Sunday Rundown: Super Bowl LX halftime notes

Sunday Rundown recaps the most important developments from the day's action and examines their significance moving forward.

Halftime notes ✍️

Walker taking over

Seattle's run game hasn't been particularly efficient this year, finishing the regular season with a bottom-five success rate, according to TruMedia. Those numbers ticked up down the stretch, though, and it sure seems like the Seahawks have found an ideal way to attack a suffocating Patriots run defense on the biggest stage.

The solution? Get Kenneth Walker on the perimeter. There's been plenty of space to run when Seattle stays away from Milton Williams and Christian Barmore, New England's elite defensive tackle tandem. Walker racked up 94 yards on his 14 carries, including a long of 30 yards, to set up a key second-quarter field goal.

Seahawks' D overwhelming

Whether it's a standard rush or a more exotic third-down blitz package, the Patriots haven't had any answers for the pressures Mike Macdonald is sending their way. Seattle is putting Drake Maye under duress on 46.7% of dropbacks, according to SumerSports, and the Patriots quarterback took three critical sacks in the first half.

It's been a recurring theme for New England throughout the playoffs. Maye is now just two sacks away from breaking Joe Burrow's dubious record for a single postseason (19).

Protection schemes are part of the issue in this matchup, as Seattle is regularly finding a way to get a free rusher in the backfield. But the young left side of the offensive line is again struggling to hold its own in one-on-one matchups. First-round tackle Will Campbell got walked into the backfield by Derick Hall for an early sack, and he put the offense in a tough spot with a third-down false start late in the second quarter.

Patriots' defense hanging in

Getting shut out in the first half of the Super Bowl certainly isn't ideal. And the Seahawks might be the last team you want to be playing from behind against. But the Patriots' defense is doing a good job of keeping this game within reach.

The key has been an unfathomable blitz rate. New England had already ramped up the pressure packages of late, blitzing at a 39.8% clip across the first three playoff games after posting a 27.2% mark in the regular season. The first two quarters of this game have seen those efforts reach even greater heights, with the Patriots' blitz rate up to 59.1%.

Sam Darnold has avoided any critical mistakes in the face of pressure thus far, but there have been some close calls. Desperately in need of a game-changing play, the Patriots may have to turn up the heat even more in the second half.

A boring Super Bowl?

Super Bowl parties everywhere are probably groaning about how bad this game has been. There's a good chance you're hearing chatter drawing comparisons to the low-scoring Patriots-Rams affair from the end of the 2018 season.

I say: don't let the negativity creep in. While it would be nice to see some fireworks, defense is cool, too. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better example of aggressive play-calling putting opponents in a blender. It just so happens that it's the units tasked with scoring points that are struggling to weather the storm.

Dan Wilkins is theScore's senior NFL writer.