Patriots offensive tackle Will Campbell had a noticeably terrible time during Super Bowl LX on Sunday, but his L's continued post-game, too, when, unlike the majority of his teammates, the first-year standout declined questions from reporters and left.
While we can all understand that decision on a human level (performing poorly in the biggest game of your nascent career is not exactly conducive to conversation), skipping out on media availability after the fact is still considered taboo for a professional athlete, especially when franchise stakeholders/fans are looking for some insight into what went wrong.
To Campbell's credit, however, he has since taken it on the chin and issued a mea culpa for the snub.
According to MassLive Patriots reporter Mark Daniels, the tackle on Tuesday apologized for not talking with reporters after the game, explaining that he wanted to get his head on straight before yapping into a mic.
"When I get emotional, I tend to have no mind, and that's not the way that I need to approach this thing," Campbell said, per Daniels's transcript. "I know myself, and if I would have spoken after, I would have said something that I didn't need to say. So, I slept on it, I watched it. I know what I got to get better at and move on."
Campbell also revealed that he wasn't 100% for the playoffs after tearing a ligament in his knee, although he made clear he didn't view that as an excuse. The 22-year-old missed time during the regular season with a Grade 3 MCL sprain, though he returned to action in Week 18; Tuesday's comments seemed to clarify the extent of that injury.
“It obviously wasn’t 100%,” he said of his knee. “I mean, I don’t think when you tear a ligament in your knee, it’s not going to be how it was before, but I was healthy enough to go. I’m not going to say that it held me back, but yeah, it wasn’t the same as it was before, obviously. But I was good.”
According to Next Gen Stats, Campbell—whose job is to protect quarterback Drake Maye—allowed a whopping 14 pressures during Sunday's contest, the most of any player in a single game for the entire 2025 season.
Of course, that is not to say that the loss falls on Campbell's shoulders; the Patriots' offense, lowlined by a poor performance from Maye, sputtered in all four quarters. But considering the expectations around Campbell, evidenced by his early draft selection, the Patriots will need to figure out how to get him into fighting and protecting shape by the start of next season.
Indeed, the belief is certainly there—Campbell was having a solid rookie year before his injury—but that won't be enough to satisfy critics. A big jump (or perhaps a shift to guard instead of tackle, which has been speculated but shut down by the Patriots) will be expected come the fall. And if Campbell makes good on that, we'd bet both his Super Bowl performance (and media faux pas) will ultimately be forgiven.
“I mean, it comes with the job when you don’t perform,” the OL said of the criticism, per MassLive. “Obviously, I was picked high, paid a lot, so people expect a certain thing, and I expect more myself. So, whenever I don’t perform, I don’t expect everyone to be like, ‘It’s okay, buddy.’ I mean, obviously it sucks, but it doesn’t suck for anyone more than it sucks for me."
More NFL on Sports Illustrated
- New Raiders Coach Klint Kubiak Addresses Maxx Crosby’s Future With Team
- Mike Vrabel Makes Stance Clear On Will Campbell Position Change
- Fab’s Five Way-Too-Early Fantasy Quarterback Sleepers For 2026
- Four David Njoku Landing Spots After TE Announces Intention to Test Free Agency
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Will Campbell Breaks Silence on Super Bowl Faux Pas, But How He Moves Forward Matters Most.
