Nick Emmanwori injury not expected to hold him out of Super Bowl
What will the Patriots try to do offensive and defensively to beat the Seahawks?
The Seahawks got a scare from Nick Emmanwori’s ankle at practice this week but the safety in contention for Defensive Rookie of the Year is not that worried about it. Although he was a surprise addition to the injury report on Wednesday, Emmanwori and the coaches expect him to play through a sore ankle and that it was mostly just a scary moment than one that will linger into Sunday’s Super Bowl against the Patriots.
ESPN’s Brady Henderson shared Mike Macdonald’s take on the situation:
"But he's doing great," Macdonald said. "Moving around. Just got to make sure we handle it the right way. Probably going to be overcareful and overcautious at this point to make sure we're rolling going into the weekend."
Emmanwori said he will be “good to go” on Sunday but he might not practice on Thursday as the team continues to be “overcautious” with his health given the importance to him as the big nickel in Macdonald’s number one defense.
I have more of your Super Joes Q&A questions to answer on top of the ones I covered on Wednesday for “Sam slams are sham scams”. Plus EVEN MORE Seahawks breakdown videos ahead.
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Chip Mac: MM is famous for simulated blitz and we know that Drake Maye has struggle against the blitz in the post season, will MM blitz more in the Super Bowl? Will Nick Emmanwori be the primary blitzer or will he be the “big nickel simulator?”
For anyone interested in learning about the bones of the Mike Macdonald blitz package, I will once again recommend MatchQuarters.
Here’s a snippet of what Cody Alexander wrote a couple months ago:
“Less is More: How Mike Macdonald Wins With Surgical Pressure and Smarter Structure”
One of the hallmarks of a Macdonald defense is the adherence to fundamentals and the ability to attack the quarterback….Macdonald has designed a defense that wins with structure. Every player on the field works in sync to limit space and squeeze opposing offenses. Pressure is developed by the front structure and the interior talent they have in Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy. The offseason addition of DeMarcus “Tank” Lawrence has also strengthened the run defense. For this defense to work, the front four need to dominate.
In year two, Macdonald has become a four-down Nickel defensive coach. Entering Week 9, Seattle leads the NFL in Nickel usage by almost ten percentage points (87.2%). The front four is winning its matchups, and the secondary has become one of the better units in football, even with Riq Woolen having his worst year statistically.
(Again this was from mid-season and Woolen had a better season in the second half of the year.)
The Seahawks also have one of the lowest Blitz Rates in the NFL (21.8%) and generate pressure through stunts, which they rank fifth in usage (21.5%). Macdonald utilizes pressure as a tool, and not necessarily as the whole scheme.
The Seahawks are one of the best teams against the pass when blitzing. This year, Seattle is second in completion percentage (53.3%) and yards per attempt when sending pressure. They are also the only team heading into Week 9 not to give up a touchdown pass when blitzing.
It also doesn’t matter if it is man or zone coverage.
How rare is it for the Seahawks to blitz, even now?
There have been 24 games and these are where the Seahawks rank in blitz rate in both of theirs:
18.4% blitz rate vs Rams (20th out of 24)
7.9% blitz rate vs 49ers (24th out of 24)
Seattle didn’t generate a ton of pressure in those games, but they didn’t really need it against the 49ers in a blowout. In the case of the Rams, Matthew Stafford is just elite at getting the ball out quickly. Can Drake Maye do the same? That’s not been who he is, so I would be surprised by that.
I don’t believe the Seahawks need to blitz more in the Super Bowl. They should play TO their strengths, not AGAINST New England’s weaknesses.
More on Emmanwori’s versatility in Seattle’s true “base” defense, which is nickel
You also asked about Emmanwori specifically and here’s a new video by PFF that was posted on Thursday morning:
Here’s what Dalton Wasserman says about Emmanwori’s ability to play as a linebacker and a safety and a blitzer all at the same time using an example from the Titans game, starting at about 4:20 in the video:
“Now, what's going to happen on that backside? When Emmanwori sees this C gap open, he's going to shoot the gap. What the Titans are going to try to do is kick back this end with this tight end here and insert this wide receiver here to try to cut off Emmanwori. Well, he shoots the C gap like a linebacker. This is not a normal safety. He's so used to playing down towards the the line of scrimmage.
