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.
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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 time and wherewithal 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.
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Witherspoon | D-line | Walker
Dickson | Darnold
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 who 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 singlehandedly 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:
Devon Witherspoon’s blitz on third-and-9 forces a Drake Maye throwaway. The Patriots punt from the Seahawks side of the field with 7:23 to go in the first quarter and don’t make it back onto Seattle’s side of the field until the fourth quarter. pic.twitter.com/VJ5SK6nYiF
— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) February 9, 2026
There’s a lot happening here. Witherspoon (No. 21) looks like he’s covering DeMario Douglas (No. 3) in the slot, but as the play clock winds down, he turns into a blitzer. The Seahawks are showing what looks to be two-deep zone coverage, but those two safeties essentially end up matching to the two remaining receivers in man coverage. The Seahawks have loaded up the line of scrimmage and covered up the interior linemen, and the Patriots respond by having their five linemen block the five most dangerous rushers. Running back Rhamondre Stevenson is also in pass protection when his man comes, giving the Patriots six blockers for six potential rushers.
Crucially, left tackle Will Campbell (No. 66) is occupied by DeMarcus Lawrence (No. 0), so there is nobody to block Witherspoon’s blitz off the edge. The Seahawks also drop two defensive tackles into coverage, leaving the two guards with nobody to block and defenders in Maye’s throwing lanes if he wants to get rid of the ball quickly. Maye is hot off the left side, meaning he’s responsible for getting the ball out before Witherspoon gets home. He doesn’t have time or anywhere to go with the football, though, so Maye frantically scrambles and throws the ball away. The Patriots punt from inside Seahawks territory; they wouldn’t cross midfield again until the fourth quarter.
Witherspoon would get his sack on the next possession. Facing a third-and-15, the Patriots know that the left side of their line (and Campbell in particular) are vulnerable. The Seahawks bring three potential rushers to that side, and the Patriots keep Stevenson in to help block. But Seattle brings only two.
Seahawks dial up a blitz and CB Devon Witherspoon sacks Maye!
Super Bowl LX on NBC
Stream on @NFLPlus + Peacock pic.twitter.com/JHDpGoeTrq— NFL (@NFL) February 9, 2026
From the other side, though, Macdonald brings four rushers for three blockers. The Seahawks twist their interior linemen to occupy the center and right guard. They have Lawrence split way outside the tight end, forcing right tackle Morgan Moses to get on his horse to get outside and block him. Witherspoon loops inside, virtually untouched on the overload, for a sack. Maye has Hunter Henry on a checkdown, but even if he gets there, the Seahawks are going to be in position to rally and tackle him short of the sticks on third-and-forever.
In the third quarter, the Seahawks brought Witherspoon on a couple of sim pressures, where they only rushed four but brought a cornerback and dropped a lineman into coverage. Maye was instantly reactive to those pressures. On the first, he took several unnatural or atypical steps to his right and missed what should have been an easy slant to receiver Kayshon Boutte from an angle he probably hasn’t thrown from many times all season. On the second, he threw quickly into the flat for running back TreVeyon Henderson. That avoided a sack, but the throw was into a covered zone and picked up only 3 yards on second-and-10.
Maye hit a 7-yard out on the next Witherspoon blitz, but the sixth one put your Super Bowl party to bed. With Seattle up 21-7 and 4:37 to go, Macdonald had another exotic call left in the playbook. The Seahawks were showing a relatively safe look before the snap, but with the Patriots using tempo to attempt a quick score, Maye had time to only quickly declare a simple protection before the Seahawks were even fully set, with the Pats sliding four linemen to the left.
Devon Witherspoon brings the heat and Nwosu finishes the play 🔥
Super Bowl LX on NBC
Stream on @NFLPlus + Peacock pic.twitter.com/kvQIdjdPgs— NFL (@NFL) February 9, 2026
After the snap, the Seahawks completely shifted shape. Just two rushers came from the left side, as Boye Mafe dropped into coverage on Henry, while Nick Emmanwori came all the way across the formation to essentially bracket Stefon Diggs on the other side of the field, taking away Maye’s read and a potential quick completion over the middle. Both Ernest Jones IV and Witherspoon blitzed from the right side, leaving Maye with two blockers for three defenders. Stevenson took the one who had the shortest path to the quarterback in Jones, but Witherspoon was free to chase down Maye, who again had to get the ball out before he got home.
