Super Bowl: Seattle v Pats

It would also be nice if a boatload of Seahawk players demanded more money, now.

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The Riley Mills sack. At about the 1:40 mark of the vid.

It was Aaron Donald-like.

Or else the Pats Oline is horrendous.

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Seattle’s defense looks absurdly-fast. They hit hard, but its mainly the speed that stands out when you watch them. And they are always in the right spot. Each player the perfect distance from his team-mates. Playing like one organism.

And Stafford, McVay and the Rams offense torches them regularly.

The NFC Championship in Seattle, really was the ‘super bowl.’

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17:10 mark of the Rodrigue vid above. Jourdan Rodrigue “costs the Rams the Super Bowl”.

She did a show and Mike MacDonald ‘took notes’ on it and learned stuff…

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The impressive thing about the Seahawk defense this year (and the Eagles last year) is it was done in this era where the rule changes all favor the offense. I mean this is not the era of Doomsday Defenses or Steel Curtains or Fearsome Foursomes or Purple Gangs or Gang-Greens.

Last year the Chiefs Oline looked overmatched. Pats Oline looked overmatched this year.

Maybe the Oline is important in foot ball.

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Jalen Hurtz and Sam Darnold have won the last two Rings. The PFF boys were noting that you dont need a Mahomes or Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow to win a Super Bowl. You need a complete team.

The Rams are awfully close to being a complete team. A couple guys in the secondary. A reliable return guy on special teams.

Seattle, LA, and the 49ers just might be the three most complete teams in the NFL next year.

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Barnwell’s post-super bowl article:
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/47871743/seahawks-win-super-bowl-patriots-2026-recap-barnwell-defense-walker-darnold

Super Bowl LX: How the Seahawks shut down the Patriots

NFL teams with young players in key positions dread the unexpected. With two weeks of preparation between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl, veteran coaching staffs like the one in New England are going to be able to break down tape and prepare second-year quarterback Drake Maye for everything the Seahawks have shown on film, especially from their past few weeks of football. I have no doubt that Maye and his offensive brain trust had answers for what they expected from the Seahawks on Sunday, but knowing what the Seahawks are going to do and beating it are two separate things.

Just when Maye thought he had the answers, Seattle coach Mike Macdonald changed the questions. The Seahawks brought a devastating wrinkle into their defensive game plan. And while Seattle probably would have been good enough to win the game without it, the unexpected look saved for the biggest game of the year tormented the Patriots, producing chaotic moments for New England’s offense before topping things off with a defensive touchdown.

A more experienced quarterback or one with better protection might have had the wherewithal and time to adapt quickly. Maye did not, and the Patriots were flummoxed by something the Seahawks hadn’t shown on tape in nearly two months. The end result: Seahawks 29, Patriots 13. Let’s make sense of what happened in Super Bowl LX.

The Witherspoon pressure wrinkle

I have no problems with Seattle running back Kenneth Walker III winning MVP in this game, but I would have been happier to see Devon Witherspoon take home the hardware for what he did on defense. The Seahawks cornerback was excellent in coverage and made a number of splash plays, including the one that helped create Seattle’s game-sealing defensive touchdown in the second half.

To get there, Macdonald broke with an established tendency and showed the Patriots something they either weren’t expecting or severely underestimated. During the regular season, the Seahawks blitzed only 20.7% of the time, the fifth-lowest rate in the NFL. On Sunday, that number actually dropped to 15.1% — but it was heavily split by half. Macdonald blitzed Maye 33.3% of the time in the first half before dialing it back and sending extra rushers just 8% of the time after the break.

What’s more important than the general blitz rate, though, is which player the Seahawks sent after the quarterback. Witherspoon is an excellent blitzer and physical force around the line of scrimmage, but Macdonald had held off on using him to get after the quarterback. The third-year pro had rushed the quarterback just 33 times across 12 regular-season games. More recently, Witherspoon hadn’t been sent on a single blitz in Seattle’s past four games, covering the final two regular-season contests and Seattle’s wins over the 49ers and Rams in the postseason.

In the Super Bowl, though, Witherspoon rushed Maye seven times, with one being wiped out by an offside penalty on a teammate. His other six pass-rush snaps produced one sack and what was really a strip sack on a second, only for the ball to stay in the air as it flew into the hands of Uchenna Nwosu for what went down as a pick-six. Those pressures didn’t single-handedly win Seattle the game, but they created big plays and seemingly got into Maye’s head for the entirety of the contest.

Let’s start with the first Witherspoon blitz of the game. The Patriots were facing a third-and-9 in the first quarter from the Seattle 44-yard line. Even a few yards here might put the Pats in position to attempt a long field goal. Macdonald was incentivized to produce a negative play or an outright stop to force a punt, and the Seattle coach dialed up one of the more exotic pressures the Seahawks have shown all season:… see link for rest of article

This guy is just-plain-likeable. I’m sorry.

Barnwell, Golic

Ernest called Puka a ‘goofy ass’ ?