Four takeaways for the Bills from the Seahawks Super Bowl win
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The Buffalo Bills lost in the AFC Divisional Round to the Denver Broncos and sat at home on Super Bowl Sunday. Hopefully they were paying attention to what the Seattle Seahawks did, and so were you.
In the NFL, good is the enemy of great
The Buffalo Bills just fired Sean McDermott because he couldn’t get to a Super Bowl. In January 2024, the Seattle Seahawks moved on from Super Bowl winner Pete Carroll because he lost his fastball, despite 11 seasons with a winning record out of 12 . They hired Mike Macdonald on January 31st to be their new head coach. Carroll had a great regular season record and had success in the playoffs, but they replaced him anyway.
Ten days before Macdonald was hired, the Bills lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round. Sean McDermott was retained.
Defenses that dictate win in the NFL
Buffalo’s front four under Sean McDermott was not able to get it done, no matter the combination of players. Too often, we saw the defense sit back and let the offense dictate outcomes. Third and long, late in the game, it was read and react.
Macdonald’s front four took it to Drake Maye in the Super Bowl, sacking him a handful of times and forcing bad throws on multiple occasions. New Bills defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard has said he wants to dictate before the snap, at the snap, and after the snap. That’s the way the Seahawks did it on Sunday, too.
New England dropped 23 and 31 points on Buffalo’s defense this season with Drake Maye feeling pretty darn comfortable in the Patriots win. In the Super Bowl, they were rocked.
A star WR is great, but it isn’t the silver bullet
Jaxon Smith-Njigba missed a huge chunk of this game while being evaluated for a concussion. The Seahawks still were able to move the ball. Diversifying your passing attack can really be beneficial. Sam Darnold was a 50% passer hitting six different receivers. None of them topped 61 yards.
Yes, we can clamor for an upgrade at wide receiver, but this game isn’t the one you want to cite.
Playing an easy schedule really helps
The Bills have been playing a first-place schedule for a while and the New England Patriots won the division playing the weakest schedule potentially ever. Then they beat the Broncos in a blizzard without Denver’s starting QB. A red carpet.
The Bills’ 2026 schedule isn’t going to help them much, though. The AFC West had two playoff teams plus the Chiefs, the NFC North had two playoff teams plus the the Lions. They face the Ravens and Texans, too, along with the Los Angeles Rams who went to the NFC Championship Game. It’s going to be a hard road for the AFC East in 2026.
What are your takeaways, Bills fans? When you look at what Seattle did to wallop New England, how can Buffalo emulate that?