This time, he wasn’t fast enough to throw the ball away. Witherspoon missed out on a strip-sack, but Nwosu — who beat Moses and was in position to capitalize — was credited for an interception and took it to the house.
Repeatedly, Macdonald was able to dictate and predict what the Patriots would do in pass protection and then take advantage of what they showed in response. Doing that with an athlete of Witherspoon’s caliber as the pass rusher makes things infinitely more difficult for the opposing quarterback. A veteran passer might have been able to reset the protection quickly, notice that Witherspoon was coming a tick earlier before the snap or do a better job of getting the ball out quickly afterward. But given how under the radar the possibility of pressure from Witherspoon flew before the game, I’m not sure the Pats would have had a realistic response even with a more experienced quarterback.
Amid the blitz-happy first half and deep into the second half, Maye looked frazzled. His ball placement — which was so impressive during the regular season and even on big plays in the postseason — was inconsistent. He seemed to lock onto receivers and/or rush his passes out of fear that he wouldn’t have time to throw.
It didn’t always seem like the NFL MVP runner-up was on the same page with his receivers as they read coverages; Maye would expect a receiver to settle and he would continue to run, or vice versa. On one third-and-3 back-shoulder attempt, Boutte ended up a full yard out of bounds on the sideline before the ball even arrived, rendering a potential completion moot. Mack Hollins slipped out of his break when running a deep post, leading to a Maye throw that was nearly intercepted. (Hollins did a good job of breaking up the pass.) And later on that same drive, Maye stepped up and seemed to throw a ball between his two eligible receivers downfield, not really coming close to either. That time, Julian Love picked off Maye.
No blitz, no problem
The blitz was a fun part of the game plan, but even if the Seahawks had followed in the footsteps of Philadelphia Eagles DC Vic Fangio, who a year ago went the entire Super Bowl without sending extra men after the quarterback, they would have still given Maye fits. Per NFL Next Gen Stats, Maye was pressured nearly 48% of the time when the Seahawks rushed four or fewer. That’s the highest pressure rate posted while sending four or fewer rushers by any team in any game this postseason, topping the Texans’ pummeling of Aaron Rodgers in the wild-card round.
Everyone on the Pats’ O-line had their rough moments in pass protection, but the clear target for most of the night was Campbell. The rookie left tackle had endured a brutal stretch of elite pass rushers since returning from a late-season knee injury, allowing four sacks and 15 pressures through his first three playoff games, per NFL Next Gen Stats. There was no doubt that Macdonald was going to do whatever he could to isolate Campbell one-on-one against Lawrence and Seattle’s other pass rushers.
In Sunday’s loss, Campbell was credited with one sack allowed but gave up a whopping 14 pressures, the most I’ve seen for any player all season. Four of those were quick pressures, tying him with Seahawks rookie Grey Zabel for the highest total of the game. Some of Maye’s 28 pressures were on the quarterback himself, but Campbell simply couldn’t hold up in pass protection and didn’t have a great day with run blocking, either.
The Seahawks overpowered him with bull rushes and stronger, longer opponents. Lawrence fended off a Campbell block with one arm while stuffing Henderson at the line for no gain with his other. Derick Hall rode Campbell right back into Maye for the first sack of the night. That’s a 254-pound edge rusher bullying a 320-pound left tackle. That happens, but you rarely see what came up in the fourth quarter, when Hall did the same thing to Campbell with one arm as opposed to two.
It’s possible that Campbell was still battling the aftereffects of the MCL injury he suffered late in the season during what will go down as a dismal postseason. His performance on Sunday, though, seemed to affirm the predraft skeptics who suggested that the fourth overall pick didn’t have long enough arms to play left tackle at the pro level. Campbell has been an upgrade on the other left tackles the Patriots ran out last season in front of Maye, but there will be serious questions all offseason about whether he should be the long-term answer on Maye’s blind side.
Seattle has a deep, talented defensive line, but there was no Will Anderson Jr. or Nik Bonitto in this mix, the sort of edge rusher who goes completely supernova and can’t be blocked at his best. The backups were even eating. Rookie Seahawks defensive tackle Rylie Mills missed most of the season with a torn ACL and had played just one defensive snap across Seattle’s first two playoff games. Yet he bull-rushed Jared Wilson into Maye for a sack on one of his five snaps.
