The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Super Bowl LX Recap: Seahawks ride dominant defense to 29-13 win over Patriots, franchise's second title

Episode Date: February 9, 2026

Any short list of the best stories in the NFL this season would have to include the Seattle Seahawks' dominant defense, Sam Darnold's full redemption, and Seattle's ceaseless climb to the top of the league. So it was perhaps fitting that all three of those stories came together on Super Bowl Sunday, resulting in another Lombardi Trophy making its way to the Pacific Northwest. Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman recap the Seahawks' 29-13 win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX live from Levi's Stadium on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.Connect with The Athletic Football ShowBuy our merch! http://theathletic.lnk.to/tafsmerchYT: https://www.youtube.com/@TAFootballShowPodcasts: https://podfollow.com/the-athletic-football-show/viewX: https://x.com/TA_FootballShowIG: https://www.instagram.com/tafootballshowTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tafootballshowDiscord: http://discord.gg/theathleticfootballshowCall us: 847-448-0701Email us: [e-mail]: Robert MaysCo-Hosts: Derrik Klassen and Dave HelmanExecutive Producer: Michael BellerVideo Producer: Katy DuffyAudio Producer: Michael BellerSocial Producer: Scott KrinchFollow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.socialFollow Derrik on Bluesky: @qbklass.bsky.socialFollow Robert on X: @robertmaysFollow Derrik on X: @QBKlassTheme song: HauntedWritten by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love SongsCourtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the athletic football show. I'm Robert Mayes. I'm recording this on the concourse on the 200 level of Levi's Stadium. We just wrapped up our Super Bowl 60 recap. Just an ass kicking from the Seattle Seahawks. My God, they were the best team in the NFL, I think for most of this season. They were the best defense in the NFL for most of this season. And they really showed us that over the course of this game. Patriots had absolutely no answers. We saw the reasons that Mike McDonald and this group are really a truly special. team and unit overall. Big game from Kenneth Walker was about to get paid a lot of money and really just the type of performance from the Seattle Seahawks that we probably should have expected given what they were throughout this entire season. We dug into all of it. What we saw from Seattle, how they got to this moment, what this means from Mike McDonald and John Schneider, what was really special about that Seahawks defense and all the ways that we saw tonight. Dug into all of that with me, Derek Classen and Dave Hellman. So let's get to it right now. Coming to you guys live from Levi's Stadium after Super Bowl 60.

This is the athletic football show. Derek, I felt like the Seattle Seahawks were the best team in football for most of this season. I think they absolutely were that over the second half of the season. Coming into this game, I felt like they were the substantially better team. And I think they showed us that tonight, to say the least. There's kind of a comfort in them doing it in the exact way that we all thought they would, which is the defense chokes them out. You get a couple of good plays from the offense.

Kenneth Walker has a really big game. Obviously, he ends up winning. Super Bowl MVP, Kenneth Walker. Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker, which. By the way, imagine saying that as recently as like eight weeks ago. Yeah. He would do that. And so there was kind of a beautiful for such a weird season.

I mean, we talked about that a million times, right? For such a bizarre season, for the final game to end exactly how you thought it would is actually kind of a nice, like, comforting tone to end it on. The only thing missing from this performance was a truly explosive JSN play. Yeah. and for the Seahawks to do this without getting that. And J.S.N. left the game for a little bit. I think he was in concussion protocol.

Even before that happened. But the Patriots to limit him and limit the Seahawks passing game, Sam Darnold was under a fair amount of duress during the competitive portion of this game. For the Patriots to get all of that right and the Seahawks still authored a total beatdown. It's what a way to cap this thing off. and what a performance by this defense. I was worried about how the Patriots are going to move the ball in this game. I just didn't think they had that many pathways to do it,

considering what their offensive looked like in the playoffs and how dominant Seattle's defense was. Patriots did nothing offensively for their first three playoff games. And I know there was some weather involved, but now you're playing against arguably the best defense of all the ones you're going to see in the postseason, and they got dismantled. And obviously, the final box score is going to look a lot different than how the game felt. I looked at the stats for the first three quarters of the,

the game. For the first three quarters, Drake May was 8 of 18 for 60 yards, but the Patriots only had 21 passing yards because of all the sacks that you threw out. How many did he have by then? It was probably five, right? Five sacks. It was five sacks. It was eight of 18 for 21 passing yards he had 60 yards total. On a team level, the Patriots threw three quarters in this game. If you just want a sense of how dominant Seattle's defense was, negative.62 EPA per play, according to next gen by the Patriots, for some context. That is the 10th worst performance through three quarters of this entire season by any team, regular or postseason. Some of the other games involved here.

Jake Browning against the Vikings in week three, Max Brosmer against the Seahawks, J.J. McCarthy's terrible three quarters against the Bears in week one, a Raiders game against the Chiefs, Chardour Sanders against the Bears, the Dolphins week one blowout against the Colts and two Jets games. And it felt exactly like that, dude. It was an ass kicking. What worked for the Patriots today? I mean, absolutely nothing.

Remandre Stevenson takes a swing, slips of Julian Love tackle and picks up more yards than expected. It was Seahawks mistakes. Not tackling in space. The first two drives was the only good thing that happened. And Drake had a couple deep digs over the middle where he just made a great throw. The Mack Holland's touchdown was a great throw and a better catch. But it was either just like Herculean efforts or lucking into some shit. And everything else just had no chance from the word go.

