If you were a New York Giants fan devoid of a rooting interest in Super Bowl 60, cheering for ex-Giants defensive back Julian Love was an option.
Plus, if you did so, you were surely excited for the ex-Giants DB making a play to seal the championship for the Seattle Seahawks.
As part of one of the most dominant defensive performances in the championship game’s 60-year history, Love had a game-sealing interception of quarterback Drake Maye in the fourth quarter of Seattle’s 29-13 win over the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday night.
Love, of course, was a fourth-round draft pick of the Giants in the 2019 NFL Draft from Notre Dame and was one of their most durable defensive players in his four seasons with them.
But now Love is a Super Bowl champion.
Former Giants DB Julian Love Had an Interception in the Super Bowl
It was tough for Giants fans when they decided to let Love leave in free agency without so much as a contract offer in the offseason of 2022.
Love had played 95% of the Giants defensive snaps in 2022, plus 50% of the special-teams snaps, and led the team with 124 tackles. But he left to sign with Seattle on a two-year contract before he signed a three-year contract extension during the 2024 season.
As he was with the Giants, Love has been an integral member of the Seattle defense and put his stamp on the virtuoso performance from Mike Macdonald’s defense Sunday night. So trailing 19-7, and with New England driving to try and cut the lead to five, Maye threw up a prayer on second-and-3 that Love picked off and returned 35 yards into New England territory.
“I’d be kidding if I didn’t dream about it in the backyard when I was 8, 9 years old,” Love said. “To see that ball in the air, and it was right to me, the only thought in my mind was just catch it.”
Four Kenneth Walker III runs, and one Sam Darnold completion later, and kicker Jason Myers buoyed Seattle’s advantage to 22-7 with 5:38 to play.
Not only did Love effectively seal the game with the interception, but he did officially cap the Seattle win when he made the game-ending tackle on TreVeyon Henderson on the game’s final play.
“It’s special,” Love said. “I’ve dreamed of this my whole life. This is a dream come true.”
Julian Love Wasn’t the Only Ex-Giants Player to Win the Super Bowl
Love may have made one of the game’s biggest plays, but he wasn’t the only ex-Giants player to earn a ring Sunday night.
Of course, Leonard Williams was one of the standouts on that dominant Seahawks defense. Though he only finished with one tackle, Williams played 50 of the Seahawks’ 70 defensive snaps and helped limit the Patriots to 79 rushing yards.
“In the NFL sometimes you see people on different agendas — sometimes it’s about money, sometimes it’s their family,” Williams said. “On this team, our agenda is each other, and this team, and I think we really embody that.”
To those who may not remember, the Giants traded Williams to the Seahawks at the 2023 trade deadline for two draft picks — a 2024 second rounder that became Tyler Nubin and a 2025 fifth-round pick that was used to select Marcus Mbow.
Williams has gone to consecutive Pro Bowls for the Seahawks and of course helped make them Super Bowl champs this year.
Former Giants DB Seals Super Bowl With Late-Game Interception