Seattle’s offense has been rolling teams with balance, speed, and play-action haymakers. The Patriots’ path to a seventh ring might come down to one ugly, violent truth: win inside, or don’t win at all. Let’s get to know the Seahawks offense ahead of Super Bowl LX.
The New England Patriots’ storybook season has led them all the way to Santa Clara, California, for a surprising Super Bowl LX appearance to cap off the 2025 NFL season.
When they take the field on February 8, the 17-3 Patriots will be faced with their toughest test of the season on both sides of the ball.
The 16-3 Seattle Seahawks are explosive in all three phases, and their regular-season and postseason success has reflected that on a weekly basis. As the No. 1 seed in the NFC, the Seahawks were the only team in the NFL with a top-three ranked offense and defense this year.
Seattle enters the game on the heels of consecutive victories over division rivals — the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams — en route to their first Super Bowl appearance since their defeat against New England in Super Bowl XLIX eleven years ago.
Over the coming days, we’ll dive deep into what the Patriots will need to do on Sunday to shock the world and raise their seventh Lombardi Trophy.
Today, we start with the red-hot New England defense — and the plan to slow down a high-velocity Seahawks offense.
Who’s Who
© Steven Bisig-Imagn ImagesSeattle is led at quarterback by an old division rival: Sam Darnold, who has had a litany of ups-and-downs in his career prior to making his first Super Bowl appearance.
Darnold — drafted in 2018 (the first quarterback from that draft class to reach the Super Bowl) — is now on his fifth team, but he has been a highly efficient game manager over his last two seasons with the Minnesota Vikings and Seahawks. He’s led each team to 14-win seasons in back-to-back years.
It was a career year for Darnold in his first season with Seattle, posting high marks in completion percentage (67.7%), yards-per-attempt (8.5), and success rate (50.0%), while throwing for 4,048 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions with a passer rating of 99.1.
In the postseason, Darnold has arguably been even more impressive. He’s been battling through an oblique injury that has limited him in the weeks leading up to games, but he’s coming off a 25-of-36 (69.4%), 346-yard (9.6 yards-per-attempt), three-touchdown, no-interception performance against the Rams in the NFC Championship Game, where he posted a passer rating of 127.8.
Paired with Darnold is the best receiver New England has lined up against all season long: Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The Ohio State product has enjoyed a breakout third year with Darnold at quarterback, setting the franchise record for receiving yards (1,793 yards) on 157 targets, 119 catches (75.8% catch rate, 15.1 yards per reception), and 10 touchdowns.
He led the NFL in receiving yardage during the regular season, and has seen that number grow to 1,965 yards during the playoffs. With 35 receiving yards in Super Bowl LX, he’d join teammate Cooper Kupp (2,191 yards in 2021) and contemporary Puka Nacua (2,047 yards in 2025) as the only receivers in NFL history to eclipse 2,000 yards in a season including the playoffs.
Smith-Njigba ranks at or near the top of the league in nearly every statistical receiving category this season, and he’s used as a versatile offensive threat — frequently aligning in Seattle’s backfield as a mismatch for box defenders.
Perhaps even more impressive is his efficiency. No matter the route run or coverage scheme presented, Smith-Njigba has been equally effective. Here are Smith-Njigba’s ranks among NFL pass-catchers this season by route run, per Next Gen Stats:
- Go: 279 yards (5th)
- Out: 267 yards (2nd)
- Post: 265 yards (2nd)
- Slant: 226 yards (2nd)
- Cross: 187 yards (6th)
- Hitch: 171 yards (18th)
- Corner: 145 yards (2nd)
- In: 109 yards (20th)
- Screen: 73 yards (T-29th)
- Angle: 41 yards (T-29th)
- Wheel: 26 yards (T-12th)
- Flat: 4 yards (T-282nd)
© Steven Bisig-Imagn ImagesNo matter how the Patriots plan to slow the star receiver down, he’s likely to make an impact throughout.
Supporting Darnold and Smith-Njigba in the passing game are veteran receiver Cooper Kupp and the recently acquired Rashid Shaheed.
Kupp is in his first year with Seattle after spending the remainder of his nine-year NFL career with the Rams. His production is not what it once was (70 targets, 47 receptions, 593 receiving yards, two touchdowns), but he has been a consistently reliable second option with Smith-Njigba leading the way in the receiver room.
Shaheed was brought to Seattle at the trade deadline from the New Orleans Saints — and the Patriots were one of the teams interested in acquiring the speedy wideout when he was being shopped around by New Orleans. Shaheed landed in Seattle and has made an immediate impact on offense and special teams as a returner.
He totalled 15 receptions for 188 yards during the regular season, but only appeared in nine total games. In the postseason, he made highlight reels nationwide after returning the opening kickoff of the Seahawks’ 41-6 Divisional Round victory over the 49ers for a touchdown, setting the tone in a game that became non-competitive quickly. In the NFC Championship Game, Shaheed hauled in his only reception of the postseason thus far — a 51-yard bomb down the right sideline to get Seattle’s offense rolling early.