They clearly didn't have pitches. didn't know what pitches they wanted to go to. I mean, like, they hit the, the early one to Ramandre Stevenson, where, you know, they got him out and empty, they reload him, they push him back out, and they kind of make a tough tackling angle for Julian Love, and he's not able to make it. And then it felt like for the next two or three drives, they just kept spamming these throws in the flat. They were like, oh, that one worked.

Maybe we can get another one. And they never really found anything that went for anything more than like three or four yards. There was, it just felt like they got stuck in that mud. And then in the second half, like, Trevion Henderson, they like just start spamming him, spamming him, spamming him. They had the reverse that they had. The jet handoffs, the truck.

Trayvon Henderson or you know you're grass and for straw That was immediately they were like man we do need explosives really bad and that felt like you're digging a little bit too at the bottom of the barrel this early in the game To build off what Robert said Drake May officially now even with garbage time Drake may among qualified passers has the highest quarterback pressure rate in a Super Bowl in the next gen era 52.8% I think of the like the benchmark for a quarterback being under duress recently in my brain is Mahomes against the Bucks in 2020.

He's 12 points higher than that. He ties Mahomes for the second most sex in a Super Bowl in history. I think part of the reason is that there were a lot of pressures in this game, but I think part of the reason that there were so many pressures in this game is that he was hanging onto the ball

for as long as he was. Overall, the Seahawks, let me tell him up right now. 35, 7, 8, 9, 10 quick pressures, which is a lot in a single game. But you just felt the pocket collapsing so often because there was nowhere to go with the ball. that was part of the problem.

And so when I look at the Seahawks dominance in this game, to me, it is a very real reflection of what makes the Seahawks truly like a perfect modern defense. They're going to play in all of those shells and all of those two high looks on early downs. The Patriots could not run the ball no matter what sort of looks Seattle was giving them. I think they had a 30% rushing success rate New England did in the first half, 29.2. And even that, like anecdotally felt like the first two drives. And then it kind of just died after that.

They did nothing. Yeah. And so other than that, on a lot of defined passing situations, especially early in the game, you felt where Mike McDonald can really cook with some of those blitzes. I mean, the first one, the Patriots first drive, the Seahawks are lined up, cover zero look, everyone's mugged up on the line of scrimmage. They're in dime. Em and Wari and Spoon come off the edges with both defensive tackles dropping, which he loves to do.

That's like Mike McDonald's favorite third down. He loves that pressure. And so they do that on the first third down of the game. The second third down of the game, third and 15 after two. negative plays for the Patriots, another funky pressure where spoon comes from depth through the B gap. And so you have the pressure stuff on third down that Mike

McDonald is really good at. And then they don't need to blitz all the time. Like the fact that so consistently, especially in the second half, they were just crushing the pocket and getting there with four, it's a real representation to me, this game and this performance from Seattle of what has made them so special. And I think that

we can use that as a jumping off point to just talk about how special this team really is and what they represent. You know, I think coming into the year, a lot of us believed there was like a trio of teams, in my opinion, like three or four teams. It was, to me, it was Seattle, Houston, Denver, maybe you throw like Minnesota in there. And I think the refrain that we kept coming back to in the offseason was, these are the teams that have a chance to be the best defense in the league.

I don't know who will be, but these are the teams that have a chance. And so I think we did have that level of collective enthusiasm for what Seattle's defense could be. And then they were even better than we ever could have imagined. and it's all that stuff I'm talking about, Dave, all those layers to it. But then you add in just the depth and variety and the quality of the personnel, and you get to a place where this is a very special defense, and they showed it in the biggest moment possible. The best part for me, and it's been all season long, right?

And we've said it all year. It just feels like there's 13, 14 guys on the field, and it feels like they go 18 or 19 deep in terms of guys that you're comfortable playing. I mean, Derek, we were talking about this before we went on. He did not win. Kenneth Walker had a phenomenal game. He had the big explosives in the first half helped out a lot. I would have voted for Derek Hall to win Super Bowl MVP if I had had a vote to have two sacks and the strip that really turned this into a laffer.

And he's like your four man rush, by the way. He's your third or fourth edge? Like you could say third if you wanted to be nice, but your fourth edge has that sort of game on top of. Byron Murphy delivering the way that you're used to him doing. And Devin Witherspoon was a freak in this game. But I did want to shout out. You mentioned that third and 15 sack early in the game. Josh Job.

I know he got away with kind of punching a guy here in the second half of game. But Josh Job was everywhere. And he makes a tackle for loss on Ramandre Stevenson that puts them in a third. They had two TFLs in a row. They had two negative plays to set up that third and 15 on the first drive. Your role players are setting up third and longs that are letting Mike McDonald do this devious shit. It is, it is incredibly fun to watch. And it's so impressive when, you know, you could go down. You list off like the six or seven stars. And they all played well. Don't get me

wrong. But like, you didn't get that vintage, like you didn't get that DeMarcus Lawrence game that we saw so many times this season tonight. It was Uchinuosu instead. It's his turn to have a pic or a fumble six. It's just they never stop. And there are so many of them. And Job made one really important played to me that was like when we came into the game I think we were talking a lot about like okay if Seattle is going to struggle a little bit in this game maybe they can catch some of these backside the one-on-one balls there was a third down

right out of the half where New England is in three-by-one they're always in three-by-one and to that trip side Seattle has DeMarcus Lawrence on the outside and they've got to Chen and Nguosu like kind of in the B gap beside him they send Lawrence and Mosu like pops out to cut off any of those little short slants coming from the trip side May's like

okay I get that I'll go back to throw my one-on-one on the backside and Job is just all over it and makes a great breakup. And that's just like those were the exact place Seattle needed to go from like having a good performance today to having a truly like what in spirit was a shutout kind of day. I remember just kind of going through Mike McDonald's time in our collective consciousness. He's obviously the coordinator in Baltimore, 22 and 23. And I think that the moment I would go back to to kind of point to the start of this path in my opinion, to him kind of a asserting himself as like a really special kind of all-time defensive coach, which he is.