Look at his first step already. Bang. Zone's going away from him. They're trying to insert, shoot the gap, cross the face of that receiver. Get in the C gap and see if you can make a play on the football from the backside.
Same thing here. Already crossed his face. Not a chance, especially at what 6'4 and 230 lbs with his speed that a wide receiver is going to be able to block him. Stay home on the backside. Keep your lane integrity. Tony Pollard’s got to cut back because the front side did a nice job. So, he's going to cut back in here and he stands no chance against Emmanwori. play goes for about a one-yard gain right here. So, you talk about shooting the C gap. That's your first job as the SAM linebacker. That's what he does here.”
Emmanwori’s health is key and so it’s a good thing that he and Macdonald both say he’s fine and will start in the Super Bowl.
Mark Edwards: So, you’re the Patriots OC trying to work out how to get over 20pts. Do you A) do what you’ve been doing so far this season and hope it’s enough, B) identify some weakness in the Hawks D and exploit it, C) go completely rogue, D) something else?
Based upon my reading so far, I’m not sure that A is enough without a heavy dose of luck Is there something in option B, where the Patriots are similar enough to the Rams? I don’t know that they have the route runners to do something Rams-esque. But maybe the two weeks of film study leads them to find the secret.
C is the one that worries me as a Seahawk.
Something I mentioned last week is that this is Josh McDaniels’ seventh Super Bowl as an offensive coordinator. However, it’s his first without Tom Brady.
And every time McDaniels hasn’t had Tom Brady, he’s been a total disaster.
That has obviously changed in 2025 with Drake Maye, but New England’s offense has been sputtering throughout the playoffs and owes a debt of gratitude to the NFL schedule makers and the stroke of luck that the Patriots have had in the postseason.
If the Patriots “go rogue”, I think they’re playing into Seattle’s hands. Just as the Seahawks should not change their defensive plan to suit New England’s weakness, the Patriots should not rely on trick plays or unexpected wrinkles to get ahead of Seattle’s #1 defense.
That’s basically what Kyle Shanahan tried in the division round and he lost 41-6.
Aside from the Rams, only one team has scored a legit 20 points against the Seahawks and it was the Bucs three months ago. All the teams that didn’t score 20 thought they might have a plan to beat Macdonald and it didn’t work for them except for Sean McVay’s.
The Seahawks do have some coverage weaknesses with their cornerbacks when they’re in zone coverage to be honest but the Patriots don’t have the best receivers to be able to exploit it. I’m sure Maye will take a few shots at Woolen anyway.
Karl Schloer: Piggybacking on this with a slightly different spin: any Vrabel-specific tricks or tendencies that might come into play? Apologies if this has been addressed elsewhere; I'm still catching up on my reading/viewing.
This short breakdown by Cody Alexander of MatchQuarters argues that the Seahawks will want to put a fast receiver like Rashid Shaheed on Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez and as Seattle gets one-on-one coverage when New England is in Cover-3 and Gonzalez isn’t getting help over the top from a safety because he’s using “vision” on Darnold, take your shot:
The "Vision Safety" Rule: The Patriots' backside safety plays with "vision" on the quarterback, trusting the cornerback to lock up on the receiver (3:16). This creates a one-on-one situation for the backside cornerback (3:58).
We should probably talk about who New England’s defensive coordinator actually is because it’s not Mike Vrabel and it’s not Terrell Williams, the guy who is often cited as the DC because that was true until he took a leave of absence to undergo chemotherapy for prostate cancer in Week 2.
The Patriots defensive play caller is Zak Kuhr.
(Sidenote: Mike Macdonald would be the first head coach in history to win a Super Bowl while also serving as the team’s defensive play caller.)
I’m not going to sit here and write that Kuhr is not a great defensive mind because how the hell would any of us know that? I do think it’s interesting that the Patriots have a defensive coordinator who was NOT a defensive coordinator when the season started.
