The Seattle Seahawks are Playing in Super Bowl LX
I’m writing this on the morning of Super Bowl LX, where my beloved Seattle Seahawks are trampling all over our rival San Francisco 49ers field to face the New England Patriots. If you know this sport, there’s the obvious elephant in the room given the Hawks’ opponent. 11 years ago, Seattle faced New England in Super Bowl XLIX (49) down on another rival team’s field in Arizona. With seconds left in that game, Seattle coaches called a quick pass play from the two-yard line over handing the ball off to Marshawn Lynch, who should have been the MVP of that game. That pass was intercepted, game over.
I’ve seen the replay many times over the past week. I’ve seen the replay with NBC’s annoying announcer Chris Collinsworth rambling like a drunk idiot about it every time the Seahawks play a prime-time game in Arizona, even when it has nothing to do with anything going on or being talked about. It was a dumb call, and I’d rather everyone move on. The only joy I got out of it was the jokes from Marshawn about it. Basically, my family can joke about it, but everyone else’s family needs to mind their own family problems.
A phrase that’s been in my head with just life stuff lately is “everyday is an opportunity”. The Seahawks tonight have an opportunity to make everyone forget about eleven years ago by reminding everyone who they are now. Once again, Seattle has an elite defense, as nasty and reminiscent of the Legion of Boom from a decade ago. They don’t allow anyone to hit 100 yards rushing. That allows their pass rush to tee off on quarterbacks. The defensive line is so good, the Hawks rarely have to blitz, meaning the other seven defenders can play the pass.
What’s different from a decade ago is they also have an offense that can hold its own over being held up by the defense. They acquired Sam “Ginger Cuz” Darnold last summer as a free agent, and he’s taken off from where he left off last year in Minnesota, continuing to revitalize his career after spending time in football hell with the Jets. Running back Kenneth Walker (who I share a birthday with) provides explosiveness in the running game. Then we have a fleet of receivers led by Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp. This feels like about as complete a team I’ve seen them have.
That’s to say I feel good about tonight. Don’t get me wrong, it’s the Super Bowl. New England deserves to be there too. But this doesn’t feel quite like those Patriots teams led by Tom Brady, who felt like it would take some kind of miracle to beat, or that something stupid would happen to the other team and New England would benefit. Ask Rams and Falcons fans about that. As I write this, Seattle is a 4.5-point favorite with bettors. We’ve been the better team on paper and on the field over the last month. If they take care of business, Seattle will be fine.
I could have gone to a gathering tonight, but with my team in it, I want to be able to focus on the game. I also want to be able to take in Bad Bunny’s halftime show. I didn’t buy myself a sound bar this past year to not be able to enjoy sporting events. I’ll be where I want to be. Other than that, the only other thing to say is “Go Hawks!”.