We talked about this coming into the game. There aren't that many defensive-minded, defensive first play-calling head coaches that get to this point. And he has driven his team to this point in part because he is a really special defensive play call or defensive coach. But I go back to a game that happened right here on Christmas in 2023 when they played against that version of the Niners, when the Niners were this historically dominant the offense.

And watching what Mike McDonald did to the Niners that night. They were good all year. They were the best defense in football. But that was kind of one of those moments where he's really announcing himself as something different. I remember very specifically that double corner cats play they had with the tipped ball interception. I think it was interception on the play. And you just think about that call in that moment.

And we talk about it all year. The layers of talent and depth on the defense are incredible. The fact that your fourth edge rush or Derek Hall could potentially be the MVP. That says a lot. But we also are dealing with like a really special once in a generation, I think. kind of defensive coach potentially. And the play that I go back to, the one where they have, the Derek Hall Stripzak, I pointed this out to you in real time.

It's third and five late in the game. The Patriots are in a one by three with Hunter Henry as the number one receiver. Amon Wari has walked out over him. And so as an offense, as a quarterback, you're thinking, that's telling me I get man coverage. I assume that's what I'm going to get. They send, I believe it was Diggs in motion quickly. and Job was over him.

He goes in motion with Diggs. Another signal. It's man, man, man. Ball snapped. They drop out into cover two. And Derek Hall gets a strip sack, ball game over. And you just see those moments over and over and over again with Mike McDonnell where you'd have this perfect confluence of the right call, the right moment with the right players.

And that was Seattle's defense the entire year. Which I laughed. I had to go look it up while you were talking because you mentioned a third down play by Josh Job coming out of the half. And I was like, oh, I know the one. and you had a different one. Because like five minutes later, it's third down. Patriots are approaching the logo,

trying to get something going. It's 12-0. And it was when May rip the slant to Kashan Booty. And Job is there in coverage. He has to try to lead him, and he makes a tough throw. Booty doesn't come down with it. And while he's going down,

Ernest Jones just dips a shoulder into his rib cage and crushes his windpipe. And that's Seattle in a nutshell. Even that play. That's a simulated pressure. where Mafay, they try to get something in the flat, and boy, Mafay drops off of it, fast to the flat, takes that away,

and then Drake has to fit that slant into like a really tight window that Ernest Jones is squeezing. And I love that too, because again, I talked about it coming into the week. So much of what New England does is three by one, and they're trying to throw that backside stuff. And so Ernest Jones is the weak hook to that side when he pops off.

But he, like, flies off the line so far to the trip side initially. And so Drake's probably like, good, I've got the window to throw my one-on-one. and then he obviously he closes it Job had it closed kind of by himself anyway even if that didn't happen like it's just the way that those guys collectively play together and you can do these little manipulations on plays it's just it is a special one of a kind unit

and I think the last play I want to mention in that exact vein the Julian Love interception we were watching it back after it happened and you watch the play unfold and I think it's cover six so like you have Job is to that side where Julian Love is and it looks like they're playing cover two and then you watch the way that the play unfolds And it's the playside safety, the front side safety.

I think it was Kobe Bryant, clamps down on the dig. And then the way that Witherspoon plays it on that play, he like melts back under the underneath route and loves able to play over the top of it. It's just gorgeous. Like it's just like the exact way that you would teach that coverage and that moment against those routes. And again, that was Seattle's defense the entire year. And just kind of talking to some of the personalities and the players involved on that team,

I feel like I could talk about it now because they won the fucking Super Bowl. I remember having a conversation with Mike McDonald's at the MEC before the season started. And we were just talking about this team and the makeup of this team and some of the personalities on this team. And we were talking about where the alphas are going to come from. And I was talking, I was asking about the defense. And I was like, who would you start with? Like, who are the guys that you feel like are tone setters for you in the way that you want to play?

And he was like Spoon. He's like, Spoon is kind of just mentality-wise. Like, that would be the guy. And so for Spoon to have the game that he did and the moments that he did, I think really speaks to what the Seahawks offense thought they were going to be coming, the defense thought they were going to be coming in the season, what they eventually were. And then on offense, he was kind of like, we need those guys offensively. We need to find them, right?

The offense wasn't nearly as far along. They weren't as established. It was a bigger question mark. And I said, all right, but right now, who would you say is one of those guys? And the first name that came out of his mouth was A.J. Barner. Dog. And so the fact that Spoon and A.J. Barner were the two guys on that side of the ball that kind of had the biggest season changing, like when they played.

play the America's game. Like those are two of the plays that we're going to start with. That goes back to the beginning of Seattle's season and who they thought their guys would be in like those crunch time moments. And like such a cool part of that is and there are their leaders on this team. Do you know they bring into Marcus Lawrence, Under Williams, been there a couple of years. But those two guys you just mentioned are what, like 23, 24, 25 years old. And they speak to the bedrock of talent that they've drafted in in Seattle, 100%.

