Five Eagles-focused takeaways from the Seahawks’ win over the Patriots in Super Bowl LX

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — As the Eagles demonstrated last year, defense wins championships.

The Seattle Seahawks pounded the New England Patriots and their quarterback Drake Maye for three quarters and cruised to a 29-13 victory in Super Bowl LX on Sunday night at Levi’s Stadium.

The Seahawks had standouts on offense and special teams, as running back Kenneth Walker displayed in an MVP performance, and kicker Jason Myers showed in making all five of his field goal attempts. But it was their “Dark Side” defense that set the tone and carried Seattle to its second title and first in 12 years.

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What does the Seahawks’ achievement mean for the Eagles moving forward? Well, not much more than the Eagles realized a year ago when they made a future Hall of Fame quarterback look helpless. No matter how you do it, pressuring the quarterback is paramount.

Maye is no Patrick Mahomes, and few expected the 24-year-old and a young Patriots team to get this far in coach Mike Vrabel’s first season at the helm. Of course, the same could have been said for Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold, who once got lost in the NFL wilderness before general manager John Schneider signed the free agent last offseason.

But it was coach Mike Macdonald’s defense, Walker’s tough running, and Myers’ leg that compensated for an unremarkable passing attack. Here are five takeaways — with an Eagles slant — from the 60th Super Bowl:

Schneider knows something about building elite defenses. Twelve years ago, the Seahawks’ “Legion of Boom” unit whipped quarterback Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos and won going away, 43-8, in Super Bowl XLVIII.

This group, led by another elite secondary, may not yet have the name recognition of Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas from that early 2010s Seattle defense. But third-year cornerback Devon Witherspoon and rookie safety Nick Emmanwori are already two of the best at their respective positions.

The Seahawks consistently pressured Maye, and their zone coverages and heavy dime personnel took away the quarterback’s few reads. There were just as many moments when the quarterback had little time in the pocket due to the pass rush.

The four-man front did its job, but Macdonald’s selective blitzes had Maye dipping his eyes as the game progressed. Witherspoon got to him four times from the slot. He forced two throwaways, registered a sack, and hit Maye just as he threw on a key play in the fourth quarter. The ball landed in linebacker Uchenna Nwosu’s arms and he went 45 yards the other way for a touchdown and a 29-7 lead.

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A year ago, the Eagles famously didn’t blitz once and sacked Mahomes six times and forced three turnovers. The Seahawks weren’t a blitzing team in the regular season, and Macdonald followed that approach in the Super Bowl, sending extra rushers just 13.2% of the time, per NextGen Stats.

Maye was sacked six times and pressured on 52.8% of his drops. And like Mahomes, he tossed two interceptions and fumbled once. The Patriots, meanwhile, went against their norm and blitzed Darnold on 53.7% of his drops.

There are different ways to skin a cat. The Eagles’ scheme isn’t changing, with defensive coordinator Vic Fangio returning after mulling retirement. But there could be room for a slightly more aggressive approach next season.

No other defense was as passive in 2025. The Eagles had the highest percentage of light boxes in defending the run and they had the lowest blitz rate in the NFL. Fangio’s approach worked for the most part, but he didn’t have the defensive front he had a year ago.

With the Eagles expected to change their offense after the hiring of coordinator Sean Mannion, the Seahawks offered an opportunity to see how the Shanahan-McVay system Seattle operates offensively would fare on the biggest stage.

The results were mixed. But two staples of the scheme that have flourished under 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and Rams coach Sean McVay and their acolytes were effective against the Patriots: under-center play action and outside zone runs.

Darnold was under center for almost half the plays — 35 of 71 — as coordinator Klint Kubiak stayed committed to the ground game. It helped that the Patriots never really threatened the Seahawks. But Walker was often allowed to run downhill and finished with 135 yards rushing on 27 carries.

He gained 71 yards on 12 carries (5.9 average) on runs outside the tackles. The Eagles long had an inside zone-heavy offense under run game coordinator Jeff Stoutland. But they tried to shift away from that tendency last season when they essentially took that responsibility from the offensive line coach.

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It was a mild tweak, meant to create more diversity in the run game, but improvement was marginal. There will likely be a more significant transition under Mannion, who played under McVay and Kubiak, and coached under another from the Shanahan tree: Matt LaFleur.

Stoutland’s sudden resignation, after coach Nick Sirianni was prepared to hire tight ends coach Ryan Mahaffey to assume run game duties, was further evidence that change is coming. The Eagles want an offense that has more variables and under-center plays that give quarterback Jalen Hurts more layup throws.

