Go Hawks? My good friends, the Hawks went. They went as far as any team can. They brought us along for the ride of a generation. We will never forget.
After the Seattle Seahawks methodically extracted the life out of the overmatched New England Patriots in Super Bowl 60, scoring the first 19 points and taking a shutout into the fourth quarter, the journey’s endpoint crystallized at last. It was a coronation all along.
No “wait ‘til next year,” no “if only,” no “yay draft time” and no “woulda coulda
shoulda,” the coping mechanisms that litter almost every season’s end. The Seahawks and their fans have no use for cope in February 2026. Because they are world champions for the second time in a dozen years. Funny how that works. In their 50th celebration season, for crying out loud. After a postseason run that defied credulity with its Rivals And Revenge Tour theme.
Everyone who wanted pomp, redemption and closure got their wish. Confetti fell for the second time in two weeks; a trophy was lifted in front of the world, again. The Seahawks dispatched their two biggest rivals in successive weeks to reach the Super Bowl — are you kidding? Only to meet the team that denied them immortality 12 years earlier — are you kidding? Who writes this stuff?
And for it all to end with Mike Macdonald lifting the Lombardi on the 49ers home field while his players smoked victory cigars in the San Francisco locker room. The plot would be preposterous if we hadn’t just finished witnessing it. Thus was re-established the most righteous and sensical football hierarchy, the one with our Seahawks on top.
In the last 14 seasons, Seattle has accumulated:
- a .644 winning percentage
- a sparkling 147-81-1 regular-season record
- 12 playoff victories
- 5 NFC West titles
- 3 conference championships
- 2 Lombardis
NFL royalty indeed. It’s good to be the king.
So in the spirit of celebration and coronation that will culminate in Wednesday’s parade, here are 12 Seahawks I’m happy for in the wake of the franchise’s second Lombardi:
12. Uchenna Nwosu
The Seahawks d-lineman scored half of Seattle’s touchdowns in the Super Bowl, completing a long march back from injuries and uncertainties that had pockmarked his career in blue and green. Nwosu’s 2023 ended early with a torn pec. His 2024 featured missed time from an MCL sprain and thigh injury. His 2025 started with knee surgery over the winter, he restructured his contract, and eased gently into the season.
So then, to put the finishing touches on a Super Bowl victory — what could be sweeter than that?
As Devon Witherspoon jars the football loose, Chenna picks it up on the fly and takes it to the house. Seahawks 29, Patriots 7 inside of five minutes to play. No flags. That’s game.
11. Ernest Jones
The man who now seems indispensable to football’s ruling team was deemed extra dispensable by two franchises recently: the Rams and Titans, who both cut ties with him eight weeks apart in 2024.
Ten solo tackles and one TFL later, he’s wearing one of those ugly SB60 Champions shirts and not caring one iota about how tacky he looks. No wonder he loves it in Seattle.
10. The background Hawks
Cheating a little here, but much like Derick Hall, you cannot stop me. So happy for Quandre Diggs & Shaq Griffin, who returned to Seattle to fill out the practice squad, and will wear rings for their trouble. In that same vein, it’s impossible to celebrate without thinking of the veterans/victims of XLIX who stayed visibly connected to the organization. I mean, of course, Kam Chancellor, Richard Sherman and Marshawn Lynch. For dozen-making purposes this whole group of selfless icons and legends will be treated as one. Macdonald probably has a saying for that too.
9. Leonard Williams
Big Cat spent eight and a half seasons in New York splitting time between the Jets and Giants. He appeared in one playoff win. As one of the defense’s spiritual leaders and age leaders (he’ll be 32 for next year’s opener), he deserved this trip to the mountaintop. He deserves this.
8. Rylie Mills
Everyone has their moment when they knew. For a lot of fans in XLVIII, that was the Percy Harvin kickoff to begin the third quarter. This time? I’d be lying if it wasn’t A.J. Barner’s TD that stretched the lead to 19-0. You can choose the Nwosu teeder up top, too.
And yet. The moment Mills sacked Drake Maye in the second quarter, part of me knew. If the rookie with five career appearances and zero sacks is joining the takedown parade, there could be no legitimate hope for the Patriots offense. The best they could hope for was a Seattle special teams miscue (unlikely), an onside kick recovery (yeah right), or garbage time TD (okay so they got that one).
