SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Julian Love once thought he would never leave the Giants.
Now, he’s a Super Bowl champion.
Moving from east to west did great things for him.
Love was part of Seattle’s “Dark Side” defense that was there from start to finish Sunday in the Seahawks’ 29-13 victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl LX.
The Seahawks were never in trouble, but their 19-0 lead was trimmed to 19-7 and the Patriots got the ball back early in the fourth quarter, perhaps on the edge of a comeback.
They got two first downs when Drake Maye tackled Kyle Williams.
Love, where he needed it, turned a bad throw into an easy cover.
He then ran 35 yards to help set up Jason Myers’ fifth and final field goal to slam the door on the Patriots for good.
“I could play if I didn’t dream that in the backyard when I was 8, 9 years old,” Love said.
Love spent his first four NFL seasons with the Giants, who took him in the fourth round in 2019.
He wanted to stay with the Giants but ended up signing with the Seahawks and in his third year with his new team he is a champion.
It was surprising that the Seahawks had little trouble sacking the Patriots without a real contribution from their top receiver.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba was targeted 10 times by Sam Darnold and had just four receptions for 27 yards.
His longest catch was 16 yards.
“There were games where I caught two balls — I don’t know what I was doing today — and we won,” said Smith-Njigba.
This was a reversal of fortune for AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year Smith-Njigba, who finished the regular season with 119 receptions for 1,793 NFL yards and 10 touchdowns.
Two weeks ago, Smith-Njigba crushed the Rams in the NFC Championship game, catching 10 passes for 153 yards and one touchdown.
Towards the end of the third quarter, Smith-Njigba was forced off the field and into the doctor’s tent, where he was checked for a concussion.
He was cleared and was able to return to the game.
There has never been a Super Bowl without penalties in one half of the play.
This one came reasonably close.
There were no penalties in the first quarter and the first flag of the night was thrown with 3:09 left before halftime – the first foul penalty on Patriots RT Morgan Moses.
A 9-0 halftime lead was a bad sign for the Patriots.
Teams are now 0-15 in Super Bowls when held scoreless at halftime.
The Seahawks’ points in the first half came on three field goals by Jason Myers, making this the fifth Super Bowl played without a touchdown at halftime.
Darnold is the first starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl for his fifth NFL team.
Darnold previously played for the Jets, Panthers, 49ers and Vikings.
Mike Macdonald, 38, becomes the third youngest coach to win a Super Bowl – behind only Sean McVay and Mike Tomlin.
Macdonald’s 17 wins in a single season are the most by a head coach under the age of 40.
He is also the first head coach to make defensive calls to win a Super Bowl.
The Seahawks join the Buccaneers (Tom Brady, 2020), Broncos (Peyton Manning, 2015) and Saints (Drew Brees, 2009) as the only teams to win a Super Bowl with a quarterback they didn’t draft and acquire in free agency.
Seahawks general manager John Schneider, who brought in Darnold, is the first GM to ever take a franchise to multiple Super Bowls with different head coaches and completely different rosters.