I really hate like the minute the game is over, you start trying to project it into the future and I don't I don't want to do that while there's still confetti on the field but piece literally just landed on me before we started here I mean outside of outside of reek woolen what are you worried about the Seahawks not having over the foreseeable future and Mike McDonald is such an important piece of that and he's not going anywhere that is the beauty of hitting on a play calling savant so like you've got the guy who has established this culture and this scheme and has everybody thinking with a hive mind. And you've got like arguably one important player, Walker, I guess is another one worth

mentioning. But if the running back is the guy you're worried about replacing, typically that's a pretty good spot to be. No offense to him. The other moment I remember from that conversation with Mike before the season started, we were just talking about the difference in calling a defense in year one versus the difference in calling a defense in year two. And he was kind of telling me about the process in Baltimore and what felt different

the second time around. And he said, when you're doing it for the first time, you're calling a defense structurally, right? It's like, I'm making this call because I understand that structurally it's the right thing to do in this situation, given what I think the offense is going to do. When you do it in year two, you start calling the defense through the players.

You start weaponizing them very specifically based on what they can do well. And so you go from more of a risk-averse, let's prevent big plays mindset, 2A, now we are the aggressor mindset. And those spoon blitzes and like that last one that NWOSU scores a touchdown on, that's the first thing I thought of where it's like you're weaponizing your guys here. You understand exactly how to call the defense through the players rather than through the scheme.

And for them to get to that place by the Super Bowl and for them to feel like that sort of unit, again, I just think it speaks to that transition from what the Seahawks defense was last year to what they were this year. And it's such, we talked about this again during the week. It's like he had such a clear vision for what kinds of players he wanted for that. And obviously, you know, he wasn't there when they drafted spoon. He kind of preceded them. But like, bring in Ernest Jones and like drafting Byron Murphy and bring into Marcus Lawrence, guys who clearly like the defense only works because we can only be light in the box because we have these long guys on the edge. We can only be light in the box because we can, you know, stunt Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy everywhere. We can only be light in the

box because Ernest Jones is going to fix it. And he can be a helpful piece in coverage anyway. Like he's just to have all of that. And then even the small thing I love with all the spoon blitzes, some teams will love to bring their nickel. It's shocking to me how much, not shocking because it's actually not shocking given how he plays. How often they fire Witherspoon inside of the tackles? Like throwing him at guards and like in the A gap and B gap is like,

most nickels are not prepared to do that. But Devin Witherspoon is a different kind of guy. He's so fast and he timed it so well tonight. It was insane. We were joking about it because it was the first, It was the first blitz of the night where they dropped the D tackles. And you were pointing that out to me. And I was like, how are you watching anything but Devin Witherspoon and how quickly he got

to the quarterback? That's all I could see. All right. Before we move on, we're going to take a quick break. Speaking of Devin Wetherspoon and the guys drafted before Mike McDonnell got there, it's, we have to acknowledge just the team building process for how the Seahawks became this sort of team, top to bottom. And the signings you just mentioned to Marcus Lawrence, Ernest Jones, like those

moves, the veteran additions over the last couple years have really. shaped them into this team that they want to be defensively. Those have been kind of the things that push them over the top. I'm just going to go back through the top 100 picks that the Seahawks have made since 2022. Charles Cross, Boye-Maffa, Kenneth Walker, the third, Abe Lucas, Devin Wetherspoon, Jackson Smith and Jigba, Derek Hall, Zach Charbonnet, Byron Murphy, Christian Haynes, Gray Zabel, Nick Mnwari, Elijah Arroyo, J-1 Milro. Elijah Oroyo was hurt for a good chunk of this year. Christian Haynes eventually lost that job as the right guard. Every single other guy on that team is like a very real contributor to what this team is.

Several of them got worthwhile extensions. Others are going to be drafted or going to be compensated very well in free agency this year like Kenneth Walker. It's a heater. Like it is an absolute heater and it's hilarious when you compare it to the previous five, seven years to Seahawks drafting. Like it's just that that hot streak and what they've been able to do in building the foundation of this team in house through those draft picks. That is the reason they're here right now. Maybe the 10th best guy on that list. You and I just tried to make the case was the MVP of the game. Derek Hall. Like it's insane that they have now. I have a really vivid memory from like the last time they were

this team, 2013, 2014, where, you know, when a team is this good, everybody's trying to bite that off, whether it's the coaches or like the archetype of player you're looking for. We've talked a lot about how people are going to be looking for Nickham and Worry in the draft. I just remember having this thought of, oh, sure, it's also simple. We'll just find the best third round quarterback ever, a hall of famer to be like the archetype of your defense in the fifth round. We'll find Cam Chancellor on day three, two. Bobby Wagner at pick 50, whatever's going to be still playing and winning awards today, by the way. I was just like, yeah, it's not that easy, guys. And obviously, the Seahawks did have a little bit of a dip where they weren't drafting as well. But

John Schneider has had a run here. It's probably too soon to compare. to some of those guys like Shirm and Earl Thomas and Cam, but like it is a heater like that where you have just found at every level of the draft all pro pro bowl amazing caliber players. To do that twice over the course of a career is pretty incredible. It's very rare. I mean, like, Howie Roseman is really the only guy in the modern era to have done that where it's like a completely different collection of players. And I think that, you know, sometimes it can be a little bit misleading.