There are no great answers for dealing with a great defense when you have a jittery quarterback and an offensive line that can’t reliably stop a four-man rush. One way to alleviate the pressure is leaning on the run game, but the Pats were able to get only 42 yards on 13 carries from Stevenson and Henderson, without a single run of 10 yards or more. The Seahawks repeatedly used their second-level defenders — most often Drake Thomas — to run blitz into the B-gap and force the Patriots’ guards to react quickly. The tactic produced an early tackle for loss for Thomas and a couple of unblocked tackles for Ernest Jones when the Pats struggled to deal with the run blitzes.
0:41
Herm Edwards: The Seahawks’ defensive front took over the game
Herm Edwards says Seattle’s defensive front was too much for the Patriots to handle.
There were little adjustments from New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels that worked for a play here or there. The Patriots pitched the ball outside to get away from the B-gap run blitzes for a single 9-yard gain. They ran a jet sweep to Henderson to take advantage of an aggressive Seahawks defense and run past an unblocked defender on the end of the line. Maye had one quick out for a completion away from the Witherspoon blitz for a 7-yard gain.
In the big picture, though, the Patriots didn’t seem to pack the schematic choices that might have given the Seahawks problems or make many adjustments to make life easier for Maye as the game wore along.
Take the jumbo personnel grouping for example, where the Patriots used tackle Thayer Munford Jr. as a sixth offensive lineman. I noted in my preview that the Patriots used Munford on about 15 offensive snaps per game from Week 15 onward, both as an extra run blocker and a way to create explosives in the passing game. The Seahawks match just about everything with their nickel and dime defensive groupings, and the sixth lineman might have given the Patriots a way to physically overpower a smaller Seahawks linebacking corps.
In the first quarter, Munford came on the field for his first offensive snap of the game, and the Patriots went with play-action and hit Boutte for a 21-yard completion. He never saw the field on offense again. Munford was battling a knee injury in recent weeks, but he was off the injury report and did come back on the field in the fourth quarter to block on the lone Pats extra point of the day. If Munford was healthy enough to be active, it’s unclear why the Pats didn’t use that six-lineman grouping more often.
The Patriots didn’t take a single snap all game out of empty, where the Seahawks had struggled on defense during the regular season. Leaving Campbell one-on-one would have been a scary proposition, but they would have needed to trust Maye (who was second in QBR out of empty during the regular season) to get the ball out quickly, an easier task with five eligibles. Moving the launch point might have made life simpler, but Maye got outside the tackle box for only four pass attempts all game. There were also no trick plays from a coach who always seems to have one or two on his playsheet during a game in which New England desperately needed to create something out of nothing.
Adding an extra down could have helped, and the Pats tried flipping their tendencies in a modern way with no success. In the present-day NFL, third-and-5 can be a run down, given how comfortable teams have become with going for it on fourth-and-2 or less. So, the Pats checked into a third-and-5 run on their own 37-yard line … but then didn’t block defensive tackle Jarran Reed, who stuffed Stevenson for no gain. The Pats punted.
Throwing on third-and-1 is also a way to try to create an explosive play in a situation where the opposing team is selling out to stop the run, especially if you’re comfortable going for it on fourth-and-1 after an incompletion. The Pats took a downfield shot on third-and-1 in the third quarter from their own 41-yard line and had an open receiver, but Maye missed the throw. You can take that shot if you’re willing to try to convert on fourth down, but Vrabel punted, costing the Patriots 2.3 percentage points of win probability in the process.
I can understand why Vrabel didn’t trust his offense to get a yard, but given what the Seahawks had done to that point, punting and expecting his offense to drive the length of the field for a touchdown wasn’t going to be a very successful game plan, either.
Let’s talk about the MVP. In his final game before free agency, Walker had something like the quintessential version of what his era looked like in Seattle. I thought the commentary about what Walker couldn’t do during the game was a little harsh (especially for a guy who was about to win MVP), but to be fair, he did drop a pass and came up short on a pass block attempt that led to New England’s only sack of the game. Just eight of Walker’s 25 carries were successful by EPA (expected points added), producing a 29.6% success rate, a figure the Pats’ backs topped while averaging 3.2 yards per pop.
None of that mattered, of course, because Walker was an explosive play machine with the ball in his hands. He had five runs of 10 or more yards, including 29- and 30-yard runs on the same drive. He added a 20-yard catch on a screen pass. The fourth-year pro finished with 135 rushing yards and 26 receiving yards. For most of the day, he carried a Seahawks offense that wasn’t getting much from the passing game.
