28-year-old’s 76.8 overall PFF grade is the eighth-best among qualified guards, and pass protection has been his specialty with a 78.9 PFF pass-blocking grade. Along those lines, Onwenu has permitted only two pressures across 103 playoff pass-blocking snaps.
Williams has split his time between gaps, but he’s played more snaps (394 vs. 315) lined up in front of the right guard. He and Onwenu should enjoy a spirited showdown for 60 minutes in Santa Clara.
The trend of a great, experienced player against a newcomer earning their chops will continue when Williams takes on Zabel over the left side of Seattle’s interior offensive line.
Williams has proven that he’s worth the $104 million contract that New England granted him this offseason, racking up 53 pressures on a 75.5 PFF pass-rush grade. Likewise, his 17 pressures are the most of any interior defender in the playoffs, and his 18.8% postseason pass-rush win rate paces all qualified defenders.
On the other hand, Zabel started his rookie season slowly but now looks like a sage guard. Since Week 17, Zabel leads all qualified guards in overall PFF grade (87.6), yielding just four pressures in that span. That includes handling stiff competition in the Rams’ Kobie Turner in the NFC Championship Game.
Williams almost single-handedly took over Super Bowl 59 with the Eagles last season, tallying four pressures, two sacks and a 92.6 pass-rushing grade against the Chiefs. It’ll be up to the first-rounder Zabel to make sure the Patriot doesn’t have an encore — and become a back-to-back champion.
The Seahawks’ incredibly deep defensive line poses a headache for pretty much every offensive line it faces, including the Patriots’. In Super Bowl 60, the best matchup on the outside figures to occur between Lawrence and Moses.
Lawrence joined Seattle as an accomplished player looking to rebound, and he’s done just that. The former Cowboy has recorded an 83.5 overall PFF grade with an 83.6 PFF run-defense grade and 61 total pressures. He’s been nearly unstoppable during the Seahawks’ Super Bowl run with nine pressures and a 14.0% pass-rush win rate, which climbs to 21.9% on true pass sets.
Moses can fly under the radar among Patriots additions, but he’s been exactly what New England needed to stabilize its right tackle position. Indeed, the ex-Jet has earned a 76.2 overall PFF grade with a 79.5 PFF run-blocking mark. Although Moses has been slightly worse in pass protection with 31 pressures given up, only two have been converted into sacks — with one coming against the Broncos in the AFC title game.
Lawrence does rotate his alignment, which means we could see the Seahawks stud take on first-round rookie Will Campbell. However, 43% of Lawrence’s snaps have come positioned against right tackles compared to 29.7% on the opposite side. Consequently, these two veterans should see plenty of each other — with their results on both pass and run snaps bearing major ramifications for who hoists the Lombardi Trophy.
