The Play That Decided Super Bowl LX started with 22 to 7 on the board and 4:27 left on the clock, the exact kind of score that tricks a young quarterback into believing there is still room to breathe.
Levi’s Stadium did not go quiet because of the lead. The place tightened up because everyone could feel Drake Maye reaching for one more answer.
New England needed a fast march, something like 80 yards in four minutes, and it needed it without the one thing Seattle fed on all night: panic. Devon Witherspoon lined up wide, then crept in like he knew the snap count. Maye glanced left, saw what looked like order, then turned back into a blur. The hit did not just land. The contact jarred his throwing arm, popped the ball up, and turned the drive into a gift wrapped in Seahawks colors.
Uchenna Nwosu plucked it and ran 45 yards to the end zone, and the Patriots spent the final minutes chasing a game that had already slipped away.
The math of a 29 to 13 squeeze
Seattle’s second Super Bowl title did not arrive with fireworks. The Seahawks built it the hard way, one possession at a time, with the kind of defense that makes every yard feel rented.
Three Jason Myers field goals carried Seattle to a 9 to 0 halftime lead, and that number told the entire story of the first half. Reuters reported New England produced just 51 total yards before the break, the kind of stat line that makes a sideline feel smaller with every series. Seattle’s defense kept folding the pocket, and Maye kept restarting his feet like he could reset the whole night with one clean throw.
Field goals kept the Patriots hanging around, which is why the scoring progression matters. Seattle opened 3 to 0, stretched it to 6 to 0, then 9 to 0 at halftime. Another Myers kick pushed it to 12 to 0 later, and only then did the Seahawks finally hit the end zone on a Sam Darnold touchdown pass to AJ Barner that made it 19 to 0 early in the fourth. ESPN’s scoring log captured the rhythm: slow points, then one sudden punch.
New England finally landed a counter at 12:27 in the fourth when Maye hit Mack Hollins for a 35 yard touchdown that cut it to 19 to 7. For about a minute, the game felt alive. Seattle answered with Myers again to make it 22 to 7, and then The Play That Decided Super Bowl LX slammed the door with Nwosu’s return and the lead jumped to 29 to 7. The Patriots added a late touchdown to finish 29 to 13, but the result never changed shape.
One number from Reuters explains why. Seattle finished with six sacks, eight tackles for loss, and three forced turnovers, plus the touchdown return that turned a tense finish into paperwork. The cleanest reference point lives in the official NFL gamebook.
The snap that broke New England’s last chance
Defensive coordinators spend all week setting traps. Mike Macdonald just waited for the exact moment a rookie quarterback tried to be brave.
Maye did not play scared. That made the play worse for him, not better, because Seattle hunted the one trait young passers lean on when a comeback clock starts yelling: trust in the throw you want, not the throw the defense allows.
Witherspoon’s pressure looked simple on television. Up close, it felt like a dare. He aligned outside, showed enough patience to keep Maye thinking “quick completion,” then timed the rush so he arrived right as the throwing motion started. Reuters described the contact as a blitz hit that popped the ball into the air. AP detailed the same chaos with a key nuance: Witherspoon struck Maye’s arm, and Nwosu snagged the pass in the air before sprinting those 45 yards.
That detail matters because it explains why the play cut so deep. Sacks hurt. Hits rattle. A takeaway that becomes seven points does something else. It rewrites what the sideline believes is possible in the final four minutes.
Maye stood there for a beat after it happened, hands on hips, staring into the turf like it had betrayed him. Patriots coach Mike Vrabel grabbed his play sheet and kept talking, but the body language said the truth. New England did not just lose the drive. The Patriots lost the last illusion that they still had control.
The Play That Decided Super Bowl LX worked because it matched Seattle’s personality. The Seahawks did not chase a shootout. They chased a mistake, then punished it so hard the comeback died on contact.
Why this play belongs in the museum of February pain
Fans love to call it destiny. Most of the time, “destiny” is just one defender arriving a half second earlier than the quarterback expected.
To understand why The Play That Decided Super Bowl LX will live longer than the box score, you have to stack it next to the other moments that defined Super Bowl history. The games change. The stadiums change. The pressure never does.
What follows is not a list of “greatest plays” in a vacuum. These are turning points that changed outcomes, changed coaching habits, and changed what fans say out loud when a season hangs on one snap.
10. Wide Right
Buffalo lived on a knife edge all night in Super Bowl XXV, then watched it slip. Scott Norwood lined up from 47 yards and pushed the kick wide, and Pro Football Reference still reads like a bruise when you scroll the final minute. The Giants won 20 to 19, and a franchise that built a dynasty sized roster got stuck with one phrase that never dies.
That miss changed how coaches talk about late game aggression. Nobody wants to hand a season to one foot and one gust of wind.
9. The Helmet Catch
The Patriots had a perfect season in their hands, and the Giants had one desperate heave. Eli Manning broke free, launched it deep, and David Tyree pinned the ball to his helmet for a 32 yard catch that kept the drive alive in Super Bowl XLII. Defensive backs played it well. The ball still chose chaos.
Every late game scramble since then carries a little extra fear. Coverage does not always finish a story.
8. James Harrison’s 100 yard theft
Arizona thought it had a touchdown before halftime. Pittsburgh turned that confidence into a nightmare. James Harrison jumped the route, then ran 100 yards the other way in Super Bowl XLIII, flipping a likely Cardinals score into a Steelers lead.
That play taught every quarterback the same lesson: the red zone shrinks your windows, and impatience makes defenders look faster than they are.