Kuhr’s resume is all over the map, going from high school to mid-major colleges and coaching both offense and defense at different times, but never locking into a single role. Clearly Vrabel loves him enough to trust him with the job when Williams had to step away and clearly Kuhr will be a defensive coordinator in the NFL next season but your guess to his readiness for the Super Bowl is as good as mine.
I do strongly believe that the Patriots defensive postseason success is statistical bunk. I do think that if the Seahawks had New England’s schedule that they may not have allowed a single point.
For any faults they’ve had with turnovers and consistent rushing success at times in the regular season, I believe the Seahawks have a superior offense to all the teams that the Patriots have faced in the playoffs (Broncos, Texans, Chargers) and any team they faced all year with the exception of the Bills.
New England struggled against the Bills.
Not sure about specific Vrabel “tricks” and it really falls on Kuhr anyway, but I think at the very least the Seahawks offense will have their opportunities to strike early and if they get a lead, run the ball successfully in the second half.
This is a different Chase Daniel - Darnold video than the one I shared yesterday:
Scott M: Who's going to be Super Bowl MVP?
In this case, I don’t think that the most obvious answer is a bad guess. Sam Darnold’s arm is Seattle’s weapon of choice when the Seahawks get into opposition territory and not only does he have the ultimate weapon in Jaxon Smith-Njigba (new JSN video by Kurt Warner), he’s got a half-dozen options to go to including Cooper Kupp, A.J. Barner, Jake Bobo, Rashid Shaheed, Kenneth Walker, and now Elijah Arroyo.
The reason that Cooper Kupp won Super Bowl MVP over Matthew Stafford is that Stafford locks onto a single target and now that’s his only guy. Seattle’s offense is much more balanced than that and as we saw in the NFC Championship — which would have been a landslide for Darnold as MVP — you can rarely point to JSN (even when he had 150 yards) and say “he did everything”.
I think a quarterback will win Super Bowl MVP.
But you want to put $5 on a longshot? How about DeMarcus Lawrence?
Drake Maye is going to set a record for most sacks taken in a postseason. Lawrence already has three forced fumbles in the playoffs (the record in a single postseason is 5) and he scored two touchdowns this year. If there’s a single player who could best represent a dominant day by the Seahawks defense, this is a matchup best suited for Lawrence.
History of Super Bowl MVP edge rushers:
Harvey Martin and Randy White*, Cowboys (Super Bowl XII)
Richard Dent, Bears (Super Bowl XX)
Von Miller, Broncos (Super Bowl 50)
*The only co-MVPs in Super Bowl history.
And THIS is a new Chase Daniel video posted a minute ago:
Cavmax: Probably getting ahead of topics but was there anything interesting about the Senior Bowl with regard to the Seahawks?
I haven’t seen anything about Senior Bowl! I look forward to diving in after the Super Bowl.
Do you have any insights?
Ray: I'm guessing that in this day of total video of every game and the use of AI to sort things out, there are fewer and fewer new wrinkles to be shown in the Super Bowl, and we'll see more of what we've already seen. What thinkist thou?
I think this is probably a very smart observation, Ray, but I don’t know that I fully understood your question.
Do you mean that there won’t be any surprises in terms of the outcome of the Super Bowl being what we expect it to be? Or that with the use of technology we will know everything about the Super Bowl that there is to be known?
I do wonder how many of you watched the Next Gen Stats All-22 view on Amazon Prime TNF games this season and what did you think of it? Would you like more games shown that way?
Chip Mac: What is the recipe for the Seahawks to become the NFL dynasty of the 2020’s?
Sam Darnold rolling his playoff success into becoming an elite quarterback for the next 10 years. But also Darnold being so happy with winning that he insists on taking a lower salary that stays in the $30-$40 million AAV range instead of pushing the Seahawks over $60 million as they win more Super Bowls (in the event they’re a dynasty).
I’m sure we’ve all noticed that the “elite defense” champions (‘85 Bears, ‘00 Ravens, ‘02 Bucs, and even to a degree the ‘13/’14 Seahawks) struggled to have sustained “Super Bowl level” success after they won.
