Seahawks soar to Super Bowl title with 'Dark Side' defense

SANTA CLARA, California — The "Dark Side" defense carried Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks to a Lombardi Trophy.

Devon Witherspoon, Derick Hall, Byron Murphy and the rest of Mike Macdonald's ferocious unit pummeled Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, and the Seahawks beat New England 29-13 on Sunday to win the franchise's second Super Bowl.

"We never waver, man. We believe in each other. We love each other, and now we're world champions,"Macdonald said.

Darnold threw a touchdown pass to AJ Barner, Kenneth Walker III ran for 135 yards and Jason Myers set a Super Bowl record by making all five of his field goal attempts.

"To do this, with this team, I wouldn't want it any other way,"Darnold said. "So proud of our guys, our defense. I mean, I can't say enough great things about our defense, our special teams."

Walker became the first running back to win the Super Bowl MVP award since Hall of Famer Terrell Davis did it with Denver 28 years ago.

Uchenna Nwosu punctuated a punishing defensive performance by snagging Maye's pass in the air after Witherspoon hit his arm, before running it back 45 yards for a pick-6.

"We went through a lot, but we believed," Witherspoon said. "All of you doubters out there who said all that other stuff, you all don't know what's going on in this building. We're one of one over here."

Seattle won its first Super Bowl a dozen years ago behind its "Legion of Boom" defense, then was denied a repeat when New England's Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson at the goal line. The Seahawks hadn't been back to the Super Bowl since.

Darnold becomes the first quarterback in the 2018 NFL draft class to win a Super Bowl, ahead of Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson.

Labeled a bust, dumped by two teams and considered expendable by two others, Darnold proved his doubters wrong while helping the Seahawks go 17-3.

After leading the NFL with 20 turnovers in the regular season, Darnold didn't have any in three playoff games. He wasn't particularly sharp against a solid Patriots defense, but protected the ball and made enough plays, finishing 19 of 38 for 202 yards.

"I know we won the Super Bowl, but we could have been a little bit better on offense, but I don't care about that right now," Darnold said."It's an unbelievable feeling, man. I'm just so happy for the guys in the locker room, and the coaches that put in so much effort throughout the whole season."

On the other side of the scrimmage, the Seahawks sacked Maye six times, including twice by both Hall and Murphy. Hall's strip-sack late in the third quarter set up a short field, and Darnold connected with Barner on 16-yard scoring toss to make it 19-0.

Julian Love's interception set up another field goal that made it 22-7 with 5:35 left.

The Patriots (17-4) punted on the first eight drives, excluding a kneel-down to end the first half.

"Just reminding them that we're 307 days into what hopefully is a long, successful relationship and program, and it's OK to be disappointed," New England coach Mike Vrabel said of his players.

Down 19-0, Maye and the Patriots' offense finally got going. He hit Mack Hollins over the middle in traffic for 24 yards and then lofted a perfect 35-yard TD pass to Hollins down the left side to cut the deficit to 19-7.

Tom Brady once led Bill Belichick's Patriots to the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, when New England rallied from a 28-3 deficit against Atlanta for a 34-28 overtime victory.

But Maye, who was runner-up to Matthew Stafford for the AP NFL MVP award in the closest race in two decades, didn't come close. He had a chance to narrow the gap, but his ill-advised pass into triple coverage was picked by Love, and the Patriots trailed by 15 when they got the ball back with 5:35 left.

Then came Nwosu's touchdown, a fitting way to cap an overwhelming effort by the NFL's stingiest defense.

"Definitely hurts. They played better than us tonight," Maye said.

Maye's seven-yard TD pass to Rhamondre Stevenson late in the game only made the margin smaller.

The Seahawks took a 3-0 lead on Myers' 33-yard field goal on the game's opening drive. Myers connected from 39 and 41 yards to extend the lead to 9-0 at halftime. He was good from 41 on Seattle's first drive of the third quarter to make it 12-0.

Patriots player of the game

Cornerback Christian Gonzalez made two outstanding plays to prevent potential touchdowns in the second quarter. He raced back and leaped in the air to slap away a deep pass to Rashid Shaheed that could have been a 76-yard TD.

On Seattle's final drive of the first half, Gonzalez knocked down a pass to All-Pro wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba that would have been a 23-yard TD.

Mills a two-for-one sack

Rylie Mills pushed left guard Jared Wilson into Maye and took both of them down on one of Seattle's sacks.

Patriots denied a record

The Patriots failed to win an NFL-record seventh Super Bowl for the franchise, leaving them tied with the Steelers on six titles.

Vrabel, the AP NFL Coach of the Year, was aiming to become the fifth person to win a Super Bowl as a player and head coach, and the first to do so with the same team.

The 23-year-old Maye became the youngest QB to start a Super Bowl, but couldn't oust Ben Roethlisberger as the youngest to win it.

Bad Bunny shines

Bad Bunny headlined a visually stunning halftime performance that also featured appearances by Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin. The Grammy-winning Puerto Rican artist performed entirely in Spanish.

Agencies via Xinhua