Walker was able to create much more than what was blocked on the day. The Patriots helped by struggling to set their edges, allowing Walker to break outside to get into the open field. He was able to pick up 30 yards behind a pulling Zabel in the first quarter; the rookie guard was able to fend off K’Lavon Chaisson, who couldn’t force the play back inside. Walker got to the corner and then ran through a Marcus Jones ankle tackle on the sideline for 20 extra yards.
Later in the same series, Walker ran behind center Jalen Sundell into a vacated gap for a big gain. He added more at the end of the run by going around Christian Gonzalez, who was stuck in no man’s land in the open field. Gonzalez saved a touchdown, but Walker put the Seahawks in range for one of their many field goals.
2:04
Sam Acho: Kenneth Walker ‘controlled’ the game
Sam Acho explains how Kenneth Walker III won Super Bowl LX MVP for the Seahawks.
We saw the league’s offensive evolution play out in miniature form during the second half. The Patriots started to lean into a 6-1 front to try to take away the zone runs and dare the Seahawks into passing, just as they did against the Rams in Super Bowl LIII, sparking the run-game evolution I wrote about in my preview. On the next series after the Pats showed that six-man front, Seahawks offensive coordinator (and future Raiders head coach) Klint Kubiak ran them out of it by calling one of the concepts that those offenses leaned further into as a response to six-man fronts: The Seahawks dialed up a pin/pull sweep, and Walker picked up 14 yards.
The repeated focus on Walker’s patience hitting the hole invited comparisons to another excellent back of the past in Le’Veon Bell. Some of that is schematic as opposed to stylistic; the Steelers’ favorite play with Bell was a counter run that took time to develop. Likewise, the Seahawks run plenty of duo with Walker, when he is essentially trying to get one-on-one with the opposing linebacker and steer him into blocking or make him miss. Zone runs have the running back on the move from the jump and have him make one quick cut upfield.
Of course, Bell’s performance after leaving the Steelers might be a cautionary tale for teams who eyed what Walker did in this game. Bell averaged just 3.3 yards per carry away from Pittsburgh, spending most of that time mired with a moribund Jets offense and a quarterback (Sam Darnold) who nobody ever heard from again. It’s easy to be patient when you have a good run-blocking line and an offense that scares teams with the pass. And Bell was a much better receiver than Walker.
At the same time, this is a league desperate to find players who can create explosive plays against defenses that are selling out to stop them. That’s why speedy, underwhelming wide receivers like Dyami Brown and Tutu Atwell landed one-year, $10 million deals in free agency last offseason. Walker would probably be looking for a deal in the $12 million range, which is essentially in line with what those replacement-level wideouts were getting last season. He’s a better player than either.
This was a disjointed Super Bowl on offense, where neither team was reliably moving the ball for steady chunks of yardage. The only way to get in scoring range before the turnovers came was by producing explosive plays. Through three quarters, there were seven of those plays, and six of them were by Seattle. Walker was responsible for three of those six. Having a player like that in your pocket can be really useful, even if he’s running a middling success rate or dropping the occasional pass. Whether he re-signs in Seattle or heads somewhere else, Walker will have a market as a playmaker this offseason.
Big boots
While they weren’t needed to decide a close contest, Seattle’s special teams showed up again in a big game. In the NFC West-deciding win over the Rams in December, it was Rashid Shaheed‘s punt return touchdown that helped spur a fourth-quarter comeback. The rematch in the NFC title game was likely decided by the second muffed punt from Rams returner Xavier Smith, which the Seahawks recovered for a short field and a quick touchdown.
The return men on both sides were quiet on Sunday, but Seattle’s specialists played a critical role. Jason Myers didn’t have any particularly difficult kicks, given that each of his seven attempts were within 41 yards, but the veteran kicker went 5-for-5 on field goal tries and hit both of his extra point attempts. The Seahawks went 1-for-4 in the red zone against one of the league’s worst red zone defenses from the regular season, so those field goals were valuable points before the Seahawks broke things open late.
The real star on special teams was punter Michael Dickson, who probably belonged right behind Walker and Witherspoon in the MVP discussion. Dickson punted seven times in this game, and in concert with an excellent Seahawks coverage unit, he yielded just 4 return yards to star Pats returner Marcus Jones. Dickson dropped three punts inside New England’s 6-yard line and averaged 47.3 net yards per punt.
