New England Patriots rookie Will Campbell had his skills tested at every turn this postseason. The elite defenses of the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans got the better of him multiple times in the last two games, something he’s not proud of. As the Patriots eye a Super Bowl ticket on Sunday, veteran NFL analyst Greg Cosell has sounded the alarm for Coach Vrabel, exposing key vulnerabilities in his position.

“Will Campbell in the two playoff games has been unable to pass protect one-on-one,” Cossell said on the Ross Tucker Podcast on Friday. “The Patriots know that; they’ve been helping him. He has struggled against different types of players.

“He struggled against both [Khalil] Mack and [Odafe] Oweh against the Chargers; he clearly struggled this week against Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter, and now he’s gonna get [Nik Bonitto], who’s a little different, but Bonitto is pretty good,” Cossell added.

The struggles were quite visible. Against Texans DE Will Anderson Jr. last week, Will Campbell gave up a team-high two sacks and four pressures, finishing with a 16.5 pass-blocking grade from PFF. Both strip sacks on Drake Maye came off the left side. Campbell did manage to recover two of those fumbles, but the damage had already been done.

However, the Patriots’ offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels believes young players like Will Campbell are bound to fmake mistakes and only from these setbacks they usually develop.

“It’s never a straight line,” McDaniels told reporters on Thursday. “I think Will’s—we have a lot of young players that are playing, and they’re a lot. I think there’s a lot that’s been learned over the last two games by a lot of people, and that’s a good thing. You’re never going to go into the playoffs as a young player and just dominate your matchup the entire time. That’s really difficult to imagine.”

The fans, on the other hand, have now started revisiting pre-draft evaluations that suggested Will Campbell might be better suited at left guard rather than on the edge.

Right now, his play isn’t doing much to quiet that debate. One week earlier, during the Wild Card rouund, he had similar issues against the Chargers’ pass rushers, giving up a sack and five pressures.

Campbell was quite unhappy after the game and vented his frustration while speaking to the reporters post game. He vowed to bounce back against the Texans but that too ended up being a disaster.

Now comes the biggest test yet. Entering Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Denver Broncos, Campbell is facing another aggressive front, led by edge rusher Nik Bonitto and defensive tackle Zach Allen.

Campbell ranks last among postseason starting tackles in PFF pass-blocking grade, giving up five sacks and seven penalties across 782 snaps. This trajectory will not help the team win against the Broncos as he likes to call it “the biggest challenge yet.” However, he has the backing of his quarterback despite all the postseason fumbles.

Drake Maye has full faith in his OL for the AFC Championship game

The Patriots quarterback understands that blaming his rookie for the offense’s shortcomings won’t help. It wasn’t just Campbell; the rest of the offensive line also failed to stop Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter, leading to a combined five sacks.

It wasn’t a one-off. The New England Patriots have surrendered 10 sacks over two playoff games, and Drake Maye has fumbled the ball six times in that span. Even so, the quarterback hasn’t turned on the group in front of him.

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“I think one of the biggest things with the guys up front is it’s my job to have a timer in my head, and those guys have done a great job all year,” Maye said. “So, I haven’t lost trust in those guys up front, and I know that we faced some pretty good edge rushers in the past couple weeks.”

In reality, the offensive line remains the lingering concern, with 10 sacks allowed in two playoff games. Over the season, they’ve given up 57 sacks in 19 games.

The Texans finished second in the league in pressure rate this season. Denver was right behind them at third. And it’s not just Nik Bonitto causing problems. Jonathon Cooper, John Franklin-Myers, and Zach Allen have all been productive, finishing the regular season with eight, 7.5, and seven sacks, respectively.

“Take care of the ball. Don’t let the quarterback get hit,” head coach Mike Vrabel said last week when asked what needed to improve.

It’s not a very hard assessment. There aren’t many glaring issues with this Patriots team right now. If they can clean this up, the idea of a Super Bowl title would be in their reach.