Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks ended the NFL season as champions of the world. There are many individual success stories on this team, but the whole group is deserving of this great achievement. With the Seahawks being stamped as the best team of this season, many former USC Trojans got the first ring of their careers. Given their importance to this team, they could be a part of next year's team that will fight to bring home another banner.
Here are my takeaways from the Seahawks' Super Bowl victory over the Patriots:
Darnold earned this great moment
Darnold may not have put up a Super Bowl MVP performance, but he remained serviceable, and he did his part in ensuring the Seahawks came out victorious. Sam Darnold was one of the best stories this season and just surviving the New York Jets and going from team to team, to now being a Super Bowl champion and a big reason for that is huge. The great part about this is he is a big part of the Seahawks' future, he still is young, and this team will be able to build around him for more years to come.
Kenneth Walker is worth every penny he will get
Kenneth Walker had one of the best runs in the playoffs for a running back in quite some time. With the injury to Zach Charbonnet, there was no more two-headed monster for Seattle. That did not hinder this offense one bit. In the biggest games of the season for Seattle, Kenneth Walker ran for 550 yards and 4 touchdowns in a stretch of 4 games. Walker proved his value big time this playoffs, and he put a stamp on that by winning Super Bowl MVP. He deserves every bit of money he will get this offseason, and Seattle needs to be the one to give him his payday.
If Christian Gonzalez did not play in this game, it would have been over before the halftime show
Gonzalez looked like the best player on the football field. The offensive player of the year had 10 targets for 4 catches and 27 yards in this game. All because of how fantastic Christian Gonzalez was in this game. Gonzalez had 3 pass deflections, and all three of them would have been big plays had he not broken them up. Gonzalez is a star, and on the biggest stage in the NFL, he showed up. Had he not been out there, the Seahawks put up 40 points on the Patriots.
Mike Macdonald is a mastermind
Mike Macdonald had this Seahawks team as prepared as they could be. 6 sacks in this game for this defense. The Patriots could not do anything offensively for the majority of this game. Mike Macdonald coached circles around Josh McDaniels in this game. Drake Maye played his worst game of the season, and he looked far from being an MVP finalist in this game. Mike Macdonald is deserving of an MVP trophy just as much as Kenneth Walker for his coaching performance in this game.
The Seahawks will be good for a long time
The Seahawks, after winning a championship, will now enter free agency with 74 million in cap space. John Schneider, GM for the Seahawks, is the first GM to win another Super Bowl with a new coach, and not one single player from that first Super Bowl roster. He is an elite GM, and if you look back at his draft track record, there has not been one miss in the last 5 drafts. Mike Macdonald is clearly the right guy as head coach, as he won a Super Bowl in his first two seasons. The Seahawks are going to be good for many years. They could very well become a dynasty. All Sam Darnold has to do is do exactly what he did this season. The Seahawks are in a great position for success in the future.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Key reasons Seattle Seahawks beat New England Patriots in Super Bowl