The Wizard and ‘a bunch of bad boys’: How the Seahawks won Super Bowl LX
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Seattle Seahawks’ demolition of the New England Patriots had neared completion by late in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LX, not long after the sun had set behind the yawning walls of Levi’s Stadium. As the Patriots offense prepared for a rare play on the Seattle side of the field, Coach Mike Macdonald directed his defense through a headset connected to linebacker Ernest Jones IV’s helmet. The play called for a blitz by cornerback Devon Witherspoon with an incongruous name: “Nail.”
For the duration of Sunday night, the Seahawks’ defense had been a hammer, a well-designed tool capable of crude destruction. But it was Nail that put the finishing touch on a defensive masterpiece. Witherspoon blitzed and clobbered Patriots quarterback Drake Maye in the chest. The ball came loose and floated into the hands of linebacker Uchenna Nwosu. He rumbled 45 yards for a touchdown, an exclamation point at the end of Seattle’s bid for history.
The box score showed the Seahawks yielded two touchdowns and 331 total yards Sunday night. The felt reality of Seattle’s 29-13 triumph declared comprehensive domination. The Seahawks’ defense entered with a superior plan, and their players executed it with vicious precision. The defense confused the Patriots mentally and manhandled them physically. Seattle won partially through design, mostly through brute force.
New England may have reached 13 points, but it scored none before the fourth quarter and only reached the end zone when trailing by 19 and 22 points. The Patriots’ first eight possessions (not counting a kneel-down at the end of the first half) ended in punts, five of them after three-and-outs. Their ninth died when linebacker Derick Hall stripped Maye and defensive tackle Byron Murphy II leaped on the ball. The Patriots crossed midfield on their opening drive, and not again until 12:50 remained in the fourth quarter. Even obscure trivia denoted the Seahawks’ defensive mastery: Their punt returner, Rashid Shaheed, set a Super Bowl record for fair catches.
The Patriots may have thought they knew what to expect from Seattle’s defense. But they were overwhelmed by a defensive line that throttled their blockers and a secondary that erased their wideouts.
“The way we play is different from what you can get watching film,” Jones said. “Once we get in front of your face, it’s a different ballgame.”
Maye rarely had time to pass. When he did, he saw only covered wideouts. The balance between pressure and coverage resulted in six sacks, not counting Witherspoon’s game-ender, which went down as an interception rather than a sack and fumble. Macdonald stands at the sport’s schematic vanguard, but the Seahawks dominated through simplicity more than complexity.
“Tonight was just about rushing and covering,” defensive coordinator Aden Durde said. For two weeks, Seattle’s coaches emphasized the same message: “Be who we are.”
“It’s not about the other team,” defensive tackle Leonard Williams said. “It’s about us. When we perform at our highest level, we feel like we can’t be touched.”
Seattle’s plan began with Macdonald, who became the first Super Bowl-winning head coach who calls defensive plays. His system uses limited blitzes, relying on pressuring quarterbacks and stopping the run even with two safeties back to limit explosive plays. He achieves his aims through the notion of simulated pressure, cluttering the line with defenders who play multiple positions and leaving offenses to guess who is rushing and who is dropping into coverage.
“I call him The Wizard,” Murphy said. Seahawks defenders believe that by kickoff, Macdonald knows the opposing offense’s game plan as well as he knows his own.
“We knew what they were going to do, how they were going to attack, how they were going to feature certain people,” Witherspoon said. “We had a great game plan. We knew how their tackles and guards were going to set. We went out there and attacked it.”
The Seahawks identified tackle Will Campbell and guard Jared Wilson, the rookies on the left side of the Patriots’ offensive line, as targets. “We knew that that was an area we wanted to attack,” Williams said. Campbell and Wilson had struggled in the playoffs in ragged victories over the Houston Texans and Denver Broncos. The Seahawks were intent on exploiting them.
“Two rookies out there,” Murphy said. “We were just trying to come with the best play to get after them guys. After that first drive, I knew we got ’em.”
Early on, defensive end Rylie Mills destroyed a drive when he shoved Wilson five yards into the backfield and drove him into Maye, turning Wilson into a bowling ball and Maye into the pins.
“I told myself the night before that I wasn’t going to think,” Mills said. “I was just going to go right through someone’s face.”
Macdonald made a small, crucial adjustment in the first quarter. When the Patriots deployed more 11 personnel - formations with one running back, one tight end and three wideouts - than expected, the Seahawks switched from their intended heavy use of dime (six defensive backs) and called more nickel (five defensive backs).
“I honestly didn’t know the game plan was going to be nickel pressures,” Jones said. “Mike’s the man. He made the adjustment in his head. We started rushing a lot more with the nickel.”
Once in nickel, the Seahawks strangled the life out of the Super Bowl. The Seahawks’ offense failed to finish drives and mustered only three field goals before halftime. Seattle’s defenders didn’t care. “We came out at halftime saying, ‘We have enough points to win the game. We don’t need any more points,’” Williams said.
The Seahawks built a 19-0 lead before a spasm of deep passes to wideout Mack Hollins gave the Patriots their first touchdown. They briefly threatened again before Macdonald called Nail with 4:37 left in the game.
The play required coordination. Seahawks on the backside of the blitz crowded the line, diverting Maye’s attention to a bluff. Defensive linemen rushed in unison to create a wide lane for Witherspoon. Jones had to curl underneath the center, faking his own blitz, to distract New England’s pass-protecting running back.
“And then,” Jones said, “boom.”
Witherspoon handled the rest, sprinting at Maye and dislodging the ball.
“He’s my favorite player in the NFL,” Jones said. “Man, he’s a walking Hall of Famer.”
The Patriots would add another cosmetic score, which provided Maye no solace. Afterward, eyes glassy, Maye choked on his words. He had led the Patriots to their first post-dynasty Super Bowl, chucking deep passes and making acrobatic scrambles until he finished a few votes shy of claiming MVP. In the Super Bowl, Seattle’s defense had left him a quivering husk.
“You got to play at your best in those plays that make the game matter,” Maye said. “If you make ’em, you’re celebrating. If you’re not, you’re sitting here crying at a podium.”
As Maye attempted to gather himself, the Seahawks celebrated. They had talked for two weeks not only about winning, but also about joining NFL lore. They discussed the 1985 Chicago Bears and 2000 Baltimore Ravens, viewing themselves as in the same class.
“When it’s all said and done,” Jones said, “that’s a bunch of bad boys.”
In the Seahawks locker room Sunday night, about an hour after neon green and blue confetti fell, Durde emerged from a corner doorway with a cigar in one hand and a can of Coors Light in another. Players swarmed him and swayed to hip-hop blasting from speakers. One handed Durde a bottle of Don Julio 1942 tequila. Double-fisting, smoke billowing from his mouth, Durde collapsed into a chair next to veteran defensive backs Quandre Diggs and Shaquill Griffin.
“They can never take this away from us,” Durde told them.
The defensive coordinator stood and glad-handed with staffers. The Seahawks had won the Super Bowl. History may not remember the unsightly game fondly, but it will remember the Seahawks for their all-time domination. As Durde sat back down, Diggs leaned back and provided the only summation necessary.
“Ass-whooping, too,” he said.