Seahawks take on Super Bowl LX against Drake Maye and Patriots.

Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks have won their second Super Bowl title. 29-13 Dismantling the New England Patriots and they did everything the way they’ve done everything this year. Led by a defense and special teams team, they had a quarterback no one believed in and a 38-year-old second-year head coach who was still a mystery to most people outside the building.

“Keep loose and focus” – that has been Mike Macdonald’s motto since he took office. The Seahawks put those words into practice until Sunday night.

we love each other We are constantly joking around and never take ourselves too seriously. But if you hear the whistle and it’s between the white lines, it’s serious. If there is work to be done, we go to work.

This quote comes from Seahawks safety Julian Love. His name could not be more perfect. He backed that up with one of two fourth-quarter interceptions against Patriots quarterback Drake Maye that sealed the win.

Seattle’s defense was absolutely dominant. Maye was sacked five times in each of New England’s first three playoff games, and the Seahawks went one better by getting him to play in the Super Bowl six times. The Chargers, Texans and Broncos have all made Maye uncomfortable, but Seattle has taken it to a whole other level.

The Patriots’ offense never got into any kind of rhythm. The Seahawks’ defensive front came in waves on Maye and dictated how the game was played from start to finish.

unselfish soccer

Byron Murphy leads the way with two sacks after recording seven in the regular season. But it’s the unlikely contributors who tell the real story here.

Derek Hall increased his regular season sack total by two more on Sunday. Fifth-round rookie Rylie Mills played in only four regular season games and didn’t win any of them. And cornerback Devon Witherspoon, who was constantly asked to run the offense, also got one.

The group knew they had to play the most unselfish game they had ever played. Someone was going to get the sack, it didn’t matter who.

Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde got his unit ready.

Witherspoon said she knows exactly what she got out of studying film. “Just by watching film and studying, we knew how their tackling would affect pass protection, and we know they are struggling this postseason,” he explained. “So we tried to attack them.”

Eight of the Patriots’ first nine possessions ended in punts. The other was a kneeling to end the first half. As the third quarter ended, New England 78 yards Total offense and as many first downs – 5 – as the Seahawks’ sacks.

McDonald’s Masterclass

This was a win for McDonald, who handles pressure as well as any other coach in the NFL. Love said the Seahawks were setting up new plays by Saturday, which is certainly not unusual.

“He’s going to have a game plan forever,” Seattle defensive lineman Leonard Williams said. “We’ll sometimes put a new play in on a Saturday morning. We’ll sometimes put a new play in at halftime on Sunday. DeMarcus Lawrence said you have to be Harvard-educated to play in this defense because you’re constantly learning new things. But I think we trust Mike and his genius and it’s working.”

The Seahawks shouldn’t be here, according to the preseason hype anyway. The Rams and 49ers have received all the attention as offensive powerhouses in the NFC West. It wasn’t until mid-December that Los Angeles was buzzing as a favorite to win the Super Bowl.

Did Seattle’s Week 16 comeback lead to a win over the Rams? It was dismissed as a whim, even though the Seahawks were in complete control of the NFC playoff race.

Sam Darnold has battled doubts all season. The Vikings let him walk in 2024 after posting a 14-3 record, and Seattle nabbed him as a free agent for $33.5 million per year. It’s a reasonable deal that now looks like highway robbery.

He proved everyone wrong with a huge performance in the NFC Championship Game against the Rams. Darnold struggled against New England’s aggressive defense on Sunday, but eventually threw a touchdown pass to AJ Barner in the fourth quarter to extend Seattle’s lead to one. 19-0.

I didn’t perform to my best ability today, but the team helped me. Our defense and special teams held us back, and we played the way we always play.

turning point

Kenneth Walker III is in a hurry. 135 yards on 27 carries. And he was named Super Bowl MVP. This was a well-deserved honor after shouldering the burden following Zach Charbonnet’s ACL injury in the divisional round against the 49ers.

“K-9s are special!” love said “To see how hard he worked and how much time he put in and to see him win Super Bowl MVP is just crazy.”

The score was only 12-0 late in the third quarter as Walker couldn’t punch in for a touchdown. But Hall’s fifth Seahawks sack of the game, his second, changed everything.

After hitting a 3 and 6 at her own 44, Maye fell back and, as had been the case all night, left no one open. Hall broke through and sacked him, forcing Maye’s seventh fumble of the season and his costliest. Murphy was knocked down at New England’s 37-yard line.

Five plays later, Darnold beat an all-out offense and found Barner wide open in the end zone for the first touchdown of the game.

“Just sticking to what we’ve done, what we’ve been doing all year,” Williams said. “We said to ourselves, ‘We have to be who we are, but we have to be who we are.’ And that’s what we’ve done. When you have people doing their part to the best of their ability, we’re unstoppable.”

Punter Michael Dickson is also worth mentioning. Seattle’s special teams have been very important all season, and Sunday was all about field position and field goals.

Culture Wins

It may not have been the prettiest Super Bowl, but to paraphrase the coach’s truly viral moment, the Seahawks didn’t care.

When the franchise wanted more money than Seattle was willing to offer, they traded their previous two starting quarterbacks and then turned to Darnold. They move on after 11 winning seasons in 12 years under legendary Super Bowl-winning coach Pete Carroll. Because they felt they needed new defensive ideas to keep up with the powerful offenses in their division.

The Seahawks believe in their culture, roster-building principles, and ability to scout talent in the draft. It was all on display Sunday.

So this was an affirmation for general manager John Schneider and his front office, which aggressively pursued McDonald two years ago. And it was validation for McDonald, a young defensive genius whose “loose and focused” mantra builds on what Carroll established but evolves it into something new.

McDonald told his team in the offseason that they were entering the first phase of a new program and “should be” the type of team capable of winning the biggest games.

A “loose and focused” approach is what they went for. That’s a phrase they constantly use around the building, where competitive shadowboxing took over the locker room at one point this season. Players use words like “love” and “brotherhood” when talking about how they united around McDonald’s message.

‘Loose and focused’ leadership is needed. Not every coach will like us standing on the sidelines or messing around in practice shadowboxing. But this employee and the leaders of this team understand that it’s okay for employees to call in on details when the horn is blown. You don’t need to control everything your players do every day.

The Seahawks just followed suit. 1 minute 35 seconds This entire postseason is the fifth-shortest for a Super Bowl champion since the 1970 merger. Teams that have never trailed during a championship include the 1991 Washington team, the 1977 Cowboys, the 1973 Dolphins, and the 1971 Cowboys.

Macdonald’s defensive expertise and culture-building were rewarded Sunday night with a Super Bowl title that validated everything about how the Seahawks operate. It’s been 12 years since they won a championship, but they’ve always remained competitive and never lost sight of who they are.

Even though it was the first Super Bowl appearance for most of the squad, they didn’t waver.

“I think that’s to our advantage this season,” McDonald said Wednesday. “We know that whenever we go through a new experience together, we have principles that we want to stick to, and they kind of guide how we operate and make decisions. At some point, we’re going to get distracted, and that’s okay, but it’s about how persistently we can center ourselves in the moment.”

The result is a moment that will forever live in franchise and NFL history.

Baggy. I was focused. champion.