The Seattle Seahawks rolled past the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX. While it remains a long-shot, the Dallas Cowboys can pursue the same type of success by copying a championship-winning formula.
The 2025 Seattle Seahawks just became world champions in Super Bowl LX, cruising past the New England Patriots 29-13 in Santa Clara on Sunday.
They did so with second-year head coach Mike Macdonald at the helm of a historically strong front seven and modern blitzing approach that suffocated the entire NFC this season, not just the Pats in the final game.
Seattle finished the season as the NFL's best scoring defense, a reputation that was put on display by holding the Patriots to zero points at halftime, forcing eight punts, and sacking MVP runner-up Drake Maye a Super Bowl-record seven times.
Macdonald, as the NBC broadcast crew highlighted during the game's waning moments, is a relatively anonymous in household conversations regarding NFL head coaches.
That, however, is expected to change quickly as teams adopt Macdonald's formula and try to replicate his successes in 2026.
One of those teams may be the Dallas Cowboys.
There are pieces that parrellel here, allowing Seattle to be as good a "blueprint" for Dallas as any.
Like Macdonald was this year, Brian Schottenheimer will be a second-year head coach in Dallas in the 2026 regular season. He's also a young mind (though not as young as Macdonald) when it comes to offensive trends in the modern NFL, something Macdonald's expertise on defense was clearly proven to be significant.
We saw Schotty's offensive brilliance come to fruition in Year 1 with quarterback Dak Prescott anchoring one of the best scoring teams in the entire league throughout the year.
Now the Cowboys will be in pursuit of that youthful energy on defense with new coordinator Christian Parker, just 34 years of age.
Other similarities? Seattle's QB Sam Darnold completed the ultimate comeback arc after once being cast away league-wide as a backup. Prescott could accomplish a similar "underdog" evolution after being a fourth-round pick, who despite rising up Cowboys record books, still holds a reputation of postseason failure leading "America's Team".
On defense, however, is where the Cowboys could best find similarities to Seattle. But hold on, objectivelly, there is a long way to go (Dallas was arguably the worst defense in football in 2025, after all). A silver lining is the interior trio of Quinnen Williams, Osa Odighizuwa and Kenny Clark - one of the better line-of-scrimmage foundations a team could have.
The Seahawks - led by Cowboys ex DeMarcus Lawrence - were the best run-stopping team in the NFL during the regular season. That area wasn't the worst facet of the Dallas defense under former DC Matt Eberflus; it was the secondary.
Now with Parker in control, it wouldn't be a surprise if Jerry Jones & Co. unleashed the young mind to have agency for all creativity necessary to clean things up.
Whether it's a twist on a 3-4 look that eases coverage underneath for defensive backs, or a more traditional formation after the former secondary coach develops the current personnel and Dallas targets the room in the draft and free agency, the Cowboys will look different on defense this year. There is no other choice.
One place to start looking for remodeling inspiration is in the Pacific Northwest, where an up-and-coming coach has officially arrived by crafting a model that is sure to be immitated in 2026.
Whether it's duplicated is another story.
At least for now, the Cowboys have a blueprint to follow.