SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Welcome to the Friday Five, Super Bowl edition!

For the final time this season, I have five team-related thoughts on a Friday to recap the week that was and look ahead to kickoff Sunday.

Ready, set, football.

1. Pressure, pressure, pressure

Between the Patriots’ rampant blitzing and a suffocating Seahawks defense, Drake Maye and Sam Darnold are guaranteed to find themselves under duress Sunday.

So, what happens next?

Will Darnold turn the ball over at a dangerously high rate, like he has most of his career? Will Maye melt and take sacks, as he has more often than not done this postseason?

Those answers should decide Super Bowl LX.

The Patriots simply cannot survive a poor Maye game versus a stacked Seahawks defense ranked No. 1 versus the run and pass by DVOA. Conversely, Darnold turnovers will light the most direct path to a Patriots upset. Of Darnold’s 14 interceptions and dozen fumbles this season, more than half have come when under pressure. No quarterback in the league threw more pressured picks than him.

If the Pats can hit or hurry Darnold, that may be enough to yield an outcome as good as, if not better than, a sack. He turned the ball over in all Seattle losses this season, totaling six in all. Look for the Patriots to target right guard Anthony Bradford, the weak link in the Seahawks’ pass protection, with stunts and blitzes.

Meanwhile, Maye’s pressure-to-sack ratio — a telling measure of how quickly a quarterback is getting rid of the ball to avoid making bad situations worse — bears watching.

Despite his plus mobility, Maye took sacks at the second-highest rate of any starting quarterback this year when pressured. In the Patriots’ three losses, he went down 12 times. While the Seahawks do not blitz often, they do generate pressure at the seventh-highest rate in the league at 40.6%.

Mirroring Bradford, Pats left guard Jared Wilson is the player Seattle will likely target with stunts; specifically by sending defensive tackles Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy II (123 pressures combined, per Pro Football Focus) across different interior gaps.

“(Stunts) will be a huge factor in the game,” Mike Vrabel said Thursday.” They’re pretty good at it. Not pretty good, they are really good at it. That’s a strength of what they do.”

Bottom line: if Maye goes down, so will the Patriots. But if he evades rushers to scramble or extend plays, they’ve got a better shot than people think.

2. To the Maxx

According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby wants to play for Vrabel.

Well, then. Let’s cut straight to it: will the Patriots trade for him?

That is up to the Raiders, who may not want to make Crosby available as their far-and-away best player. But there’s a great case for them to flip the veteran pass rusher for draft picks to fuel yet another rebuild. And there’s an even stronger argument for the Pats to push them in that direction.

Start here: the Pats have the cap space to absorb Crosby’s sizable contract with a projected $42.7 million in cap space for 2026, 11th-most in the NFL). They have the draft picks (11 total this year). And Crosby would be a hand-in-glove fit for Vrabel’s culture, something Vrabel is mindful of when targeting outside talent, especially high-priced veterans.

When the time comes, I expect the Patriots to seriously explore a Crosby trade this offseason. Again, that’s if he’s available. The Patriots have long seen their edge pass rush as an area of need, and while that group has outperformed expectations this postseason, any return to the Super Bowl is guaranteed to be a rockier road than this year’s path. Better stock up on as much premium talent at premium positions as possible, especially while Maye continues to play on his cost-controlled rookie deal.

And as someone who’s made five straight Pro Bowls while averaging nearly 11 sacks per year, Crosby is exactly that: a premium talent.

3. Diggs to Denver?

Before he signed with the Patriots last spring, Stefon Diggs revealed he nearly decided to become a Denver Bronco.

Why?

“I played against Sean Payton a lot. I’ve seen what his offense can do. So, that was the one thing,” he explained Wednesday. “And then a couple of people on the staff that I knew. (Quarterbacks coach) Davis Webb, I was familiar with. He helped me out a lot in Buffalo as far as learning the plays. …. That’s kind of how it ended up happening.

“And in weighing my options on what’s going to be the best, I also like coach Vrabes (Mike Vrabel). I had a little bit of interaction with him at the Pro Bowl and stuff like that. And they had a young quarterback. They both had young quarterbacks. When you weigh all the pros and cons, I felt the Patriots were probably going to be the best fit.”

Signing Diggs proved to be one of the best on-field moves the Pats made all offseason, between his production, leadership and value on a contract that pays him just $22.6 million guaranteed over three years. He’s often been cited as a culture driver for Vrabel, whom Diggs admitted earlier this year got him to buy in at a level he couldn’t explain.

Diggs, 32, still faces a felony charge of strangulation and a misdemeanor charge of assault stemming from an alleged domestic incident with his former personal chef. His arraignment was postponed to after the Super Bowl.

4. A Kuhrious inspiration

Blitz pressure has been one of, if not, the defining characteristic of the Patriots’ defensive resurgence.

Defensive play-caller Zak Kuhr has been unafraid to send extra rushers on all downs from all places. As a former offensive coach in the college ranks, Kuhr admitted his understanding of protection schemes has helped him attack them from a defensive point of view. On Wednesday, he also revealed an unlikely source of inspiration: longtime college defensive coordinator Todd Orlando.

“Todd Orlando had unbelievable stuff where they would line up, show (blitz), like, ‘Oh, there’s no way they can do that.’ And then they did it,’” Kuhr said. “Next thing you know, you’re holding the ball and like, boom — (the quarterback)’s smacked. Todd Orlando had some really, some really exciting pressures.”

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Orlando is currently the defensive coordinator at South Alabama. He made previous stops at Texas, USC, Houston and South Florida among other schools.

5. QB hoops

After reporting on the high-priced juice machine Maye bought and keeps in the Patriots’ quarterbacks room, one more nugget for you: there’s an adjustable basketball hoop in there, too.

Quarterbacks coach Ashton Grant originally dragged it in to some puzzling looks from players who doubted it would suit offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. However, McDaniels might be the one who shoots on it the most, chucking the two women’s basketballs Grant also brought for the room.

“Josh will come in four times a day, pick up a basketball, shoot 10 jump shots. He probably makes nine out of 10, talks a little s—, leaves and then goes back to his office,” Grant said.

“What’s funny is I’d heard a lot of stories about Josh before I got here, just about how much of a disciplinarian he is and how much he coaches guys hard, which he does. But I think there was a humanizing side to him that I don’t think that I was ready for. So I bought the basketball hoop for the quarterback room, and some guys were looking at me, like, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ And Josh is the one who uses it.”