Well, another year of football has passed, and with that, we got to experience another Super Bowl. This year’s Super Bowl initially sparked interest with the appearances of two teams people would not have expected, the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots.
The Seahawks were known this year for their stellar defense, while the Patriots were known for their MVP runner-up quarterback, Drake Maye. These two teams were unexpected contenders with amazing talent. So surely you would expect this matchup to have exciting moments from both teams, featuring their offenses and defenses.
Unfortunately, that’s not exactly what happened. While an offense can put points on the board and a defense can win championships, this Super Bowl showed how the Special Teams can be a difference-maker. Seattle Seahawks kicker Jason Myers surely expected to score a few points for his team, while perhaps the offense or even the defense scored the rest. Instead, Jason Myers would go on to score 17 points for the Seahawks, more than half of the Seahawks’ total score in the Super Bowl, 29.
Jason Myers went 5-for-5 on field goals, with his longest kick at 41 yards. He also nailed two extra points after a passing touchdown by Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold and an interception by Seahawks linebacker Uchenna Nwosu, who ran it all the way back for a pick-six. The Seahawks won the Super Bowl against the Patriots 29-13, with the Seahawks’ defense showing out and the Patriots’ offense failing to move the ball down the field.
After the Seahawks won the Lombardi Trophy, there was concern about who would receive the Super Bowl MVP Award. Surely, the award would go to the difference-maker in the game. So, obviously, the award would go to…Kenneth Walker III? That’s right, the Super Bowl MVP was awarded to Seahawks’ runningback Kenneth Walker III, instead of Jason Myers.
Now, I’m not saying that Kenneth didn’t have a good game; he, in fact, had a great game. Kenneth had 27 carries for 135 yards, with an average of five yards per carry, and his longest run was for 30 yards. He also had one reception for 7 yards, logging 142 total yards from Kenneth alone. That said, Kenneth never made it into the end zone once, never put up any points on the board.
In contrast, Jason Myers tallied up 17 total points for the Seahawks, while also setting a new record for the most field goals made in a Super Bowl with five total. Now, you could argue that Jason wouldn’t have made any of those field goals without the help of Kenneth getting him into field goal position; however, this would imply that the real Super Bowl MVP should be Sam Darnold, who not only threw for more total yards than Kenneth but also scored a touchdown.
While winning the Super Bowl is a team effort, the Super Bowl MVP is the player who contributes the most to the winning team. While Kenneth Walker III provided immensely for the Seahawks, another player contributed more to the team and played a larger role in securing the win. That man is the Seahawks’ kicker, number 5, Jason Myers.