Like you have the quarterback carryover from like when the Rams won the Super Bowl in 2021, one to right now. But like that team has really changed over. If they had done it, we could have a similar conversation outside of the Super Bowl. But to do it with completely different teams, completely different collections of players and to have the defense be this good and kind of resemble those Legion of Boom teams and the quality is incredibly impressive. And I think it really does speak to what John Schneider has been able to do. And I honestly think among all the people involved in this game, like Mike McDonald absolutely did. But like this changes the way that we'll talk about John Schneider forever to have done this a second time to this

His record was tainted up until like, absolutely. Like even as recently it's like, honestly, like, I think we loved how like the Gino revival and I think maybe that bought him a little bit of credit. But I think as with as poorly as 2024 had gone, it was like, what is John Snyder really done in the last, you know, eight years or whatever it had been? Getting this to like really get it this quickly over the finish line and all of it to coalesce is like, okay. This team had a very, like had a, I hate to compare him to the Steelers, but this team had a vibe

of like, like, like, okay, you won 10 games. What does that mean? It was very similar. Yes. And to break out of that in style, not just become better and achieve a higher ceiling and be right about Gino and Sam, but to win the Super Bowl in just dominant fashion.

It's pretty cool. One of the aspects of this team that will be different this year, the offensive coordinator will not be here. He'll be the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. And they, you know, the offense was far from dominant tonight. But they had plenty of stretches and plenty of moments that I think were impressive. their opening drive of the second half

was to me, like I was like, okay. Like they're starting to get a little bit going here. And to me, that was like, it was a lot of stuff that they've done well all year kind of stacked up together. Drive ends in a field goal, but you see some of the moments. First play of the drive, it's a little high-low pin down with

Shaheed on like a little inbreaker with cum tying it down. Sam does a great job progressing back to the back side there. Pressure in his face makes the throw. Next play, they're in empty. The Patriots have three DBSs on the field to the Seahawks 12 personnel with the Seattle and empty. So it's a juicy, juicy look. And they hit JSN on like a big in-breaker slant for a chunk.

They go tempo there, instant pressure on the next play. Sam makes Milton Williams miss takes off for 11 yards. And so that, that to me, Sam Donald did not have his best game. Sam Donald was not the story of this game. What he did to mitigate pressure and avoid sacks consistently was probably the best thing he did today. I thought it was remarkable. And yeah, like he shouldn't have won MVP. I'm not saying he was incredible, but we were talking about it throughout the game.

Just the little steps he would take to get around or get around a rusher and find a throwing lane or just outright avoid a sack. Like the Patriots had at least one, maybe two snaps where he was dead to rights. And we know Sam's athletic. But like if Caleb-on-Chayson gets his hands on you in the backfield, I assume you're going down. And he got out of a couple of those. He had the scramble on that field goal drive. if he I'm thinking about the

the cup miss I believe it was like right down here in the red zone yep yeah the little speed out right there like if he hits a couple more throws I think people would be talking about this in a much different light and oh my god like the I mean the

he avoided pressure down in his own red zone early in the game and almost hit JSN on what would have been like an 86 yard touchdown that would have broke the game open so crazy he missed having a much much better statistical night by like three throws and I still thought he played pretty well. He's not the story of this game, but they're not here without him. Absolutely not.

I mean, the game he played in the NFC championship game, they're not here without him. San Garn was a crucial component to what the Seahawks were this season. And even in this game, I think I had posted something like they weren't moving the ball with the passing game, obviously for a lot of this game. But in the first half, there was one point I looked up and Sam was like five of 14 and I was like, he's kind of winning them the game because he's not taking sacks. And Drake may have taken like three or four at that point. And it was just like, the Patriots could not move the ball because three or

four times Drake May is losing five yards here, eight yards here, whatever it is. And Sam bailed them out like four or five times in the first half. Obviously he had that big scramble on that second half drive. Like it was just, he was really impressive in terms of not taking the negative place. It felt like a really big theme. While the game was still close was, it's third and four or third and six instead of third and long because of something that Sam did. The last play on that field goal drive that I wanted to mention again, just kind of the

moments that we've come to expect from Seattle from a creativity standpoint, the fact that Clint Kuback's been impressive all year. on that same drive to go up 12-0. After the Sam scramble for 11 yards, JSN's in the backfield. And we asked it in the preview show, what is the wrinkle going to be when they put JSN in the backfield?

And all of this attention, gravity that he has to the left side on that play, they throw screen back the other way for 20 yards to set up the field goal. And so it wasn't a great game for the Seahawks offense, but you still saw some of those elements that really did drive them this year. And to me, that ends and is capped off with

the AJ Barner touched. is a beautiful play. It's 12 personnel. He shuffles motion. They insert him off play action, and he goes right to the corner. It's a beautiful throw. And so not the best game from Seattle's offense,

but you still saw a lot of the elements that made them who they were for most of the season. And I don't know this for sure. Maybe Mike McDonald would talk about it at some point. Watching it live, especially once we sort of got into a flow, which we really did, by the way. There were no penalties in the first half of this game.

like excellent loved it but after at a certain point i sort of got the vibe where i was like Seattle knows if they don't just muck this up on offense they're going to win this game and i think that speaks to the run game performance it was just like it was just like we just need to lean on this and the fact that they could run the ball in the way that they did that was enough that was enough for them to win this game and credit to kenneth walker into the entire run game infrastructure and ecosystem because they did more than enough to get this thing over the finish line that's one really interesting wrinkle i think to the seattle really the entire story of their season is that like when the first 12 weeks of the season when jason was going to win an offensive player of the year and all that stuff um i mean he did but like

when it seemed like he would run away with it and it wouldn't be anywhere close um and sam darnald was like you know obviously playing some of his best ball they were getting out to these really early leads and then you have the best defense in the league you can kind of just like teams have to throw against you you can kind of choke them out over the last like six weeks of the regular season and really into most of the playoffs it was a lot of like okay the passing game is a little bit more up and down or making some more mistakes, some more turnovers, it's more, you know, it's just not as consistent as they wanted it to be. And they were like, you know what? We found the run game. And now they can be an explosive.

