The Seattle Seahawks are Super Bowl champions for the second time! On Feb. 8, the New England Patriots faced the Seahawks in Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California. The Seahawks won dominantly with a final score of 29-13. Interestingly, the Patriots are now 0-4 against the Seahawks since their win in Super Bowl XLIX.
The Seahawks absolutely shut down the Patriots’ offense, which ranked second in points per game during the regular season. MVP runner-up quarterback Drake Maye only threw for 60 yards in the first three quarters before he padded his stats in garbage time. Maye struggled immensely during the playoff run, ranking last in Total EPA (expected points added, a metric that measures how much a player contributes to scoring) for QBs who started at least three games in a single postseason since 2000.
The blame should not be placed entirely on Maye. The Seahawks’ defense, nicknamed the ‘Dark Side’, allowed the fewest points per game in the regular season and held opponents to an average of 3.7 yards per carry. That trend continued in this game, as both of the Pats’ running backs could not get anything going on the ground.
A story entering the game was the play of rookie left tackle Will Campbell, whose poor play in the previous two playoff games has been a huge talking point. Unfortunately for Pats fans, it continued, as Campbell gave up an insane 14 pressures, the most allowed by a player in a playoff game since 2018.
Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald, who became the first defensive play caller to win a Super Bowl, also deserves a ton of praise for the defensive game he called. Throughout the game, he called timely blitzes and made Maye live under pressure. Defensive linemen Derick Hall and Byron Murphy II both had a pair of sacks, with rookie Rylie Mills also picking up his first career sack.
The star of the defense was Devon Witherspoon. Not only was the third-year cornerback lockdown in coverage, but he was also instrumental in the pass rush, getting a sack in the first quarter and laying the hit on Maye that caused an errant pass to be intercepted by Uchenna Nwosu and returned for a score. Witherspoon made a great case for MVP of the game.
The honor, however, went to running back Kenneth Walker III. While Sam Darnold was nowhere near bad, the Patriots’ secondary did a great job at forcing tight-window throws and making him move off his spot. Cornerback Christian Gonzalez most likely would have been the MVP if the Patriots pulled off the win, breaking up multiple touchdown passes.
With the offense struggling through the air, the Seahawks leaned heavily on Walker and the ground game. When his partner in crime, Zach Charbonnet, went down with a torn ACL, Walker took on the bull load of the carries and thrived. He finished with a game-high 135 rushing yards along with two catches for 26 yards.
The halftime show was performed by the talented Bad Bunny. The stadium was turned into a sugarcane field, with multiple smaller sets inside. Throughout the performance, Bad Bunny showed and celebrated the culture and daily lives of Latin communities. Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin appeared as guest performers. Gaga performed a salsa-style version of Die With a Smile, while Martin covered Bad Bunny’s Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii.
Bad Bunny closed the show by listing countries across the Americas while holding a football emblazoned with the message “Together We Are America.” The titantron displayed the message, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.” The performance emphasized unity and shared identity during a time of national division.
