Top Seahawks’ Rival Not Surprised By Seattle Dominance in Super Bowl LX

The 2025 Seattle Seahawks had the number one defense in the NFL by points allowed, estimated points added, and defense-adjusted value over average. They were excellent by every measure. However, there was one team that gave them a lot of trouble, and one player in particular that they couldn’t quite solve.

I’m talking about Matthew Stafford, the Rams’ veteran quarterback. In a season that saw him win the league Most Valuable Player award, Stafford rolled into Seattle twice and put up monster numbers both times. Across three games, Stafford threw for 961 yards, 8 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. Ironically, he got bottled up in Los Angeles, with just 130 yards.

Even more ironic was that the Rams won that game, and then lost the next two where Stafford played some of the best football of his prestigious career. The stark contrast between the game that he had in the NFC Championship game against this top defense, and the games that Brock Purdy and Drake Maye played against it on either side of that game, tell a strong story.

Despite that, Stafford seems to have full respect for the Seahawks, both as a defense and as a team. He was asked about the game on SiriusXM’s “Let’s Go” podcast, and was pretty blunt in his assessment. As he would tell it, the game went the way he anticipated.

“It went about as I expected, to be honest with you,” Stafford said. “That's kind of how I thought the game was going to go. New England's defense kept them in it for as long as they could. And really, Seattle moved the ball well, just didn't score down there inside the – once they crossed the 50, stalled out a couple of times. I think it could have been not as close as it was, really.”

“I've watched, obviously, a ton of Seattle tape, so I knew what was coming a lot of the time. And I had watched some crossover tape with New England's offense, so I had a little bit of a feel for that. I did not know a whole lot about what New England's defense was doing the whole year, but they played well. It was fun to watch. That's about how I thought it was going to go.”

Stafford has already announced plans to return for the 2026 season, which means the Seahawks will have to deal with him during at least two games against the Rams, barring injury. We’ll see if he continues to know what’s coming against them, as he often seemed to in the last two games against them.

We know Stafford predicted a Seahawk victory in Super Bowl LX before the game, and after not being particularly surprised by a one-sided show of dominance, it sure seems like he buys into the belief that the NFC Championship Game was the true Super Bowl. Perhaps we’ll have another dramatic affair next year to decide the conference.

Drake Maye couldn't match Stafford's performance against this defense. — New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) is sacked by Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Byron Murphy II (91). | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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