We trust that the defense will do what they have to do. We'll just run the clock out on the other side. The fact that they could kind of be these two different versions of the team down the stretch I thought was incredibly impressive. You need that. Yes. You need that to win Super Bowl. You need to be able to tap into different versions of yourself.

And the fact that the run game carried them the way that they did. And like, I, Zach Charbonnet, there's a reason that Zach Sharbonne, there's a reason that, was a part of this team. He's a really good pass protector. They don't like to ask Kenneth to pass protector. They didn't today. You made that joke to me. Halfway, like, George Halani. Three quarters of the way through the game, I think. I joke to you. I was like, how many pass blocking snaps do you think Kenneth Walker has in this game? And you were like, zero. I was like, it is zero. It is actually zero. They have not asked him to do it. And so

Zach Charbonnet had a role. That role made a ton of sense. But for Walker to kind of be put into the spotlight as we got down the stretch and for him to become a real focal point for the offense, you saw how special of a runner he is. He's absurdly talented. He's imperfect. There are things about him. They're a little bit frustrating. I think that's the reason that you get Charbonnet in the red zone.

You get Charbonnet in short yardage because Kenneth Walker can be a little bit hit or miss sometimes, but you really saw what he can be at his best. I mean, the 29-yard run he had on their fourth drive for the field goal to go up 6-0. It's a beautiful play design where they have Sawbert just go in motion really quickly and it pulls, I think it was Ellis off the line of scrimmage. and it sets up a perfect little angle for Bradford to climb up to him. The motion bumps spleen over just enough for he's able to climb up to him on the backside. And then Sundell does a great job on Tonga at the point of attack.

And there's just that little sliver and Walker's gone to 29-yard run. And so you really just felt the explosiveness and just him being a stick of dynamite in the backfield the entire postseason. You know what's funny? I mean, they happened in quick succession. And that was a really well-drawn-up play. I loved the 30-yarder right before it even more because Seattle didn't get it right. Like, Gray-Zable got walked back into Walker's lap,

and he gets around that. He sheds a tackle, like halfway to the sticks, and turns it into a 30-yard gain where it was not blocked for him. Like, it was Kenneth Walker doing that. To have those two plays back-to-back was really cool. And I did say, I would have voted for Derek Hall. Imagine Kenneth Walker's agent right now, like when he hears Super Bowl MVP and like, all right, we're going to Indy with some real leverage here.

Kenneth Walker is making a showload of money this offseason. I think that his playoff run will give you that. All right, before we get to what's next for the Patriots, we're going to take one more quick break. Let's get to the Patriots side of this. The offense got its ass kicked in the playoffs. Like, there's just no way around that, right? I mean, like, I think that too often we can go to very simplistic explanations for things where it's just like, well, they were frauds. Right?

Like, they played a terrible schedule. they weren't as good as the numbers would lead you to believe. And I think if you watch what the playoffs were, and I know that the Seahawks defense is phenomenal, I think it's kind of hard to come to any other conclusion than the Patriots really did pick on some bad teams for a good chunk of this season. They played against four really good defenses in the playoffs

and did not play well against any of them. Like, if you had a couple of bad games, if it was two and two and you maybe escaped with some good ones, fine. But the fact that they were bad in all four of them. And again, I know some of the weather, all the other conditions, but like they never really looked like a competent offense for most of the postseason. We've done this with teams in the past where there's like a bar where if you're above the bar,

they're the type of unit that struggles with you. Then we talked about this with the Chargers last year. Remember we talked about this? The Chargers defense was the defense in 2024 where when they were playing against bad offenses, they'd f***ing dismantle you, right? Like there was no way you were keeping up with them because of how well coached they were. But when you had a talent disparity. When they played the Bengals.

That's when things looked very different. And I think. that's kind of how this Patriots offense feels, where when they were playing defenses underneath that bar, and really the only good defense they played against the entire regular season was the Browns. And the Browns are a very specific kind of defense. When you're playing against teams where they're going to put an umbrella over it, they're going to make the explosives hard to come by, they're going to really make you work. We saw the flaws in this Patriots team. And I think that Drake May had a really, really, really nice second season. I think he was

legitimately in the conversation to be the MVP because of what he did. did with this team. But I think what he did in the playoffs and what he did tonight, you see how far him and I think the rest of this offense still has to go for them to be the team that's going to be lifting the Lombardi Trophy at some point. It's funny because we don't have to revise what we said. It's still true. They made it to the Super Bowl. They were playing in the last game. But I thought about that because in the preview episode, we talked about, well, the team that spends a billion dollars in free agency and just tries to like raise the floor of things with free agent it's not supposed to end this well.

