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Defense wins this championship.
Devon Witherspoon, Derek Hall, Byron Murphy and the rest of Mike McDonald’s offensive unit beat Drake Maye, and the Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29-13 on Sunday to win the franchise’s second Super Bowl.
Seattle’s victory denied New England a record seventh Super Bowl victory.
Sam Darnold threw for AJ Barner, Kenneth Walker III ran for 135 yards and Jason Myers had five field goal attempts.
Walker became the first running back to win the Super Bowl MVP award since Terrell Davis 28 years ago.
Uchena Nwosu Witherspoon capped a punishing defensive effort by running back 45 yards, snagging May’s pass in the air.
Seattle’s “dark side” defense helped Darnold become the first quarterback to win a Super Bowl in the 2018 draft, ahead of Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson.
“It’s the same feeling, bro,” Witherspoon said. “You talk about a team that fights every day, believes in each other and believes in their coach. You can’t describe this team any better than that. It’s the same feeling. I’m excited to fight with these guys. We’ve been through a lot, but we believe.”
“All you skeptics who say otherwise don’t know what’s going on in this building. We are one here.”
Darnold, who was dropped by two teams and labeled a trade by two others, proved the doubters wrong as he helped the Seahawks go 17-3.
After leading the NFL with 20 turnovers in the regular season, Darnold had none in three playoff games. He wasn’t particularly sharp against a stout Patriots defense, but he made enough plays to protect the ball and finished 19 of 38 for 202 yards.
“I know we won the Super Bowl, but we could have been a little better offensively, but I don’t care about that right now,” Darnold said. “It’s an unbelievable feeling, man. I’m so happy for the guys in the locker room and the coaches who worked so hard the whole season.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way with this team,” Darnold said. “Proud of our guys, our defense. I mean, I can’t say enough good things about our defense, our special teams.”
Maye struggled against Seattle.
The Seahawks sacked Maye six times, including two each by Hall and Murphy. Late in the third quarter, a Hall strip sack set up a short field and Darnold connected with Barner for a 16-yard field goal to make it 19-0.
Julian Love’s interception set up another field goal with 5:35 left to make it 22-7.
The Patriots (17-4) had punts on their first eight drives, not including one that took a knee to end the first half.
Down 19-0, May and New England’s offense finally got going. He hit Mack Hollins for 24 yards in traffic and then a perfect 35-yard touchdown pass to Hollins down the left side to cut the deficit to 19-7.
Tom Brady once led Bill Belichick’s Patriots to the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history, as New England rallied from a 28-3 deficit for a 34-28 overtime victory in Atlanta.
But May came second to Matthew Stafford in a close race two decades later. He had a chance to make it even closer, but his ill-advised pass into triple coverage was picked off at Love and the Patriots trailed by the 15 and punted with 5:35 left.
Then came Nwosu’s touchdown, a fitting way to end his effort as the NFL’s most tight end.
May’s 7-yard TD pass to Ramendre Stevenson late in the game narrowed the margin.
The Seahawks took an early 3-0 lead on Meyers’ 33-yard field goal. Myers connected from 39 and 41 yards to extend the lead to 9-0 at halftime. He was good for 41 on Seattle’s first drive of the third quarter to make it 12-0.
Cornerback Christian Gonzalez made two great plays to prevent potential touchdowns in the second quarter. A running back jumped in the air to throw a deep pass to Rashid Shahid that would have been a 76-yard TD.
On Seattle’s final drive of the first half, Gonzalez hit All-Pro wide receiver Jackson Smith-Njigba for what would have been a 23-yard TD.
Seattle denied the history of the Patriots
But the Seahawks were too much for New England in the end. The Patriots failed to win the franchise’s seventh Super Bowl, which would have set an NFL record. They are currently tied with the Steelers with six championships.
AP NFL Coach of the Year Mike Vrabel was aiming to become the fifth man to win the Super Bowl as a player and head coach and with the same team.
Maye was trying to become the youngest QB to win a Lombardi Trophy. Ben Roethlisberger still holds that mark.