SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Julian Love as soon as thought he would by no means depart the Giants.
Now, he’s a Tremendous Bowl champion.
The transfer from east to west did nice issues for him.
Love was a part of Seattle’s “Darkish Aspect” protection that dominated from begin to end Sunday within the Seahawks’ 29-13 victory over the Patriots in Tremendous Bowl LX.
The Seahawks have been by no means in bother, however their 19-0 lead was trimmed to 19-7 and the Patriots had the ball once more early within the fourth quarter, maybe on the fringes of a comeback.
They picked up two first downs when Drake Maye regarded deep for Kyle Williams.
Love, proper the place he wanted to be, turned a horrible throw into a simple interception.
He then raced 35 yards to assist arrange Jason Myers’ fifth and ultimate subject aim to slam the door on the Patriots as soon as and for all.
“I’d be kidding if I didn’t dream of that within the yard once I was 8, 9 years outdated,’’ Love mentioned. “To see that ball within the air and it was proper to me, all I assumed in my thoughts was ‘Simply catch it.’ ’’
Love spent his first 4 NFL seasons with the Giants, the crew that took him within the fourth spherical in 2019.
He needed to stick with the Giants however ended up signing with the Seahawks and in his third yr together with his new crew is now a champion.
It was fairly outstanding that the Seahawks had little bother bludgeoning the Patriots with none actual contribution from their prime receiver.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba was focused 10 instances by Sam Darnold and got here away with solely 4 receptions for 27 yards.
His longest catch went for 16 yards.
“There’s been video games the place I caught two balls — I don’t know what I had in the present day — and we gained,’’ Smith-Njigba mentioned.
This was fairly a reversal of fortune for this yr’s AP NFL Offensive Participant of the 12 months Smith-Njigba, who completed the common season with 119 receptions for an NFL-high 1,793 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Two weeks in the past, Smith-Njigba wrecked the Rams within the NFC Championship recreation, hauling in 10 passes for 153 yards and one landing.
Late within the third quarter, Smith-Njigba was compelled off the sphere and into the medical tent, as he was checked out for a concussion.
He was cleared and in a position to return to the sport.
There has by no means been a Tremendous Bowl with no penalties in a single half of play.
This one got here moderately shut.
There have been no penalties within the first quarter and the primary flag of the night time was thrown with 3:09 remaining earlier than halftime — a false begin penalty on Patriots RT Morgan Moses.
The 9-0 halftime lead was a foul signal for the Patriots.
Groups are actually 0-15 within the Tremendous Bowl when held scoreless into halftime.
The Seahawks factors within the first half got here on three Jason Myers subject objectives, making this the fifth Tremendous Bowl performed with out a landing scored in a half.
Darnold is the primary beginning quarterback to win a Tremendous Bowl for his fifth NFL crew.
Darnold beforehand performed for the Jets, Panthers, 49ers and Vikings.
Mike Macdonald, 38, turns into the third-youngest head coach to win a Tremendous Bowl — behind solely Sean McVay and Mike Tomlin.
Macdonald’s 17 wins in a single season are essentially the most ever for a head coach below 40 years outdated.
He additionally turns into the primary head coach who makes the calls on protection to win a Tremendous Bowl.
The Seahawks be a part of the Buccaneers (Tom Brady, 2020), Broncos (Peyton Manning, 2015) and Saints (Drew Brees, 2009) as the one groups to win a Tremendous Bowl with a quarterback they didn’t draft after which acquired in free company.
Seahawks normal supervisor John Schneider, who introduced in Darnold, is the primary GM to ever take a franchise to a number of Tremendous Bowls with completely different head coaches and completely completely different rosters.
