It’s not often that a football team walks away from its first drive knowing that the game is already in the palm of their hands, but that’s exactly what the Seattle Seahawks defense managed to achieve against the New England Patriots at Super Bowl LX.
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Everyone from the big guys in the trenches to the secondary defenders seemed to immediately understand that Drake Maye and co. couldn’t hang with them, and that showed up in each and every one of their individual performances.
Every Super Bowl has its unsung heroes, and while Nick Emmanwori certainly isn’t one of them, he does believe that his teammate, Jarran Reed, deserves a bit more credit. “He was the kind of the dude that just made things go a little bit more,” Emmanwori explained during his most recent interview.
“I remember him calling team meetings with just players only, and it’s him and Cooper Kupp up there speaking and just how the envision things going. The other vets are on the same page too… It was just selfless football played… Everybody was on the true same page… I think Jarran Reed was definitely the kind of dude that we were looking to and he just made it the norm.”
Emmanwori’s five total tackles were the third most of any Seattle defender at Super Bowl LX, and his ability to cover multiple parts of the field proved to be a crucial part of Seattle’s strategy. He’s one of the many reasons as to why the Patriots were shut out for three full quarters, but according to the man himself, that would have never been possible without the guidance of Reed.
As the confetti rained down that night, Reed admitted that it had been “a long road” to the gridiron’s grandest stage. “Going from Hargrave Military Academy, to East Mississippi, to Alabama, and then 10 years in the league. Man, look, this is something we’ve dreamed about.”
Having compiled $44,949,220 in career earnings, it was always apparent to Reed’s family that his struggle was more than worth it, but to have that finally be cemented with a championship is the stuff that dreams are made of. He may not be the most recognized name in football, and he may not even be one of the best defenders on his own team, but he’ll now forever be known as one of the key pieces to the Seahawks second-ever Lombardi trophy.
Simply put, even though Reed is unlikely to ever receive a bust in Canton, Ohio, he’ll never have to pay for a drink again so long as he’s within the city limits of Seattle, Washington, and that alone is enough to prove that he’s now a living legend in his own right.