Darnold’s lone touchdown pass came from under center when play-action caught Patriots linebacker Jack Gibbens. The quarterback found wide-open tight end AJ Barner for a 16-yard score early in the fourth quarter.

How far will Sirianni go in altering the offense? It’s been relatively the same structure since 2021. The Eagles had great success with it, but last season’s regression was stark, and wasn’t all on first-time coordinator Kevin Patullo.

How Hurts and the rest of the returning offense adapt is to be determined. But change is coming.

Milton Williams fell short in his quest to become the fifth player to win back-to-back titles for different teams, but the Patriots defensive tackle had nothing to be ashamed about.

The same could be said for New England’s defense. The unit kept the Patriots within striking distance despite the offensive struggles. But, ultimately, they succumbed after Maye and Co. went three and out on five of six possessions during one stretch.

Aside from cornerback Christian Gonzalez, Williams might have been the Patriots’ best defender. He gave Seahawks right guard Anthony Bradford fits and finished with six pressures, one sack and one batted pass.

The former Eagle, who had two sacks and a forced fumble in last year’s Super Bowl, beat a double team before dropping Darnold in the backfield for a third-quarter loss. It was the Patriots’ lone sack of the game.

Williams wasn’t as dominant vs. the run and finished with just one tackle. But Walker had most of his success running away from New England’s interior defense.

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Vrabel knew he had to hang his hat on his defense, but his game management and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ play-calling leaned conservative. Their most egregious moments came on McDaniels’ early run call on third and 5, and the team electing to punt on fourth and 1 at the Patriots’ 41 while down 12-0 in the third quarter.

Vrabel also erred in not going for two after a Patriots touchdown narrowed Seattle’s lead to 19-7 early in the fourth quarter.

Williams might not have won for a second straight year, but he further justified the Patriots signing him to a four-year, $104 million contract last offseason. The 26-year old told The Inquirer last week that he never wanted to leave Philly and felt slighted when the Eagles didn’t tender an offer.

The Eagles had first-rounders Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis, along with Moro Ojomo, returning at defensive tackle. It would have been difficult for general manager Howie Roseman to justify extending Williams with other necessary investments waiting in the pipeline.

But time will tell, assuming Carter and Davis eventually get signed to second contracts, if the Eagles made the right decision.

Williams was one of four former Eagles to play in Super Bowl LX. Josh Jobe was the only one to end the night with confetti on his head. The Seahawks cornerback started on the outside and was sticky in coverage and stout against the run. He finished with seven stops and one pass breakup.

Jobe, who spent his first two years in Philly, said he watched last year’s Super Bowl “[ticked] off” after the Eagles released him before the 2024 season. He revived his career in Seattle and will be one of the more sought-after corners on the market this offseason.

The Seahawks may not allow him to reach free agency, even if homegrown cornerback Riq Woolen is also slated to be unrestricted. Seattle has only four starters slated to become free agents. They should, theoretically, be a contender again next season.

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Woolen had a rough patch in the fourth quarter when Patriots receiver Mack Hollins caught back-to-back passes vs. him in coverage. Hollins’ first catch came over the middle for 24 yards and the second was an over-the-shoulder 35-yard grab for a touchdown.

Hollins, who won a Super Bowl with the Eagles when he was a rookie in 2017, was hoping to cap a journeyman career with a second title.

Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss played his first two seasons in the NFL for the Eagles before getting released late into the 2023 season. New England snatched him up a day later and he has risen the ranks since.

Elliss blitzed early and hit Darnold before he threw incomplete. He also notched three tackles. But he had a relatively quiet night.

Schneider joins the Chiefs’ Brett Veach and the Eagles’ Howie Roseman as the only current GMs to win more than one Super Bowl. While Veach has won all three of his with the same coach (Andy Reid) and quarterback (Mahomes), Schneider and Roseman have won their two titles with different coaches and quarterbacks.

The latter two men have been tied together since they became GMs just days apart in 2010. They took different paths to the top spot — Schneider came up the traditional way as a scout, while Roseman got his start on the business side — but both are now regarded by many as the two best NFL roster-builders.

Schneider can now say he’s not only been to as many Super Bowls as Roseman’s three, but he’s also matched him in Lombardi Trophies. The lone feather in his cap could be winning titles with completely different rosters and coaching staffs, while Roseman had several holdovers last season from the 2017 championship squad.