Super Bowl LX is locked in.
In a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX, which saw the Patriots defeat the Seahawks 28-24, New England and Seattle will face off in what is both teams’ first Super Bowl appearance since that 2015 match-up.
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It comes after the Seahawks outlasted the Los Angeles Rams 31-27 in a high-scoring thriller on Monday, with the Patriots booking their spot in the Super Bowl earlier with a 10-7 win over the Denver Broncos.
It means Australian punter Michael Dickson, who came up big with a game-changing punt early in the third quarter to force a fumble that Seattle recovered and later converted into a touchdown, is through to his first Super Bowl.
In a match-up between the NFL’s best offence and defence, it was always going to be an intriguing battle to see which unit came out on top and early on, it was the Seattle defence dictating terms.
The Seahawks forced the Rams into a quick three-and-out to open Monday’s game and then, after giving up a 44-yard strike to Puka Nacua, restricted Los Angeles to a field goal on its second drive.
It isn’t as if Seattle’s offence is not a strong unit though. Far from it, in fact, with the Seahawks boasting one of the more explosive and efficient passing attacks in the league and it showed on their first drive of the game as Sam Darnold found speedster Rashid Shaheed for the big gain.
That set up Seattle inside the red zone and while the Seahawks of old had at times struggled to execute in that area of the field, ranking 21st in the league with a 55.38 per cent success rate, the run game had started to find life in recent weeks.
And after a three-touchdown game against the 49ers in the divisional round, Kenneth Walker punched it in to give Seattle a 7-3 lead and then had a few more key plays as the Seahawks added a field goal.
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It was a brief glimpse of just what Walker is capable of in a featured role, having previously split carries with Zach Charbonnet before he tore his ACL in the San Francisco match-up.
It was also a chance for Walker to drive up his asking price, with the shifty running back set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2026.
Speaking of running backs, it was L.A.’s Kyren Williams who gave the Rams the lead late in the second quarter as he leaked out of the backfield and was left wide-open.
The Rams could have had even more points after a face mask was missed on a drive earlier in the quarter, with the visitors instead settling for a second Harrison Mevis field goal.
While Walker was the engine of the offence, the run game ultimately sets up the big plays through the air and a tough contested catch from the NFL’s leading receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba put Seattle in scoring position right before halftime.
Darnold then found Smith-Njigba, who broke Seattle’s single-season franchise record for receiving yards in late November, in the corner for the touchdown.
The former Ohio State standout had seven catches and 115 yards in the first half alone.
Smith-Njigba added another 12 yards to open the second half, but Seattle’s first drive stalled after Darnold was sacked on 3rd-and-12, leaving Dickson, who had previously been described by Pat McAfee as a “wizard”, to come on for the punt.
But Dickson proved why he is the league’s highest-paid punter, signed to a $AUD23 million contract, as a perfectly executed, spiraling punt was muffed by Xavier Smith and recovered by Seattle.
Michael Dickson of the Seattle Seahawks. (Photo by Ric Tapia/Getty Images)Source: Supplied
That immediately set the Seahawks up in scoring territory and Darnold found rarely-targeted receiver Jake Bobo for the touchdown.
Momentum had well and truly swung in the Seahawks’ favour at that point, but if the previous two one-score games between these two teams – including an overtime thriller in Seattle – were anything to go by, this was far from over.
And for a Rams team with so many veteran players on offence, led by Stafford, there was no sense of panic as the 37-year-old found Davante Adams for a chunk gain and then the touchdown.
Seattle quickly hit back through a former L.A. Super Bowl hero in Cooper Kupp, but the seesawing nature of Monday’s game continued soon after as cornerback Tariq Woolen had a few minutes to forget.
First, he could not reel in a potential interception while on Puka Nacua. But still, it was great defence on the play from Woolen and had the Rams positioned to punt on fourth down.
Instead, an unsportsmanlike penalty for taunting gifted L.A. a fresh set of downs and the Rams immediately went back after Woolen as Nacua came down with the catch this time for the touchdown.
Fox Sports play-by-play commentator Kevin Burkhardt said it was “as bad as it gets” from Woolen, while legendary quarterback Tom Brady called a “costly” mistake.
In the end, fortunately for Woolen, it didn’t end up being the difference as the Seahawks held on with the Rams passing up a field goal late in the quarter to instead go for it on 4th-and-4.
Stafford, however, couldn’t connect with rookie tight end Terrance Ferguson as the Rams fell short.
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