NFR Superb Owl 2026: Seahawks vs Patriots (official thread)
- Thread starter Evan B
- Start date
Non-fishing related
agreed with one exception. The 'relax your tight end' had me and the wife laughing out of our lazy boys; good message too. Other than that I noticed an inverse relationship between the number of 'big names' acting in a commercial and the quality of said commercial, with the riff on Good Will Hunting coming in dead last for quality.
DryFly82
Life of the Party
A complete game in all phases by the Hawks. Glad my kids are old enough to appreciate this one. Dark Side defense lived up to the hype and turned an MVP candidate into Drake Meh. I wish they could have got the shutout, but in the end they'll still go down as one of the better SB defenses of all-time.
The eye test for me will always favor the 2013 Legion of Boom and their dismantling of the greatest NFL offense of all time. The 2013 team was packed with stars, but I think this 2025 team is deeper and hopefully we'll get to enjoy the ride for a few more years. Go Hawks!
The eye test for me will always favor the 2013 Legion of Boom and their dismantling of the greatest NFL offense of all time. The 2013 team was packed with stars, but I think this 2025 team is deeper and hopefully we'll get to enjoy the ride for a few more years. Go Hawks!
I now feel like whoever voted Drake Maye for MVP all owe Stafford an apology. I realize Maye had a defense absolutely ruining his life all game, but he had nothing in his toolkit to answer. Darnold was under pressure as well, but still managed to get the ball out. Just not always as on point as usual. But the point stands: There is a vast, vast sea between Stafford and Maye and they were 1 vote apart.
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Legion of Boom is legendary, but I think this unit is actually better. LoB had more big personalities and swagger, so I think made more of a lasting impression. This defense is all business. Not as dramatic or exciting, but other than the Rams, no other team in the latter part of the year had any answer to what they were doing.
Breck
The Whisk(e)y Dick
I went to a really great party at a friend's house. He has a nice bar in his basement with a pool table. The Mrs & I posted up at the bar and pretty much just ate great food and had some barley pops and tequila over good conversation. I had my back to the TV pretty much the entire time. I watched maybe a couple of plays here and there and that was about it. I ignored the commercials and the Halftime Show.
All that said, I know there are a lot of folks here that are really stoked about your win. Sounds like the Seahawks earned it fair & square. So, on that note, congrats Seahawks fans. It's always good to see folks happy.
All that said, I know there are a lot of folks here that are really stoked about your win. Sounds like the Seahawks earned it fair & square. So, on that note, congrats Seahawks fans. It's always good to see folks happy.
I would buy into this statement, or at least be interested in seeing some data comparing the two.
Regardless, anyone who thinks that the LoB was somehow significantly better than this group is mistaken. I'll listen to opinions about one over the other, I'm sure there are arguments to be made each way. But at the very least, they are in the same conversation. I also agree that this unit feels like it might be set up for a longer run.
Who knows what headaches the salary cap will create, though. Always hard to keep a team together. That's the tradeoff for making sure the owners stay rich and the league competitive. Not that I'm shedding a tear for the players having thin wallets. I just hate that the real reason for salary caps isn't "better for the fans" but rather "skinflint owners". The first league who proposes a salary cap for competitive reasons, but then puts the saved money towards lower ticket/streaming prices (or buying their own stadiums) will have my loyalty forever.
MVP is a regular season award. Has always been thus. Not that I'm arguing about Stafford. As much as I dislike the Rams, Stafford was amazing this year.
The real argument about Maye winning the MVP is that the Pats had a weak strength of schedule. Not Maye's fault, you can only play the teams they give you. But that should have been enough extra credit for Stafford given how good the NFC West was this season.
Josh Rosen?
AI had a brain fart.
SF
I know you're as stoked as I am about the
Seahawks win, but I gotta ask...
Dime had his surgery for his pulled Aiyuk yet, or is he waiting till the sandy mangina heals up first ?
Tell him we all said ...
Get Well Soon !!!
The Pat's O line has been abysmal, the left side giving up more sacks and QB pressures than any other team in NFL play off history. The entire playoffs had been a struggle for Maye, constantly under pressure and just didn't have the experience to handle it, the Achilles for every young QB, especially a young puppy,.
What was surprising was how badly the Pat's were out coached on both sides of the ball, especially on offense, where designed QB runs on expected blitzes would certainly have been preferable to sacks. So much for the genius of Josh McDaniel.
This Hawk team the third best performance in SB history, however, with Darnold throwing for 202 yards and 1 TD? File that under one writers prisoner of the moment hyperbole.
What was surprising was how badly the Pat's were out coached on both sides of the ball, especially on offense, where designed QB runs on expected blitzes would certainly have been preferable to sacks. So much for the genius of Josh McDaniel.
