Seahawks’ Kenneth Walker III named Super Bowl LX MVP | Notebook

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Green and blue confetti fluttering around them, Kenneth Walker III stepped up on the stage and joined quarterback Sam Darnold and coach Mike Macdonald in hoisting the Lombardi Trophy together.

Then Walker got the stage to himself.

The Seahawks’ running back completed a dominant postseason run by winning the Most Valuable Player award of Super Bowl 60 on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.

In a game defined largely by Seattle’s defense, Walker was one of the few offensive standouts in the Seahawks’ 29-13 victory over the New England Patriots, giving Seattle its second NFL championship.

Walker rushed for 135 yards on 27 carries to become the first running back to win the Super Bowl MVP since Denver’s Terrell Davis in Super Bowl 32 28 years ago.

“Blessed to be here,” Walker said on stage. “We went through a lot of adversity but stuck together and this is what we got.”

Walker became the third player in Super Bowl history with multiple rushes of 25-plus yards in a single Super Bowl, per ESPN, joining Washington’s Timmy Smith in Super Bowl 22 and the Raiders’ Marcus Allen in Super Bowl 18.

The Super Bowl MVP is determined by a combination of a media panel and a public vote. The 16-member media panel (comprised of writers and broadcasters) determines 80% of the award; online fan voting counts for 20%.

After the game, Walker said his mother, father and little brother were at the game and that Super Bowl 60 was the first time his dad has seen him play in person.

“My dad, he comes out to Seattle to watch games, but he never goes to the game because he doesn’t like crowds,” Walker told the media. “So, this is his first NFL game, and we won the Super Bowl, so it means a lot to me and I know he’s proud of me, for real.”

When asked if he convinced his father to attend the game, Walker said it wasn’t him.

“I wasn’t the one that convinced him, actually, my agent convinced him to come out here,” Walker said. “So, I didn’t think he would come. They ended up mic-ing him up and everything, so he got out of his comfort zone.”

Seattle parade set for Wednesday

Now, where does a 12th Man go to party? Or a few hundred thousand 12s?

A victory parade will be held Wednesday celebrating the Super Bowl 60 champion Seattle Seahawks, a city spokesperson confirmed late Sunday.

As we thrill in the team’s triumph over the Patriots and await more when-and-where details, let’s look back at the communal pride unleashed in 2014.

Three days after that team won the Super Bowl, fans flooded downtown, howling with pride along the Fourth Avenue parade route from Denny Way to then-CenturyLink Field.

The crowd was estimated at 750,000 people (although crowd estimate experts stated that was probably an exaggeration, there were likely somewhere between 250,000 and 450,000 people). People pulled their kids out of school for the parade, painted their faces and pets blue and green, and gazed in rapture at the Vince Lombardi Trophy as Richard Sherman hoisted it above screaming fans.

Over one-quarter of Seattle Public Schools students were absent that day, as were nearly 20% of the teachers. Seattle police called the entire force in to work the event. Emergency phone lines were clogged as the horde overwhelmed cell signals. Ferries were packed to capacity with fans trying to make the parade.

Marshawn Lynch beat a drum and threw Skittles into the crowd from the hood of a Duck boat filled with pompom-waving Sea Gals.

Russell Wilson thrust the front page of the Seattle Times – with its simple headline, “Champs” – toward sidewalks stacked 20 people deep. The quarterback who helped drive that 43-8 walloping of the Denver Broncos was in the moment. And he was looking ahead. “In order to win multiple Super Bowls,” he said, “you have to win the first one first.”

Done. And done.

But a few warnings about celebrating.

In the hours after the game, overzealous revelers climbed atop and damaged the Pioneer Square pergola, which sustained about $25,000 in damage and was repaired thanks to a crowdfunding effort.

Seattle police advised residents to be careful this time around: In a post, the department said there will be DUI emphasis patrols Sunday and asked that people avoid the temptation to scale the old and expensive pergola.

“You want to let your hair down, have a bit too much bean dip, and watch the Hawks exorcise a demon from our collective past,” the SPD news release stated. “We just want you to be safe.”