The Seattle Seahawks won Super Bowl LX 29-13 over the New England Patriots on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium. Moreover, on this run to a championship, Seahawks QB Sam Darnold played injured.
Before their playoff journey even began, Darnold appeared on the Seahawks’ injury report with an oblique strain leading up to the divisional round game against the San Francisco 49ers. As a result, there concerns about the Seattle standout.
Nonetheless, Darnold would play through the playoffs with that issue, and after beating the Patriots, the Seahawks star shared what the last few weeks have been like playing with his oblique injury.
“It wasn’t fun by any means,” Darnold told reporters on Feb. 9 (h/t Kalyn Kahler of ESPN). “It was pretty banged up. Still, I don’t really want to go into too much detail because I don’t understand why it would. But yeah, it hurt really bad. I think you guys can imagine a left oblique strain for a quarterback. It’s not very fun.”
Darnold completed 19 of 38 passes for 202 yards, threw one touchdown, and had no interceptions. He connected on a 16‑yard scoring pass to A.J. Barner in the fourth quarter en route to the franchise’s second Super Bowl title.
Seahawks Defense Earns Praise for Super Bowl Performance
The Seahawks didn’t need much from Darnold, as his one touchdown pass was enough, with Seattle’s defense making life miserable for the Patriots’ offense. Seattle’s defense made the New England offense one-dimensional, holding the Patriots to 79 rushing yards and keeping them scoreless through the first three quarters.
Meanwhile, Patriots QB Drake Maye completed 27 of 43 passes for 295 yards, throwing two touchdowns and two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown. He also ran five times for 37 yards, took six sacks, and lost one fumble.
Seahawks’ Jaxon Smith-Njigba didn’t hold back his thoughts on the Settle defense, who held the fort in the first half, limiting the Patriots to zero points through the first three quarters. Maye and Co. didn’t record their 13 points until the fourth quarter.
“Oh, man, those guys were ready,” Smith-Njigba said on NFL Network after the win. “They’ve been ready. It’s always fun to watch them. We know they’ve got our back. They’re the best in the world. We know we’re going to get opportunities to score, but it starts with defense, and defense wins championships, and we got one today.”
Mike Vrabel Talks Patriots Super Bowl Loss to Seahawks
While the Seahawks’ defense made life challenging for New England, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel shared other reasons why Seattle had such a convincing win over his squad.
“We couldn’t gain any rhythm or field position,” Vrabel told reporters. “We’ve got to get into drives better offensively. Defensively, we’ve been really good against the run lately, and we weren’t. Again, we were just playing catch-up.”
Moreover, Vrabel zeroed in on the key reason for their loss to the Seahawks.
“Unfortunately, I think the turnovers ultimately cost us,” Vrabel added. “I appreciate the way that the guys offensively battled, but just not enough consistent execution.”
Seahawks’ Sam Darnold Gives Blunt Revelation After Super Bowl