You're not supposed to get to the Super Bowl. It's a sign that you're not good enough. Right. It's a sign that you don't have the right amount of talent to get to this point. But I found myself thinking that during the game where I was like, yeah, like the weapons aren't good enough. The offensive line is better than the mess that it was last year. It is still not good.

No, they got their asses kicked today. And so. They got dominated in this game. The exact way we thought they might where I was sitting there on Thursday being like, tell me why Seattle's defensive line isn't going to completely. control this game and that's exactly what happened. The offensive line was completely outgunned and they don't have a skill player that you can be like, we're going to call it up for that guy.

And I think that can all be true and the quarterback still didn't. Oh, no, he did not play a lot. He missed. He was holding onto the ball. Obviously, the shipsack happens. That's the situation where he's got to be better than that. There was one over route he tried to throw to DeMario Douglas that he put like a couple field.

Yeah, that was open. It was ketchup like he barely puts it to his feet or whatever, but like he could have just hit him in the chest and that's an easy catch run. He misses that. That's the worst throw. I think he left on the board. the entire game. And so he just, he had some of those moments. And that, again, that doesn't take away from how incredible his regular season was. He was obviously phenomenal. He's going to move forward as a guy we

talk about as like a top 8, 10 quarterback, whatever. He just did not look good against the best defense that he had to played against. And again, I think that speaks to as much of the maturity that he probably still needs to go through. And also like, this was an offense that was outgunned against actually talented defense. Yes. It reminds me of the debate that we have in basketball all the time, particularly with Jordan and LeBron, where it's like, well, what's better? Going out, quote, unquote, honorably in the divisional round and getting your ass kicked in the Super Bowl

or just losing early so you don't have to deal with the indignity of getting wiped off the field in the biggest game of the year. I'm not going to penalize the pats for getting here, but it stings when your flaws are laid bare so obviously on this stage. I think it reframes what they were offensively and what our expectations for them should be. be. I think that this is a team that if you look at the numbers, they were a top three offense by any single measure, but the schedule was really bad. And so the expectation that they're just going to

walk into next season and be a top five offense again against the better schedule. I think that's probably misguided, right? I think that they still have a long way to go. The offensive line, those young guys need to be better. Like, there's just like no way around that. Like, they've spent the resources draft capital-wise on the left side. That group has to be better. Will Campbell was very bad throughout the playoffs. He gave up double-digit pressure. today. Very bad. Who had a worst month, Drake May or Will Campbell? I think it was the answer objectively is Will Campbell. The answer to the general public is Drake May. I think that's yes. I mean, we've been talking about it all month long. Like all the concerns you had about Will

Campbell came to light at the absolute worst time. And guess what? Teams that make the playoffs typically have great edge rushers. Like that's got to be something you figure out. I think we talked a lot all a year about how composed and in control Drake May looked almost the entire season. Like just very rarely rattled, very rarely pushed away from making the right plays consistently. And you watch what he was in the playoffs and when you watch what he was tonight, he wasn't in control. He wasn't composed. He was rattled consistently.

And he's a second year quarterback. That's going to happen. But it really was a very stark contrast to watch this version of him in this game in the last month compared to what he looks like for a good majority of the season. And this is, you know, I think at one point we were talking about Justin Herbert and you were like, you kind of made the joke that he's swung too far the other end into being like too much of a dumb ass sometimes, which I still think is good for him. But like I get it.

I almost think Drake May for as good as it's been for him to just be like avoids interceptions this year, like really doesn't make mistakes, all that stuff. It felt like in a lot of the biggest moments really down the stretch, he just didn't want to force the ball into. He was taking out of sacks. He was holding out of the ball too long. He just didn't want to make plays, which it's kind of. funny because when he came out of college, he was like this wild bronco that would kind of throw into

windows. Maybe he wasn't supposed to. And so I think the fact that it's kind of in some of these moments been so drawn out of his game, I would like to get like 15% of that back. You look at their, we talk about the Seahawks and how they were built and the quality of the drafting and why they've arrived in this, in that in this moment. That's what the Patriots are going to need to do, right? Like you can spend as much money as you want on the Carlton Davis's of the world and you know Davis is a different thing what miln williams is like a foundational piece he's a 25 year old guy or whatever he is but the carlton davis is guys like clevin chason tanga those are free agents now morgan moses is getting a little bit older like in order for them to get back to

this point and to be a team that's going to be consistently competitive you're going to need this class the next class those guys to hit because you look back at it for the most part their last four or five draft classes those are not contributing players we talked about the 2022 class with charles cross that contributing what the Seahawks are. That was the Col Strange Tyco on Thornton draft of the Patriots. Oh, that's tough. In 2023, we got Christian Gonzalez in the first round. But other than that, Keon White, Jake Andrews, not on the team anymore.

Martin Mapu, Chad Ryland in the fourth round. The 2024 draft we know is a nightmare, right? You got Drake May in the first round after that. Jalen Polk in the second round. Wow, I completely forgot about that. Also not on the team anymore. Not on the team anymore. And so that draft with Campbell, Henderson, Kyle Williams,

Jared Wilson. Craig Woodson was really good tonight. Like, yeah, shout out to him. He was incredible. We are, we're starting to see, I mean, again, if Campbell can kind of course correct a little bit, that draft is going to have to be a foundational thing for New England in the same way that those 2023 to 2024 drafts have been for the Seahawks. We got to say Christian Gonzalez's name. Oh, unbelievable. Gonzalez and, and Woodson, like, kept this competitive in the first half.

