This was his masterpiece, much like last year's was Vic Fangio's. Once again, a defensive playcaller schemed up his already great defense to produce some legendary results. This one more prominent because the offense didn't help all that much, and this was the head coach doing it. It's surprising that this is the first time a defensive playcaller headcoach has won a Super Bowl - to be honest, not sure how many got the chance, but Mike Macdonald was able to showcase every bit of ingenuity. His hammering of secondary blitzes, going against type, was brilliant. The coverage games was great, and more than anything he got his team to play at such a locked in level from the jump - again much like Fangio's defense last year. Just another amazing defensive performance to swarm to a Super Bowl.
Runner-Up: Kenneth Walker (RB, SEA)
Anytime a defense dominates a super bowl but has no one standout player, there is some outcry for a defender, or even a unit to win MVP. Once again that happened here, but Kenneth Walker absolutely deserved that MVP. His patient style was brilliant, so often evading initial Patriots line penetration to spin things outside and repeatedly beat a defense that had been playing so fast to the edge time and time again. He was quite good between the tackles as well. Walker even had two first down receptions, much to the chagrin I'm sure of Cris Collinsworth who bashed him after the one drop. I was stunned to realize it had been nearly 30 years since a RB won Super Bowl MVP, but this was absolutely deserved.
Goat of the Game: Drake Maye (QB, NE)
It's really more a goat of the playoffs. To be honest, not sure Maye was any worse in this game than in the Broncos game or Texans game. He was better in teh Chargers game, but only because he got a scoche more time. Yes, the Seahawks are a great defense, but Maye also flat out missed a half dozen throws he sshould make. He was slow to get rid of the ball. He missed easy checkdowns. He fumbled twice, again, and nearly a third time. Drake Maye is such a conundrum headed into next season but this was a disastrous playoff for him - just exposed because finally he had to score more than 16 points. It will be so interesting to see if there's much carryover. We can play the "well, what do you want, he played great defenses" card, but if you play four great defenses you should have more than zero good games.
Runner-Up: Josh McDaniels (OC, NE)
What didn't help Maye at all was maybe the most listless performance by McDaniels in a long time as an OC. He's supposed to be a savant, but he was absolutely a joke in this one - made no adjustments, got beat on the same secondary blitz time and time again, did nothing to help his offense other than calling a few swing passes on that first drive. The Patriots offense had just no creativity all postseason and that was never more clear than in this game. I don't think McDaniels will get a 3rd head coach crack anytime soon anyway, but certainly not after that performance.
Surprise of the Game: Seahawks Run Game
It's not so much that the Seahawks ran it well - they do that every now and then, but that they did it against the Patriots rush defense at full strength. The Pats when they have all their horses up front had been great against the run, especially geting negative plays. They got a few of those here, and missed a few others because of Walker's aforementioned shiftiness, but also was surprsied how often the Seahawks OL won on one-on-one blocks in the trenches. It was old school, but it worked.
Runner-Up: Seahawks Punt Coverage / Punting
To be fair, the Seahawks are an excellent specital teams unit, but the one place that the Patriots seemed to at worst be on equal footing, and at best have an advantage, Well, Dickson was masterful (even getting quasi-serious / quasi-joking MVP love), and the coverage unit was just as good. They completely took out one of the few X-Factors that could've given the Patriots some life, with Marcus Jones being completely negated. In a game where the Seahawks defense wasn't going to give up much, the Seahawks had to make sure there was no other route for the Pats to score.
Disappointment of the Week: Patriots OL
To be fair, we knew they were a relatively weak unit, but the extent to which the Patriots OL got worked was still surprising in the negative. Campbell usually has at least a few good run reps and even that didn't happen here, with the Patriots run game failing to get off the ground also. Their inability to pick up blitzes and lose in space against smaller secondary players was surprising. The right side of the OL which was the relative strength was basically as bad as the left side. Just a full meltdown by that unit.