While Shaheed doesn’t have the volume of an elite receiving threat, his speed and big-play ability make him dangerous whenever he’s on the field.
The Seahawks also make heavy use of their tight ends in both the run and pass game, with second-year standout A.J. Barner leading the way in production. Barner ranked second on the team in catches (52) and receiving touchdowns (6) this season, and third in receiving yards (519) and targets (68).
Seattle maintains an extremely balanced offensive approach, with over 47% of their playcalls being runs. That balance helped them rank top-10 in yardage in both the passing game (228.1 yards per game, 8th in the NFL) and run game (123.3 yards per game, 10th in the NFL) during the regular season.
© Steven Bisig-Imagn ImagesKenneth Walker III is the clear No. 1 back for the Seahawks, leading the team with 1,027 rushing yards during the regular season. He is fast, strong, and has great vision rushing behind a talented Seattle offensive line, averaging 4.6 yards-per-carry. Walker has also shown versatility as a receiver, adding 31 receptions for 282 yards as a pass-catcher.
Seattle’s rushing attack was at its best this season when Walker was spelled by Zach Charbonnet, who added 730 yards and a team-high 12 rushing touchdowns to Seattle’s backfield totals. Charbonnet was the Seahawks’ preferred rusher near the goal line and in pass protection for the vast majority of the season before tearing his ACL and being placed on injured reserve during their postseason run.
Regardless of Charbonnet’s absence, Walker is still set to present matchup issues for the Patriots, as his heavy involvement in the offensive gameplan has paid dividends for Seattle all season long.
Walker graded out as the best running back in the NFL this season, per PFF, with an offensive grade of 91.1 (first of 59 qualified running backs) and a run grade of 91.2 (first of 53 qualified running backs).
His usage sets up openings for an aggressive play-action attack that Seattle deploys on 27.7% of Darnold’s total dropbacks.
Darnold is highly efficient working off the run game and play-action, posting a completion percentage of 68.5% while throwing for 1,646 yards (11.0 yards-per-attempt), 15 touchdowns, and just five interceptions with a passer rating of 124.7 on such plays.
Similar to the Patriots’ offensive concerns, Seattle’s offensive line may be the most glaring area of weakness for New England to exploit.
While highly effective in the run game (91.1 overall running grade per PFF, ranked first in the NFL), Seattle’s high-volume play-action usage and frequent movement of the quarterback’s launch point can largely be attributed to struggles sustaining a clean pocket for Darnold this year.
The Seahawks enter Sunday as the 19th-overall graded pass-blocking unit, per PFF, with multiple areas of weakness along the interior. Guards Anthony Bradford (35.9 pass-blocking grade, 74th of 77 qualified guards) and Grey Zabel (60.3 pass-blocking grade, 49th of 77 qualified guards) have struggled against dominant interior rushers and the identification of defensive line games and stunts all season long — two areas of strength for New England’s defense.
Between them is second-year center Jalen Sundell, who went undrafted out of North Dakota State in 2024. He’s graded as the 19th of 37 qualified centers overall this season, with an offensive grade of 64.9.
Bradford (16 quick pressures, third most among right guards) and Sundell (10 quick pressures, eighth most among centers) have struggled with quick interior rushers (quick pressures are under 2.5 seconds), and are responsible for 89% of the overall pressures that Darnold has faced in the postseason.
Tackles Charles Cross (79.1 pass-blocking grade, 11th of 82 qualified tackles) and Abraham Lucas (71.2 pass-blocking grade, 34th of 82 qualified tackles) provide stability on the edges for Seattle when they drop back and throw, but they’ve been even more impressive as tone-setters in the run game.
Seattle’s rushing attack is built around a zone-blocking scheme, which Walker often prefers to bounce outside. His highest volume of rushing attempts this season have come off the left (60) and right (56) edges, with Cross (69.6 run-blocking grade, 38th of 86 qualified tackles) and Lucas (81.2 run-blocking grade, 16th of 86 qualified tackles) leading the way.
Utilizing one of the NFL’s most balanced offensive approaches with elite talent in the backfield and out wide, the Seahawks have engineered a scoring output that ranks second in the NFL in points-per-game including the postseason (29.2). They’ve scored 30-plus points 10 times this season, and 40-plus points three times.
But with Darnold under center — and interior offensive line issues — this matchup does present advantages that New England can exploit.
Coming Up Next
Next up, we’ll take a look at “who’s who” when the Patriots are on offense, lining up against another of the NFL’s top defensive units in Seattle.
Later in the week, we’ll break down New England’s keys to victory on both sides of the ball.
All of that and much more to come here on Patriots Roundtable as we get prepared for Super Bowl Sunday!
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