By Brandon Simmons
The Seattle Seahawks are world champions thanks to their dominant defensive performance over the New England Patriots. The Seahawks beat the Patriots 29-13 in a game that went from a defensive battle to a shutout within 3 quarters. Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III – who won Super Bowl MVP – showed out in this game with 27 rushes for 135 yards. It overshadowed the quiet game of Seahawks QB Sam Darnold who went 19/38 for 202 yards. However, he didn’t need to do much as the defense did a lot of the work to secure this win. Seattle linebacker Ernest Jone shad 11 tackles to lead the team. Seattle linebacker Derick Hall and defensive end Byron Murphy each shared 2 sacks a piece which was a part of the 6 sacks the defense had.
Walker had an incredible performance but the Seahawks defense was really the star of this show. There were so many players making plays on this unit that it almost warranted the unit to win that award. Seahawks cornerback Josh Jobe had a tackle for loss in the 1st quarter and had a pass deflection on the 3rd down of the 3rd quarter’s opening drive. Speaking of cornerbacks, Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon had 3 QB hits and a sack. Jobe’s tackle for loss actually set up Witherspoon to get a sack on 3rd down. Witherspoon’s 4th quarter hit actually forced the interception to be returned for a touchdown by linebacker Uchenna Nwosu. The Seahawks defensive line terrorized the Patriots the whole game. Seattle defensive tackle Derick Hall got a sack on the defense’s first possession that led to a 3 and out. Hall also forced a fumble for the Seahawks to recover at the end of the 3rd quarter. His teammate, defensive tackle Byron Murphy had 2 sacks that jarred New England. His first sack created a 3 and out and his 2nd sack came before Nwosu’s pick 6.
It’s not a lot to say about this Patriots team in this game. During their playoff run, they were in defensive battles and held their own, but the opposing offense just was not well equipped for the conditions, inclement weather in those games. In a game where the skies were clear and the wind was minimal, it allowed for Seattle to utilize all of their offensive weapons, to the point where the New England just couldn’t hold up. Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez had 3 pass deflections on his own but that couldn’t translate into slowing down the Seahawks running game which ultimately destroyed them.
The Seattle Seahawks played a dominant brand of football on both sides of the ball. This game really didn’t have much to do with who had more experience, like some Super Bowls, as both rosters are relatively new and each team missed the playoffs last year. This was simply one team played better and smarter than the side from start to finish.
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