Uncover the Surprising Stats Behind the Seahawks’ Unforgettable Super Bowl Triumph Over the Patriots

Really, they got sacks whenever they wanted. It was an outrageous defensive showing.

Twice, Witherspoon did a brilliant job weaving through the right side of the New England line. He was unblocked both times but still had to take the most efficient route to Drake Maye, and he did.

A tragic offside penalty on the Patriots’ last drive (which didn’t really affect the play) was all that separated Seattle from a record-tying seventh sack. 

6.5 

The average yardage to the sticks that the Patriots faced on their third downs. That includes several double-digit-yardage attempts in the first half.

With rookie left tackle Will Campbell looking every bit as overmatched as he looked on paper, these downs were desperate situations for New England. (Campbell was No. 1 on our list of players most likely to cost their team the game, and he delivered.) The Patriots didn’t convert a third down of longer than 8 yards and were 6 of 15 on them overall.

The Seahawks were, amazingly, worse on third downs: 4 of 16, including three run plays on 3rd-and-12 or longer. But that mainly spoke to the confidence Mike Macdonald had in his defense. 

33, 39, 41, 41 and 26 

The distances of the five field goals made by Seattle kicker Jason Myers, who beat the Patriots all by himself. Very workmanlike, though I suspect people will overstate his performance.

Missing more than one of those field goals would’ve been catastrophic, given the near-robotic state of NFL kicking. 

8

Punts by Seattle’s Michael Dickson. Hang on, though, to understand the majesty of them. 

47.3

The average net yardage of those punts, in a world where 42 or so is pretty solid.

Here’s where Dickson was a particular weapon. The New England offense was overmatched, and I’m not positive they would’ve scored a point if they had started every drive at midfield. But these were the net gains and ensuing field positions for the Patriots after each of Dickson’s punts: 

• 50-yard punt, fair-caught at the New England 36
• 45-yard punt, returned for zero yards 
• 40-yard punt, downed with no return 
• 47-yard punt, returned for 19 yards before Dickson himself pushed returner Marcus Jones out of bounds. But a block in the back negated the return and turned Dickson’s punt into a 53-yard net
• 46-yard punt, downed with no return
• 55-yard punt, downed at the New England 4-yard line after Seattle inexplicably didn’t field the punt
• 52-yard punt, out of bounds at the 6 after the Patriots put on a block scheme 

The average NFL punt netted 41.3 yards this season. Dickson was a bit better than that, averaging 42.2. But he stepped up his game considerably in the Super Bowl, making a firm case as the league’s best punter.

It’s not the best punting performance in Super Bowl history – that might have been the Kansas City Chiefs’ Tommy Townsend averaging a 50.8-yard net against the San Francisco 49ers two years ago – but it’s right up there.

I’d posit that on a night with few other standout performances on offense and a bunch of Seahawks defenders sharing the limelight, an argument could be made for Dickson to earn Super Bowl MVP. (In the end, it went to running back Kenneth Walker III.) 

No punter averaged more than a 45.5-yard net during the regular season, by the way. 

4 of 10

The catch rate for Seattle receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The 2025 NFL Offensive Player of the Year briefly left the game in the second half after being checked for a concussion.

There are a lot of fair ways for a person to describe the Seahawks’ dominance in this game, but I think you could do worse than this one: “The best receiver in the NFL had arguably his worst game of the season, and not only will nobody remember it, but it never even came close to threatening to change the outcome.” JSN had 27 yards. 

44% 

The lowest completion percentage in a Super Bowl win, a record that still stands, albeit narrowly. The Seahawks pushed for some history on Sunday, but Darnold’s 50% performance kept him out of the basement.

Maye, meanwhile, had one of the least productive performances in Super Bowl history, throwing for 295 yards, giving back 43 in sacks, and turning the ball over three times. The NFL isn’t always a quarterback league and padding stats in garbage time made Maye’s night look much better than it was. 

Three Minutes and 45 Seconds 

The amount of clock time during which it felt like the Patriots finally had things working in their favor in this game. That was the period between Maye’s 35-yard touchdown pass to Mack Hollins in the early fourth quarter and the ghastly interception he threw to Julian Love on a deep corner route on his next series. 

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