I mean, Gonzo in particular, took two, he took two touchdowns off the board. awesome he was he was really good and i yeah gonzalez i think his first nine matchups that he was one-on-one or like a task with covering json nine plays one target zero yards on those first nine plays and then the backside bin breaker they tried to hit to him in that one-on-one where it was a three three-by-one all over it just completely all over it they tried to throw the deep post to shahit at one point he was over the top of that he was unbelievable there is a bedrock of there is enough to build on here obviously his team's in the playing in the goddamn Super Bowl, but they still do have some gaps to close when it comes to, when you look at what Seattle

is. Yes. When you're comparing the two. It's a different class of team. It just is. Seattle has goes like 35 deep on like serious contributing good players. New England probably goes like a dozen deep and then has a couple other nice like players. Like it's just a different caliber team we're talking about.

You need development from the offensive line. I think they need another pass catcher. I think they need one more like young guy. I mean, they were relying on Mack Hollins in this game, which like he's a fun. like side player to have that. Hopefully Kyle Williams can become that for you. Hopefully Will Campbell's better in year two. Hopefully Jared Wilson's better in year two and you can start growing that way. Kyle Williams made one of the plays of the night that viewers probably did not see because he tackled the streaker. It's probably happened. I'm not saying it's never happened,

but Kyle Williams hawked the streaker down from 20 yards away. And I just, I've never seen a player get that involved in catching a streaker. I was very amused by it. It says a lot that that was probably like the third best play from the Patriots offense. Yes, exactly. Anything else from you guys? You bet your ass. We absolutely. We're going to talk about punting now.

Yeah, we are. Are you kidding me? What a beautiful way to end the season. First of all, let's shout out Jason Myers for going five of five. I mean, we said that was going to be an advantage. None of his kicks were particularly difficult, but you could at least make a case for him to win MVP. I would not have voted for him, but Jason Myers had a hell of a night. Both punters.

Both punters. were amazing in this game. Michael Dixon kind of stole the show because the Seahawks won. Net average of 48 yards per punt. He downed three inside the Seahawks 20 yard line. And all of those were actually inside the 10. Put them on their own two, put them on their own four, put them on their own six. But who I really want to shout out is Bryce Beringer. Because like you come into this game thinking that Dixon is the advantage. No, you guys are laughing. Bryce Beringer. No, he played a good game. If the Patriots managed to win this game. That's what I'll remember about tonight.

If the Patriots managed to win this game, you're looking back and being like, holy shit, the punter kept them in it. He had four punts down inside the 20 and two more down inside the 25. And all of those pinned Seattle deep, not all, at least, no, actually, all of them. All of them were when it was a two-score game or less, and you needed to pin Seattle to have a shot of keeping this from becoming a blowout. Obviously, that did not happen, but he was dialed in. All right, and then I'll be done after this.

There were 15 total punts in this game. There were 20 return yards total. That's kind of crazy. Two pretty damn good returners. Given the returners, that's insane. We shouted it out in the preview. I thought the returners might make a difference in this game. They were completely negated.

Shaheed and Jones both had nothing to do. It was a punting clinic, and I legitimately really loved it. I'm done now. You want to see this? I'm going to bring it all back around. Seahawks special teams all year. one of the best special teams teams in the league when you think about why they were great

it's not just the defense it's not just Sam Darnold being so much more than we could have expected top to bottom including the special teams this was the best team in football and they showed us that again tonight no argument here unbelievably well done just a master it works this is the guy who like

rain man can tell me everybody's assignment live in the moment but he thinks I'm weird for loving punting sure it was a strange season It was a great season. I really enjoyed doing it with you guys. The fact that we still get to do this show with this backdrop, you see what's on the jumbo track.

Shout out to our wonderful crew. Everybody here. We, for the first time this year, obviously, Bellar had help. We have Scott, our wonderful social media producer, Katie, who came on right before the season and just was absolutely incredible. We got Joe and Don here tonight helping us with the video stuff. We are, it feels so much different than it has in previous years.

Where as deep as the Seahawks. We have so much support, so much help. Our crew has been unbelievable and putting on all of the live stuff we've done this year, all the YouTube stuff we've done this year. I had so much fun doing the show this year with you guys. And I sincerely appreciate everybody who listened to the show this year. We are deeply grateful and privileged to do it in the way that we can and to be able to sit here and take this in.

And so it wouldn't be possible without all of you. And I sincerely appreciate everybody who tuned in this year because it really does mean a lot to us. What a blast. Can't wait to do it again. Yeah. I'm just glad this season went this way just in terms of how weird it was, how we got to do it. It was perfect. We'll be back a couple different times this week.

Yeah. The Combin's in two weeks. Building the Beast is going up on Tuesday. Building the Beast to be coming your guys away this week. I think we'll have two more shows this week other than that. There's so much coaching news we haven't talked about. We haven't talked about Michael Fleur at all. We haven't a couple other hirings that I wanted to hit,

a couple firings that we wanted to hit. So we're going to have plenty of shows coming your way this week. We will take, I'm going on vacation for at least a little bit. You are as well. But the podcasts are not stopping. And we will be in Indianapolis bringing you tons of combine coverage two weeks from now. So for now, though, that is all we've got. sincerely appreciate you guys listening.

We will talk to you very soon.