Seahawks smother Patriots in Super Bowl LX as dominant defense, Kenneth Walker III lift Seattle to title

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The Seattle Seahawks are once again Super Bowl champions, claiming the Lombardi Trophy for the first time since the 2013 season. Seattle dominated the New England Patriots from start to finish in Super Bowl LX, smothering the Pats all night en route to a 29-13 victory that wasn't nearly as close as the final score.

The Seahawks delivered one of the best defensive performances in Super Bowl history. The Patriots finished with 331 yards of offense, but more than a third came on two garbage-time drives that each covered over 100 yards with New England down multiple scores late in the fourth quarter. The so-called "Dark Side Defense" conjured images all night of the famed "Legion of Boom" unit that led Seattle to its last Super Bowl victory -- and by the end of the evening, it was hard to argue this group wasn't worthy of the comparison.

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Garrett Podell

Seattle dominated both up front and on the back end, relentlessly pressuring Drake Maye, suffocating his receivers and giving neither Rhamondre Stevenson nor TreVeyon Henderson space in the run game. During the competitive portion of the game, the Seahawks' defensive line overwhelmed New England's offensive front, preventing the Patriots from moving the ball with any consistency.

The Seahawks racked up six sacks on Maye -- one shy of the Super Bowl record. Rylie Mills and Devon Witherspoon each had one, while Byron Murphy II and Derick Hall recorded two apiece. Hall's second takedown resulted in a strip sack, which Murphy recovered to set up the game's first touchdown on a pass from Sam Darnold to AJ Barner.

The defensive front also stifled the run game from the outset, as Stevenson and Henderson combined for 13 carries and just 42 yards (3.2 per attempt), with none gaining more than nine yards. They simply had nowhere to go -- and that's where they repeatedly ended up.

Not to be outdone, the back end played its part. Coverage remained tight all night, with the secondary limiting Maye to 6.9 yards per attempt and offsetting his two touchdown passes (one coming late in garbage time) with two interceptions.

One came courtesy of Julian Love as the Patriots tried to cut the lead to one score in the fourth quarter, while the other was a pick-six by Uchenna Nwosu that put the game away for good. The play was initially ruled a strip sack for Witherspoon and a scoop-and-score for Nwosu. Had it stood, Seattle would have tied the Super Bowl record for sacks. Alas.

Seattle's offense mostly revolved around the explosive running of Kenneth Walker III, who carried 27 times for 135 yards and added 26 more on two receptions. Walker ripped off several long runs to push the Seahawks into scoring territory early, though they repeatedly settled for field goals while building their lead. He appeared to add an exclamation-point touchdown late in the fourth quarter, but it was wiped out by a holding penalty. No matter -- he still delivered his best rushing performance of the season, posting his fourth 100-yard game of the year and second of the playoffs on his way to winning the game's Most Valuable Player award.

Darnold wasn't as efficient or explosive as he was in the NFC title game, completing 19 of 38 passes for 202 yards and a score. He missed a couple of deep shots that could have blown the game open, but his most important contribution was protecting the ball. After leading the league in turnovers during the regular season, Darnold went the entire playoffs without committing one. The Super Bowl win serves as a crowning achievement for the former No. 3 overall pick, cementing one of the league's best comeback stories.

Seattle now owns two Super Bowl victories, becoming the 17th franchise with at least two titles. This one felt far more unlikely than the first, as the Seahawks didn't enter the season among the favorites. The 2025 campaign taught us to expect the unexpected, and it's fitting it ended with a champion like Seattle -- a team that began the year with long odds to be here -- lifting the Lombardi Trophy.

Seattle's D-Line dominates

It was a truly tremendous performance by a group that was electric all season long. Maye was harassed in the pocket throughout the game, starting with the very first drive. The defensive front set the tone for the type of night it would be when Derick Hall knocked Will Campbell backward, then took Maye down for the first of his two sacks. (Campbell allowed 14 pressures in the Super Bowl, per Next Gen Stats -- the most any player allowed in a single game this season.)

It was like that all night long for Seattle, with just about everyone up front contributing to the effort.

Hall, Murphy and Mills totaled five sacks between them, but they weren't the only ones making an impact. Boye Mafe had a pair of pressures, while DeMarcus Lawrence and Jarran Reed each added one. Murphy also had a fumble recovery, and Uchenna Nwosu delivered the pick-six that put the game away. It was a total group effort.

Kenneth Walker III runs wild

Kenneth Walker III

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The man they call K9 was electric throughout his MVP performance. He got going early, scooting around the edge for a 10-yard gain on the game's first snap, and didn't stop ripping off chunk gains all night. He had seven rushing first downs and three explosive runs, including a pair that went for 25-plus yards.

Walker split carries and snaps with Zach Charbonnet throughout the regular season, but he became the featured back after Charbonnet tore his ACL early in the Seahawks' first playoff game. He played more than 60% of the snaps in the divisional round and NFC Championship Game while handling over 80% of the touches.

He took on an even larger role here, tallying a season-high 27 carries -- his most in any game since Week 18 of the 2023 season. His 135 rushing yards were also a season high and the second-most in any game of his career. The Seahawks might have won this game without his exploits simply because of how dominant they were on defense, but he was the star of the show on the other side of the ball.

Drake Maye sees ghosts

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Maye's final stat line actually looks OK. He completed 27 of 43 passes for 295 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, and ran for 37 yards on five carries. It's not great, but it's not terrible -- and it's not representative of how he played, which was pretty disappointing after he finished as the regular-season MVP runner-up. Most of Maye's passing production came on two drives; otherwise, he wasn't just ordinary, but pretty bad.

According to TruMedia, Maye's minus-0.34 EPA per dropback ranked as the fifth-worst quarterback performance in a Super Bowl this century. He was under heavy pressure all night, but quarterbacks bear responsibility for pressure and sacks as well, and he was taken down six times. He also turned the ball over three times, with two interceptions and a fumble.

The forgettable performance followed a postseason run in which he didn't live up to the standard he set during the regular season. Maye struggled in each of New England's four playoff games, putting a damper on the spectacular season he had leading up to the postseason.

Seahawks' specialists shine

It's not every day you highlight the kicking game, but it's important to do so here. Seahawks kicker Jason Myers set an NFL record for field goals in a Super Bowl, totaling five to break what had been a four-way tie atop the list. He also accounted for all nine of the game's points before halftime.

Meanwhile, Seahawks punter Michael Dickson also pinned the Patriots inside their own 6-yard line with three separate punts, giving Seattle a huge field-position advantage.

The three Patriots drives that started backed up deep in their own end resulted in a punt, an interception and the end of the game. All three phases came into play for Seattle in securing the win.