This Hawk team the third best performance in SB history, however, with Darnold throwing for 202 yards and 1 TD? File that under one writers prisoner of the moment hyperbole.
charles sullivan
Life of the Party
Congrat's fighting chickenhawk fans. It's been a pretty good year for Seattle sports fans.
My beloved Patsies were unable to protect he QB long enough while the Chickenhawks consistently got to him even when rushin four. The pats were also unabale to make the big play defensively. This was a game of leverage and the Fighting Chickenhawks had the leverage the whole game.
Playing from behind was never the expected path to victory for the Pats. They start rookies at LG and LT. Against a superbowl quality defense, the left side of the line was unable to hold up. That is the story of the game. They needed a big play early in this one and did not get it.
Defensively, the Patriots were really good. Had they been able score earlier in the game, I think they would have been able to get Darnold to throw a pick or two. He looked prime to do so. However, the Seahawks had the lead for the whole game and were able to play conservatively offensively. In the end they were able to run for 141 yards. Overall, the teams were fairly equal in total yards. The difference was the sacks and turnovers. These were driven by the Seahaks having the lead.
The Seahawks were a better team. Upsets usually require a defensive or special teams play or three. Dickson kept Marcus Jones from having any real chances to return a punt by placing the ball right on the sideline. The best chance for a defensive play was early in the game when Jones nearly got the 1st pass of the game. The Pats D was flying ealy but their lack of offesive muscle put them in a position where they could not gamble as aggessively as they would have wanted.
Stafford won the MVP. I'm not sure what pro-stafford people could be upset about.
My beloved Patsies were unable to protect he QB long enough while the Chickenhawks consistently got to him even when rushin four. The pats were also unabale to make the big play defensively. This was a game of leverage and the Fighting Chickenhawks had the leverage the whole game.
Playing from behind was never the expected path to victory for the Pats. They start rookies at LG and LT. Against a superbowl quality defense, the left side of the line was unable to hold up. That is the story of the game. They needed a big play early in this one and did not get it.
Defensively, the Patriots were really good. Had they been able score earlier in the game, I think they would have been able to get Darnold to throw a pick or two. He looked prime to do so. However, the Seahawks had the lead for the whole game and were able to play conservatively offensively. In the end they were able to run for 141 yards. Overall, the teams were fairly equal in total yards. The difference was the sacks and turnovers. These were driven by the Seahaks having the lead.
The Seahawks were a better team. Upsets usually require a defensive or special teams play or three. Dickson kept Marcus Jones from having any real chances to return a punt by placing the ball right on the sideline. The best chance for a defensive play was early in the game when Jones nearly got the 1st pass of the game. The Pats D was flying ealy but their lack of offesive muscle put them in a position where they could not gamble as aggessively as they would have wanted.
Stafford won the MVP. I'm not sure what pro-stafford people could be upset about.
wanderingrichard
Life of the Party
I've told Kay (Bengals fan)for several years that announcers are biased. There's times when it's subtle but then a lot of it is blatant, almost like they're getting paid by the owners to fangirl
DryFly82
Life of the Party
Hopefully they are set up for a longer run this time around. LoB was built around some amazing players by a "players coach" and that worked for a short time until the individual mindset took over that locker room on both sides of the ball. I get the sense that Macdonald's approach might be better suited to keeping that team first mentality with this group. I'd like to think that Darnold has seen enough of the NFL that he can be content with maintaining the "whatever it takes to win" approach rather than needing to be the center of attention like the post-Ciara version of Russ.
We'll definitely have to pay some players in the next few years, but so far I love what I'm seeing from our young stars in JSN, Witherspoon, Emmanwari, Murphy, and on and on. They can see look at some of the individual first guys like Geno, DK, and soon to be gone Woolen and realize what a special group they have. They don't need to take a discount, but hopefully they won't be pushing to break the bank if they can keep the core together and keep winning. At least for 2026 we should be in great shape with the salary cap to try to run it back.
I'm curious who our next offensive coordinator will be. Hopefully someone solid that can stick around for more than 1 year.
This is me gloating.
Yeah, not saying Maye didn't deserve ANY votes, but even looking at just the regular season, Stafford was clearly better by way more than "1 vote apart." And them playing the Seahawks back-to-back (NFCCG/SB) put on display how wide the gap was between them.
This is why I listen to the Seahawks radio call when I watch TV if possible. If I'm gonna hear biased announcers, I want to hear ones that know and care about the Hawks. Plus, like the M's with Niehaus and the Sonics with Collabro, it isn't a Hawks game without Raible in my ears.
This is my main concern for the Seahawks in 2026.
wanderingrichard
Life of the Party
For me the highlight of the game was the Nwozu TD. Maye practically handed him the ball.