Runner-Up: Sam Darnold
This is going to sound weird, but I was sad for Darnold more than at Darnold that he missed a few throws. I mean, to some degree who cares. He won teh damn Super Bowl, and he was better than just a passenger, but it would've been cool for this redemption story to have an even better conclusion. And he came close, but a few small misses took a few TDs away, and saved this from being a Super Bowl XLVII type blowout. In the end, Darnold gets his win anyway but the storybook could have been even more perfect.
Team Performance of the Game: Seahawks DL / Blitzers
I mean, what else. The Seahawks DL just owned that game, winning with 3/4-man rush time and time and time again. Doing yoemans work against the run as well, letting the Seahawks stay in their preferred nickel / dime packages the entire game. Everyone on that DL ate, from Williams and Lawrence as the vets, to Hall as the sneak potential MVP, to even a classic Justin Smith type bull-rush sack. And then of course the blitzing from Witherspoon and others was even better - so well timed, so well rushed. This was a masterpiece.
Runner-Up: Seahawks Secondary
It's funny that the front gets more love for me because the secondary is the standout unit. I only have it below the front because I think that was the story of the game, the way they sped up Maye. They also didn't give him much to throw to. They were so disciplined at the back (save of Woolen's late reaction on teh TD). They were clogging up zones. They jsut locked down Diggs and the TEs. Yes, Maye missed a few throws, but there will always be some throws. That was nearly as good a performance by a secondary as the Eagles last year.
Team Laydown of the Week: Patriots Skill Players
Diggs talked a bunch this year. He was a non-factor, hilariously spiking the ball in celebration on his catch down 29-7 in teh fourth quarter. Boutte had a bad drop, and generally couldn't get separateion. The TEs were fairly anonymous. Pop Douglas was probably the best receiver, which is a problem - and if it wasn't him it was Mack Hollins, even more of a problem. The Patriots skill players were playing above their heads all year, but fell below their heads on this one.
Runner-Up: Mike Vrabel
Vrabel seemed just lost in this one, not realizing he had to paly more aggressive, that the Seahawks were not going to be the Broncos. To be honest, Vrabel coached this game like it was the Broncos or Texans on the other side. The lack of aggression on 3rd down, not even considering going for it on 4th and <3 a few times, the most egregious that 4th and 1 right after halftime. And then him not going for two after scoring the TD to make it 19-7 - not that it would've mattered. For a coach who so often his the tactical game management elements down to a tee, they were missing completely in this one.
Storyline that will be Beat Into the Ground: The Legion 2.0
It's funny there's been a rush after this win to confirm that while they were a truly great defense and well rounded team, teh 2025 Seahawks are not the reincarnation of the 2013 unit - that there isn't a Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas type on this defense. Well, while maybe this is true, it is weird that even in what was really just their second great year as a defense people already talked about Sherman and Thomas that way. Maybe they will about Witherspoon, and Emmanwouri, and others. This defense is young, with many locked up. Darnold isn't as good as peak Russell Wilson, but probably closer than people think. I don't know if this is the start of something special, or a 2002 Bucs type "it all came together perfectly one year" but I think we are underrating the chance this is the start of something special.
Storyline that Should be Beat Into the Ground: The Patriots Were Who We Thought They Were
I think what this postseason has taught us is that even though they made the Super Bowl, the Patriots were schedule merchants. They were also "it's just a down year in the AFC" merchants - a bit like the 2021 Bengals in a year where the 12-5 Titans were the #1 seed. I think lost in the "they had the easiest schedule" is just how easy, like historically easy. ANd even the record probably understated things, as the played the Bengals without Joe Burrow (he came back literally the next week) and the Ravens where Lamar Jackson got hurt and left midway through (the Ravens likely win if Lamar stays). The Patriots then got three bad offenses, including the luck of playing a backup QB. Good for them to take advantage of those things, but that Super Bowl showed what was pretty clear, this is not a Super Bowl caliber team in a normal season. Who knows if next year will be a normal one, but looking at their schedule next year, there is a damn good chance the Patriots win nowhere near 14 games again, but could still be a better team. But for 2025, they were who we thought they were, and thank God for all of us that the Seahawks didn't let them off the hook.
Super Early Super Bowl LXI Pick: Ravens 27 49ers 20