7. Rashid Shaheed
Shaheed was underutilized as a receiver since coming over from the Saints midseason and finished with only 15 catches for 188 yards and no scores in the regular season. But he became such a deadly weapon on special teams that Mike Vrabel did everything in his power to keep the ball out of the speedster’s hands. Nothing but stratospheric, unreturnable punts and boots into the end zone all day. What a sign of respect for the Pro Bowler, who will be happy to torment a new team when the Seahawks begin defense of their world championship.
6. Devon Witherspoon
I’d wager (looks like the ads are working) that few national NFL fans would point to Witherspoon as a key Seahawk. That’s if they know his position at all.
Huge turn of events in Super Bowl 60, which Seattle won. Two sacks, the game-clinching assist to Nwosu, multiple other pressures on Maye, no *targets* in the first 59 minutes of the game, and some MVP chatter as the contest wound down. People outside Seattle know who the dude is now. Good for him.
5. Kenneth Walker
It was the first Seahawks game his dad had attended in person. How.
4. Jason Myers
Made all of his kicks when the game was close, made them when it wasn’t, and laid his body on the line to make a special teams tackle. Not only did he set a new Super Bowl record for field goals made, he also became the first player in NFL history to score more than 200 points in a single season. Dude spent all of 2025 turning once-anxious field goal attempts into relaxing back massages.
Maybe I’m more happy for me than for him. We’ll call it a tie.
3. DeMarcus Lawrence
How much did his addition and his leadership mold a historic defense from potentially great to actually great? We’ll never know because such things are unquantifiable, but I’m very comfortable saying “some.” Did you see him deliver pre-game speeches, score twice against the Cardinals, and swallow Brock Purdy whole in the divisional game? It’s hard to call a newcomer the heart of a defense, but he was one of the heartbeats.
The man knew what he wanted: contendorhood. He knew where to go: Seattle. That we all benefited from his decision is happenstance. The best happenstance.
The two Seahawks I’m happiest for though, guys numbers 2. and 1., are Sam Darnold and Mike Macdonald. Darnold because of the Geno Smith particles — they wrote me off — and the type of person he must be behind the scenes to inspire nothing but full-throated support from his teammates.
Darnold struggled with turnovers all year, then decided to stop committing them once the playoffs rolled around. After leading the NFL in giveaways, he made none in the divisional, conference title game and Super bowl combined. He also became the first NFL QB to win a Lombardi after playing for five different teams. An impossible career arc unfolded right before our eyes. I was a doubter, and one of the loudest, which means I owe Sam and Ernest an apology and will leave a forwarding address for any additional profanity they deem necessary.
Which brings us to Coach. Famous for not caring about which team lies in his path, or in his wake, but savvy enough to build a graveyard of enemy helmets on a spike (or totem).
Happy for Coach Mike because he built a team exactly the way he wanted, and the team rewarded him. He set out a definitive, defensive vision, worked with John Schneider to staff it with the right weapons, and put his genius to the best use possible: winning another Lombardi.
The result is Macdonald’s wet dream, and for all the talk about all the names listed 12. through 2., the truth is the 2025 Seattle Seahawks are not a collection of talented individuals. They consistently played the most awe-inspiring version of team ball I’ve ever seen. When one phase faltered, the other two picked them up. When the defense was hemorrhaging starters in October, the depth stepped in and won games or kept them close enough for the offense to save the day. When it looked like the Rams would prevail in Seattle, special teams conjured up a fourth-quarter touchdown. That same game, when it looked like the defense had blown it in overtime, Darnold and the offense strolled down the field nonchalantly for eight points and the year’s most pivotal victory.
A team victory. A complete cultural victory.
Predators and Preys soon, but the game recap’s essence is contained in a couple graphs. Exhibit A:
Pictured: 53 anacondas suffocating the life out of 53 unsuspecting alligators who thought they were real hot-shots until the fight actually began. There was no point when the Patriots were favored or set up to win. In fact, the Seahawks only trailed for 1:45 the entire postseason, all of it against the Rams right before halftime and none of it in the Super Bowl itself, which, may I remind you, was won yesterday. By Seattle.
Everyone who said the NFCCG was the real title game before the title game — they were right.
Then again, complete domination is what you’d expect from the fourth best team DVOA has ever mentioned. Not the fourth best team of the decade, or the century, but in its entire database.
