Stacy Rost: Super Bowl-winning Seahawks created their own identity

Two years ago, we spent a couple days on air debating what was a very controversial story at the time.

Newly-hired Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald, taking over a team that had been led by the Pete Carroll for 14 years (a lifetime in the NFL), moved some photos.

It felt far more dramatic than just that back then. The Legion of Boom-era Seahawks brought the city its first ever Super Bowl. They weren’t just great players; they were pop culture icons. Richard Sherman went viral. The LOB covered Madden. Marshawn Lynch was in commercials. Russell Wilson was a reference in an Eminem song. And over that stretch, they became the winningest Seahawks team ever. There was a fever this city hadn’t seen before – no, really, I went to a wedding that played Super Bowl highlights on the dance floor.

So yes, it really rubbed quite a few fans the wrong way when they heard the photos were taken down. Now, in reality the photos were still very much in the facility. They were just moved. Why?

Here’s how Leonard Williams explained it at the time:

I remember the first day we came into the team meeting, Mike (Macdonald) pointed out that – you know, there’s empty walls in the hallways and things like that. For a person like me, I think that made me really excited, and I hope it made the rest of the guys excited. We’re obviously going to respect tradition and the history of the Seahawks, but I think it’s giving us a clean foundation to create whatever we want to be. We’re not chasing to be like any other team that’s been here before. We want to create our own identity.

They did. Emphatically.

Seattle’s path to the playoffs is exactly why Macdonald was hired. General manager John Schneider needed a defensive play-caller to combat the brilliant offensive play-calling in the NFC West.

It might’ve been a boring Super Bowl on Sunday to fans outside of Seattle, but that suffocating defense forced the Patriots to tie an NFL record with eight consecutive punts to start a Super Bowl. The last time that happened? When the Pats beat the Rams in Super Bowl LIII. On their ninth possession in that game, the Rams finally knocked in a field goal. On their ninth possession in this game, the Patriots fumbled the ball over.

It was a nightmare for 23-year-old Pats quarterback Drake Maye. The Patriots (with an admittedly easy schedule) averaged the second-most points per game in the regular season but managed just 13 against Seattle, with both touchdowns scored in the fourth quarter. Maye was sacked six times and intercepted twice.

It took two years, but Macdonald’s Seahawks have the moments now to hang some pretty sweet new photos in those halls. And with a healthy amount of cap space and a young, exciting team, there’s room for more.

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