You could argue Tom Brady won his first three Super Bowls on the back of a great defense, but he also evolved into a Hall of Fame quarterback on his own after 2006—about the same age that Darnold is now. And then Brady consistently took way less money than he had a right to demand.
By winning Super Bowls with Jim McMahon, Trent Dilfer, and Brad Johnson, those other franchise slowly (sometimes quickly) faded into being somewhere between mediocre and good.
Having a centerpiece at quarterback like Brady or Patrick Mahomes makes it a little easier to sustain that success for a while, it seems. Luckily, the Seahawks also have JSN for many more valuable seasons ahead, assuming he’s an easy player to extend; on top of course all the other good young players on the roster(!), but for Darnold’s benefit it’s great to have an All-Pro weapon at his disposal who is only 24.
That’s what I see as Seattle’s best chance to sustain their success.
Watching some of the Chase Daniel stuff gives me more confidence in Sam. I'm superstitious about nothing in life — save Seattle sports! So I'll just temper that the level of play from both QBs in the NFC championship was bonkers. I truly loathe McVay, but I have mad respect for Stafford.
But some of what Daniel points out, about Sam's successful reads, really does make me happy, because so much of this was post-snap, not pre-snap. He checked and re-checked. Okay, they're in this coverage — and this is what changed or didn't change.
It's not that New England won't be tougher with some of their defense. They could get home on blitzes. But I suspect they won't blitz as much because their corners are great — but the rest of their secondary isn't elite. You have a 1:1 with Barner, Coop, and especially K-9, and you've got a problem.
Then there's their offense vs. Seattle's D. And I don't care if McDaniels is a sorcerer. He's going to have to design a ton of special sauce for Maye, and although Maye's great at deep shots, I'm very sure McDonald has spent a ton of time reinforcing that fact to his team. And, likewise, with containing Maye on scrambles. Further, watching more of Maye's deep-shot throws, it's often been against subpar defenses and defensive lines. And he doesn't have Nakua or anyone remotely close to anyone with that level of body control or pass-catching chops at WR.
This game will probably be closer than any of us wants. Maybe NE even wins.
But my suspicion is that NE's offensive line cannot hold up, and even if it's a defensive battle through the first half, you'd have to guess Seattle exploits the Pats' weaknesses and eventually the dam breaks. Better talent doesn't always win out. But take the last SB as an example. Are you taking Mahomes or Maye for talent? Duh. I also think a healthy Patrick can outrun Drake Maye, too.
But look at Philly's D last year! It was sick. Mahomes was absolutely swarmed. When you cannot even get the ball to Kelce (and I don't think he's going for the Pats on Sunday), you see how this works. Again, maybe Seattle doesn't pull off that kind of dominance, but that outcome is far more likely than others. And if it doesn't happen, it's because Seattle struggles to run the ball.
I was shocked at the number of people who brought this up to me. Two family members asked if this would change the betting line. It got to the point where I just copy and pasted my response : They are being pretty vague about it, but another injury report comes out tomorrow, where we’ll see if he’s DNP, limited or full. On Friday’s report, we’ll get a game status. If he’s DNP tomorrow, that will be a bad sign. If he’s a full participant, that will be a good sign. Limited would leave it up in the air. I doubt we’ll hear anything before tomorrow’s practice. MM doesn’t offer more than he has to most of the time.
The E-man is truly going to be the steal pick of the draft. His play at the end of the season was pro bowl level, and I would be shocked if he doesn’t grow from there. The reason the Seahawks can live in nickel is because of the E-man’s ability to play as an edge, ILB, slot CB etc. I think they would consider playing him at strong safety deep, but with Love, Bryant and Okata there is no need. I can’t wait to see him in the SB. I’d bring him on a blitz first play. If we can get Maye to turn the ball over early, that may affect his play going forward. I also expect him to shadow Maye in dime situations and prevent his explosive scramble/runs plays in passing situations. His speed can keep his legs from extending drives.