Yes, the Patriots scrapped together two late touchdowns to make things look more respectable than they were, but all those did was cause my group chats and partymates to access their inner anxiety for a couple minutes.
There had been no need for hand-wringing until then, if you exclude the early overthrow where Jaxon Smith-Njigba had nothing but green in front of him. The Seattle defense was not going to let this become a game. Check out their resume and focus on the middle:
New England went eight straight drives without gaining more than ten yards. They didn’t score on their first nine possessions. Their first touchdown, the one that broke the shutout IN THE FOURTH QUARTER, came sandwiched in between three turnovers that generated 14 Seattle points..
133 of their 331 yards came on doomed drives that would result in either a turnover or the end of their season. The end of everyone’s season.
In the middle quarters, where the defense put Maye & Co. in a vise and tightened methodically to the tune of 6.4 yards per possession and two total first downs, it was incumbent on the Seahawks offense and special teams to not let the Patriots back into the game. Check. No turnovers, no silly penalties. Then, when Darnold — after three quarters of mistake-free football — found AJ Barner in the end zone off a beautiful bit of play design by Klint Kubiak, it was time to look for the corkscrew and set up the fireworks.
Everyone won this game. Seahawks football, people.
PREDATOR
Well, we have a few. Kenneth Walker, for one. 161 all purpose yards and the first RB to win MVP since 1998. Unreal patience and a maturity that clicked at the exact right time for everyone involved.
The amount of patience is not the same in each clip; in the second K9 is more decisive even though he takes time to weight the two lanes. He chooses shrewdly and takes less time than a Lamborghini to accelerate. There is no greater predator than the most valuable player in the biggest game. Take a bow and get a bag, Kenneth.
PREDATOR
For everything listed above, Devon Witherspoon. In the universe where K9 has an off night he’s the MVP. Seems like that universe is fine too. And that’s the thing about complementary football, a full roster and great coaching: you can win no matter which universe you get dropped into. And then you’re not at the mercy of a single fluke play, or outstanding piece of anticipation, like a pick at the one yard line. Theoretically speaking, of course.
God it’s going to be so freakin’ good to be able to watch the Butler interception and think, I. Do. Not. Care.
Derick Hall
Hall notched as many sacks in SB60 as he had all season. He forced one of Maye’s three turnovers. It’s okay if you screamed, or peed yourself a little.
PREDATOR
Byron Murphy II
Two sacks, constant menace. Speaking of alternate universes, did you know the Seahawks picked him one spot ahead of the Rams?
PREDATOR
Michael Dickson
This was his last punt of the night, against a Pats front selling out to block it and preserve their 0.1 percent of win probability. Big Balls Dickson was uninterested in their agenda. Also he got rid of that thing in a jiffy.
Besides that? Dickson turned in the kind of performance that back in 2017, won him MVP of the Texas Bowl while a Longhorn. Which sounds like something AI hallucinated, but is very, very real. Look it up.
- Seven punts for a 47.9 average
- Three kicks downed inside the 7
- Four total return yards
Dickson didn’t “win” the game with his shapely, virtuosic right foot, because the Seahawks played their usual brand of complementary football. Everyone won. He just helped a little more than usual on a night the offense scored only one touchdown.
PREDATOR
Julian Love said after the game his main thought was “make sure to catch it.”
Every phase of this glorious (and now glorified) team landed its own version of a knockout punch in the fourth quarter. There is no greater form of complementary football.
PREY
You won’t find any Seahawks on this list the evening they won the Super Bowl by 16 points. You will find Patriots rookie LT Will Campbell, a young man who may well enjoy a long and lucrative NFL career, but not because of how he fared against the Seahawks’ tsunami of pass rushers. Unfortunately for Campbell, he was more soup than Super, and gave up an astonishing 14 pressures on the afternoon, the most in any game all year. (New England only ran 61 offensive plays.)
PREY
As a result of a collapsing pocket on every other play, Drake Maye could not move the ball when the game’s outcome was in doubt. He had 18 net passing yards at half, suffered six sacks, committed three turnovers, and didn’t guide his offense past the SEA 43 yard line until the fourth quarter. Again, promising career ahead for the reigning NFL MVP runner-up. Just not when he has to face the world champion Seattle Seahawks.
That’s it. The Hawks went and we went with them. Before long they will go again, although until then, we get to savor the trip of a lifetime. So? Go Hawks, eventually. But feel free to take your time. You’ve earned it.
