One by one, they stepped out from behind a black curtain and on to the field at Levi’s Stadium. Tom Brady, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Joe Montana – it was a conveyor belt of champions, a who’s who of legends in lettermans, a reminder that legacies are written on Super Bowl Sunday and that no one straddles the divide between hero and also-ran quite like quarterbacks.
Shortly before kickoff on Sunday, Brady and Co wandered toward a makeshift stage where Green Day continued the pregame festivities with a 10-minute burst through their biggest hits.
Green Day was not booked to offer commentary on football and yet, here in Santa Clara, the rock band’s lyrics offered a fitting reminder of what was at stake for every player on the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots: broken dreams or the dawning of the rest of their life.
The truth is, this performance by Sam Darnold won’t fill many pages in the history books. No one will be rushing to boast that they were there on the day that the Seahawks quarterback completed 19 of 38 passes and threw for a solitary touchdown. This win was built on the backs of a ferocious Seahawks defense.
But, frankly, given the turmoil and tumult Darnold has endured over the last eight seasons, who cares? There are no stat lines or pictures on a ring and after all the heartbreak, all the question marks, all those years of waiting, Darnold is a Super Bowl champion.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold won his first Super Bowl with against the Patriots
Darnold celebrates after his fourth-quarter touchdown pass to AJ Barner at Levi’s Stadium
He started with the New York Jets but has since bounced around, from coast to coast
On Sunday night in Santa Clara, he completed one of the NFL’s most remarkable resurrections. Eight years after being drafted third overall by the Jets, five years after being cast off by New York, three years after being jettisoned by the Carolina Panthers, two years after watching Super Bowl LVIII as backup on the San Francisco 49ers, one year after collapsing in the playoffs and being told that he lacked the stones to win football’s biggest prize.
‘It’s unbelievable. Everything that has happened in my career, to do it with this team – I wouldn’t want it any other way,’ Darnold told NBC.
‘I’ve always believed in myself because of my family and my friends. It’s as simple as that. As long as you believe in yourself, anything is possible.’
The Seahawks are his fourth teams in as many seasons. Head coach Mike Macdonald rolled the dice and Darnold repaid him with a trip to Levi’s Stadium. No wonder the quarterback’s eyes glazed over during the Star-Spangled Banner.
So perhaps we can forgive the performance. Particularly on a day when defenses caused chaos – just ask Patriots quarterback Drake Maye what it means to struggle in your Super Bowl debut.
For long periods of this arm wrestle, Darnold was shackled too. And then, 90 seconds into the fourth quarter, the 28-year-old looped a pass into the end zone. Into the arms of AJ Barner. Darnold wheeled away and teammates rushed off the benches and towards their quarterback.
Let’s not forget: it was against the Patriots, on a chastening night in October 2019, when Darnold was caught on a hot mic admitting: ‘I’m seeing ghosts.’ Well, on Sunday night, he banished a few.
Over recent seasons, the script heading into Super Bowl Sunday was already penciled in. There were storylines everywhere: Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift, Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City, dynasties and, in New Orleans, Donald Trump.
Darnold celebrates with tight end Barner after his touchdown against New England on Sunday
The Seahawks quarterback is pictured alongside his long-time girlfriend Katie Hoofnagle
From New York, Darnold moved on to the Carolina Panthers but quickly became the back-up
This year was different. There was plenty for the purists to chew over but – as far as casual fans were concerned – neither the Seahawks nor the Patriots brought many superstars to the Bay Area.
Instead so much of the buildup centered around who else might be at Levi’s Stadium: Trump, his ICE agents and even the mischievous devil in Bad Bunny. Would he use his platform to make a political point? All that did was leave a gaping hole for someone to take center stage on the field.
Eleven years have passed since these two teams met in Glendale and, right at the death, with the Seahawks one yard and one score from a second straight Super Bowl crown, Russell Wilson’s pass flew into the arms of New England cornerback Malcolm Butler.
In that moment, with that interception, Butler etched his name into football folklore forever. It was no coincidence that on Sunday afternoon, with kickoff just moments away, Wilson was spotted on his phone in one of Levi Stadium’s luxury suites while Butler was brought on to the field to ring the bell that told the world: the Patriots are back.
All that was left to find out: who would make this Super Bowl their own? Well, really, no one did. Not any individual, anyway. There was even the odd boo after Maye took a knee to end an attritional first half. Of 11 completed drives, eight ended in punts and the others were all field goals for Seattle. The Seahawks defense were suffocating the Patriots.
Kenneth Walker was the only offensive player to make a dent in the opposition – the Seahawks running back rushed for 94 yards in the first half. That was nearly double what the entire Patriots team put together.
Darnold struggled to click into gear, too, and at 9-0 the Seahawks’ advantage remained precarious. Both quarterbacks’ statline, meanwhile, made for pretty grim reading. But then Darnold found Barner and closed the book on a story of resilience and perseverance and, in the end, Super Bowl victory.
‘I’m so proud of our guys. I can’t say enough great things about our defense and special teams,’ Darnold added.
‘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 now. It’s an unbelievable feeling.
‘I’m just so happy for the guys in the locker room and coaches who put in so much effort throughout the whole season.’