7. The surprise onside kick that stole a half
New Orleans did not wait for the second half to “settle in.” The Saints treated halftime like a weapon. Sean Payton dialed up a surprise onside kick in Super Bowl XLIV and recovered it, stealing a possession and the emotional high ground.
Coaches still reference it when they want permission to be bold. Fans still argue it like a philosophy debate.
6. Devin Hester’s kickoff return that lit the fuse
Super Bowl XLI opened with a sprint that made you believe in destiny for real. Devin Hester took the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown, and the stadium erupted like it had been waiting all day for one release.
Chicago lost anyway, which is what makes it sting. The play proved special teams can change the temperature of a game in one run.
5. Mario Manningham’s sideline toes
One of the cleanest throws in Super Bowl history did not land in the middle of the field. It landed on the edge, where mistakes live. Eli Manning hit Mario Manningham for 38 yards down the sideline in Super Bowl XLVI, a catch that set up the go ahead score and twisted New England’s coverage rules into knots.
Boundary completions hurt because they feel unfair. Defenders can do everything right and still lose by an inch.
4. The goal line interception that haunted Seattle for a decade
Seattle knows this pain better than anyone. Super Bowl XLIX ended when Malcolm Butler jumped a slant at the goal line, intercepting Russell Wilson and turning a repeat title into a lifetime argument.
That moment followed the Seahawks into every January conversation for eleven years. It also set the emotional stage for The Play That Decided Super Bowl LX, because Seattle fans carried that memory into Santa Clara like a weight.
3. Edelman’s catch that refused to drop
Atlanta had New England on the ropes in Super Bowl LI. One play kept the comeback alive. Julian Edelman dove into bodies and somehow came up with a 23 yard catch that looked impossible in real time.
The moment lives because it showed how frantic football becomes when nerves take over. Hands turn into pinballs. Gravity stops being consistent.
2. The Philly Special and the era of fearless calls
Philadelphia did not outthink New England with a safe plan. The Eagles attacked the Patriots’ pride. On fourth down near the goal line, Nick Foles caught a touchdown on the “Philly Special,” and the play became a symbol for an entire coaching generation that stopped apologizing for aggression.
The legacy still shows up every postseason. When a coach reaches into the bag for something wild, the broadcast always names that play.
1. The Play That Decided Super Bowl LX
Seattle had already strangled the game, but the Patriots still had time to make it weird. Maye took the snap down 22 to 7 with 4:27 left, needing a fast drive to turn a slow night into a miracle. Witherspoon hit his throwing arm on a blitz, the ball popped up, and Uchenna Nwosu snatched it and ran 45 yards for the touchdown that finished the fight.
Reuters called it the decisive blow. AP framed it as the punctuation mark on a defense that pummeled Maye all night. Both descriptions land for the same reason: the play captured Seattle’s identity in one frame. Violence, timing, and no mercy once the ball came loose.
The play also completed a circle for the Seahawks. Eleven years after losing to the Patriots in the most painful way possible, Seattle beat New England by forcing the exact kind of mistake that once broke its own heart.
What this turning point means next
Seattle won Super Bowl LX because it refused to blink, even when points came in small pieces. The Seahawks also won because they trusted a style that many teams treat like old fashion stubbornness.
Myers drilled five field goals, an NFL record for the Super Bowl, and Seattle still never panicked about the lack of early touchdowns. AP and Reuters both leaned on the same truth: Seattle’s defense carried the night, and the offense did just enough to stay out of trouble. That balance won championships in past decades, and it still works when the roster matches the plan.
One performance explains why the Seahawks could stay patient. Kenneth Walker III ran for 135 yards on 27 carries and earned Super Bowl MVP, becoming the first running back to win the award since Terrell Davis in 1998, as Reuters reported. Walker turned short gains into manageable downs, and that let Macdonald keep calling pressure without worrying about time of possession swings.
The Patriots leave with a different lesson. Maye can throw it. Vrabel can coach it. None of that matters if your protection cracks at the exact moment the comeback needs calm. New England’s late touchdown drives showed talent, but the night’s larger story came from the hits that arrived before routes could breathe.
A bigger league wide question sits underneath all of it. Defenses keep getting faster, but quarterbacks keep getting asked to play faster too, and those two truths collide in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl when a season reduces itself to one snap. When the next title game tightens into that same kind of pressure cooker, will the quarterback take the boring completion and live for the next down, or will he chase the heroic throw that invites the blitz he cannot see?
The Play That Decided Super Bowl LX is Seattle’s answer. The rest of the league just got dared to find its own.
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Super Bowl LX MVP: Kenneth Walker III Punches Seattle’s Ticket to Redemption
FAQs
Q1: What was the play that decided Super Bowl LX?
Witherspoon hit Maye’s throwing arm on a blitz, the ball popped loose, and Nwosu returned it 45 yards for a touchdown.
Q2: What was the score when the decisive play happened?
Seattle led 22 to 7 with 4:27 left when the turnover return turned the game into a 29 to 7 sprint to the finish.
Q3: Why did Jason Myers matter so much in this game?
Myers hit five field goals, so Seattle kept scoring without forcing risky throws.
Q4: Why did Kenneth Walker III win Super Bowl MVP?
Walker ran for 135 yards on 27 carries and kept Seattle in control when the game still felt tight.
Q5: Why does this win feel different for Seattle fans?
It flips the old Super Bowl XLIX wound into a new memory, one defensive snap that finally ends the argument.
I’m a sports and pop culture junkie who loves the buzz of a big match and the comfort of a great story on screen. When I’m not chasing highlights and hot takes, I’m planning the next trip, hunting for underrated films or debating the best clutch moments with anyone who will listen.
