Home US SportsNFL Ranking 60 greatest Super Bowl moments in NFL history: Seahawks can’t escape top play

Ranking 60 greatest Super Bowl moments in NFL history: Seahawks can’t escape top play

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SAN JOSE, CA − Should the Seattle Seahawks have simply run the ball?

It’s a question that’s been posed countless times over the past decade-plus but has returned to the forefront with a vengeance this week as Seattle prepares to play the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 60 − 11 years after the Seahawks‘ stunning, controversial, pall-casting 28-24 loss to the Pats in their last Super Sunday appearance.

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“I know that’s a sore subject for a lot of people but, uh … we’ll say pass?” current Seahawks QB Sam Darnold smiled when asked the question during Super Bowl Opening Night on Feb. 2. (Wrong answer, Sam.)

Said Seattle receiver Cooper Kupp: “I would say probably hand the ball off.” (Bingo.)

Head coach Mike Macdonald had had about enough after fielding the same query from multiple media members Monday.

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Super Bowl photos: Most memorable moments from Super Sunday

Super Bowl I (Packers 35, Chiefs 10): Green Bay Packers running back Jim Taylor (31) follows the blocks of Jerry Kramer (64), Marv Fleming (81) and Forrest Gregg (75) against the Kansas City Chiefs at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

“I think the more important question is how many times am I gonna get this question over the next three days?” is where a slightly exasperated Macdonald landed.

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It’s a fairly understandable response given the typical Groundhog Day patina of Super Bowl coverage. And that’s especially true given neither Macdonald, Darnold, Kupp nor anyone on the present roster was part of the Seattle team that so memorably failed in Super Bowl 49, a defeat that potentially precluded a Seahawks dynasty while breathing new life into the Bill Belichick and Tom Brady-era Patriots − who had not won a Super Bowl in 10 years prior to that magnificent escape act. (They would go on to capture two additional Lombardi Trophies over the following four years, bringing their total to six, tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for most won by a single NFL franchise.)

The laundry may be the same, but this weekend’s game hardly qualifies as a rematch. Yet Macdonald was asked again − sort of − on Feb. 4, the question repackaged in a way to suggest the 2025 Seahawks might be motivated to avenge the 2014 edition.

After a brief pause, Macdonald responded (with a laugh), “No. We haven’t talked about it once.”

If you’re even a semi-casual football fan, then you probably remember the particulars of the play in question. If not? Then consider this a learning experience as it kicks off my list of the 60 most memorable plays on Super Sunday going into Super Bowl 60:

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1. Malcolm Butler’s INT

Pivotal. Shocking. Unforgettable. The Patriots’ undrafted rookie cornerback made the rarest of plays, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat by intercepting Seahawks QB Russell Wilson at the goal line with 20 seconds left to preserve the four-point win in Super Bowl 49.

“I can’t believe the (play) call,” NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth, who will also call Super Bowl 60, said at the time. “You have Marshawn Lynch. You have a guy who’s been borderline unstoppable. … If I lose this Super Bowl because Marshawn Lynch can’t get into the end zone, so be it. So be it. I can’t believe the call.”

In the process, Butler derailed Seattle’s title defense a year after they’d won Super Bowl 48 in dominant fashion over Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos and launched a lifetime of second guessing for the legions who skewered coach Pete Carroll for not directing Wilson to hand off to Lynch, one of the most formidable backs in league history and a guy who’d already scored a touchdown and racked up 133 total yards in that game. Last, yet certainly not least, Butler saved Brady and coach Belichick from the narrative that they were “only” 3-3 in Super Bowls to that point. Way to just “do your job,” Malcolm Butler!

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