While the Seahawks controlled this game, they weren’t always in great field position shape. With the offense struggling for consistency, Seattle had four of its first nine drives stall out inside its own 30-yard line. Dickson’s punts prevented the Patriots from starting in a situation where one explosive play would have been enough to get into field goal range. And with the Patriots failing to pick up more than two first downs on any of their first 13 possessions, the Seahawks weren’t in danger for most of the day because of Dickson’s fourth-down contributions.
Most Super Bowl recaps don’t get this far in without discussing the quarterback of the winning team, but Darnold wasn’t the in-game story. The Patriots clearly wanted to put the game on Darnold’s shoulders, as they tried to jump just about every throw early and blitzed the journeyman quarterback nearly 57% of the time.
Darnold should be credited under those circumstances for protecting the football. He didn’t turn it over against a desperate Patriots defense — meaning he went four critical games (two against the 49ers, one against the Rams and here in the Super Bowl) without any turnovers. It’s just the second time in Darnold’s career that he has started four consecutive games in a single season without turning the ball over at least once, and he pulled it off during his most important stretch ever.
It’s also realistic to note that Darnold missed a bunch of throws in this game, though. He had Jaxon Smith-Njigba for what could have been a long touchdown on a scramble drill in the first quarter, only to overthrow the star wide receiver by a couple of yards. And when Smith-Njigba beat Gonzalez for what should have been a TD pass on a post at the end of the first half, Darnold’s throw was behind him and gave Gonzalez a chance to break up the throw. (Gonzalez had a great game, but Darnold let him off the hook here.)
The Patriots showed Darnold Cover 0 (man coverage with no safety help) in key spots in the second half and lived to tell the tale. Facing a third-and-9 just outside the red zone, Darnold had Cooper Kupp open on an out against the blitz for what should have been a first down, but he missed his throw outside against a hot rusher. The most painful one might have been on the next possession, when Shaheed ran past Carlton Davis III in Cover 0 and was open for a potential 59-yard touchdown. Darnold overthrew him by a yard.
Instead, Darnold added value in unexpected ways. Maye’s ability to impact games with his legs was a story heading into the Super Bowl, but Darnold was much more valuable in the game we actually saw. He repeatedly managed to elude Patriots sack attempts, tormenting Milton Williams, who had an excellent game but managed only one QB takedown. Darnold was able to turn plays that should have been sacks into throwaways or short completions. He nearly did a Lamar Jackson impression on that scramble-drill overthrow in the first quarter, and he even added an 11-yard scramble for a first down after running away from Williams as the New England defensive tackle rumbled through the A-gap.
Darnold finished the day with a 53.0 Total QBR, which felt about right to me. And while he had long stretches during the regular season as both the best quarterback in football and one of the worst, if we include his postseason performance, Darnold finished the season 13th in Total QBR. That also feels fair. Darnold had a long run where he was really valuable by generating gobs of explosive plays — even while racking up turnovers. In the postseason, he was mostly providing value by protecting the football. The exception was the NFC Championship Game against the Rams, where the Seahawks needed a big passing day from their quarterback and got one.
There has been plenty written about Darnold and everything that has happened to him over the past 12 months. Like last season with the Vikings, there has probably been a little too much of a focus on him as the quarterback of a slightly above-average offense when the driving force for his teams have been what they’ve done on defense. At the same time, well, ask the Vikings if they miss having Darnold around.
0:50
Sam Darnold calls Seahawks ‘special’ after Super Bowl win
Seahawks QB Sam Darnold discusses the team’s offensive balance as a key to their success.
The Seahawks didn’t win the Super Bowl because they had Darnold. But they wouldn’t have been in the Super Bowl if it weren’t for Darnold, who balled out during the first half of the season as the running game struggled to get going. He came through in the fourth quarter and overtime against the Rams to help the Seahawks claim the top spot in the NFC, and he was brilliant in the rematch to knock the Rams out in the rubber match two weeks ago, overcoming the one team that seemed to solve Seattle’s dominant defense.
Darnold answered the bell when the Seahawks needed him most. That’s a good teammate and an essential part of any Super Bowl team. For a quarterback who was branded as a bust through hopeless situations with the Jets and Panthers, Darnold is going to be a generational reminder to not count quarterbacks out before they end up in the right place. And after Darnold has started games for four different organizations in four years, I suspect he has done enough to be back starting for the Seahawks as they raise their second Super Bowl banner to the rafters in 2026.