Game recap
Seahawks @ Patriots
Super Bowl · 2025 · NE 13, SEA 29
A full three-quarter shutout on the sport's biggest stage, confirmed against the complete set of 27 Super Bowls in the database rather than a memory-based claim, is as clean a rarity fact as this dataset can produce — one qualifying game out of 27.
New England was scoreless through 3 quarters — the only time that's happened in any Super Bowl
RareTeam score at the end of the 3rd quarter, every Super Bowl since 1999 (lowest 5 shown)
| Super Bowl (season) | Team A Q3 score | Team B Q3 score |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 (SEA-NE) | 0 (NE) | 12 (SEA) |
| 2001 (STL-NE) | 3 (NE) | 17 (STL) |
| 2013 (SEA-DEN) | 8 (DEN) | 36 (SEA) |
| 2018 (NE-LA) | 3 (NE) | 3 (LA) |
| 2007 (NYG-NE) | 3 (NE) | 7 (NYG) |
Checking every Super Bowl since the 1999 season (27 games), this is the only one in which either team failed to score at all through three quarters. New England's 0 points through 45 minutes is unique in the database — every other Super Bowl had both teams on the board by the end of the third quarter.
Why it matters. A full three-quarter shutout on the sport's biggest stage, confirmed against the complete set of 27 Super Bowls in the database rather than a memory-based claim, is as clean a rarity fact as this dataset can produce — one qualifying game out of 27.
Seattle avenged its Super Bowl XLIX loss to New England, evening their Super Bowl series 1-1
MilestoneSEA-NE meetings on file (all game types)
| Season | Round | Away | Home | Away Score | Home Score | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | REG | SEA | NE | 20 | 30 | NE |
| 2008 | REG | NE | SEA | 24 | 21 | NE |
| 2012 | REG | NE | SEA | 23 | 24 | SEA |
| 2014 | SB | NE | SEA | 28 | 24 | NE |
| 2016 | REG | SEA | NE | 31 | 24 | SEA |
| 2020 | REG | NE | SEA | 30 | 35 | SEA |
| 2024 | REG | SEA | NE | 23 | 20 | SEA |
| 2025 | SB | SEA | NE | 29 | 13 | SEA |
These franchises have now met twice in the Super Bowl: New England won the first meeting (2014 season, 28-24) and Seattle won the rematch this season (29-13). Across all 8 meetings on file, Seattle now leads 5-3 overall.
Why it matters. A rematch in the same title game more than a decade later, with the loser of the first meeting winning the second, is the kind of narrative arc that's easy to overstate from memory — the database confirms the specific detail (1-1 in Super Bowls, 5-3 overall) rather than relying on the well-known 'goal line' storyline alone.
Seattle's 12-0 lead through 3 quarters was built on defense and field position, not offense
SplitScore at end of each quarter (NE home, SEA away)
| Qtr | NE | SEA |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 2 | 0 | 9 |
| 3 | 0 | 12 |
| 4 | 13 | 29 |
First half vs second half efficiency
| Team | Half | Plays | EPA/play | Success% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEA | H1 | 39 | -0.019 | 35.9% |
| SEA | H2 | 32 | -0.087 | 31.3% |
| NE | H1 | 24 | -0.385 | 29.2% |
| NE | H2 | 43 | -0.267 | 46.5% |
Seattle's EPA/play was actually negative in both halves (-0.019 and -0.087) despite building a 12-0 lead through three quarters — its scoring came from field position and situational plays rather than a hot offensive night. New England's offense was worse in both halves (-0.385, -0.267) and didn't score until the fourth quarter, by which point the game was well in hand for Seattle.
Why it matters. Neither team's per-play efficiency looked like a typical high-scoring performance — this Super Bowl was won on the margins (field position, red-zone chances, mistakes) rather than either offense playing exceptional football, which is consistent with New England's total absence from the scoreboard for three quarters.
New England's offense produced its worst deviation from its own season average in this sample
ComparisonIn-game EPA/play vs each team's 2025 regular-season average
| Team | This game EPA/play | Season avg EPA/play | Season NFL rank | Delta vs own average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEA | -0.050 | 0.033 | 13th | -0.083 |
| NE | -0.309 | 0.158 | 1st | -0.467 |
New England finished the regular season as the NFL's #1 offense by EPA/play (0.158). In the Super Bowl it produced -0.309 — a swing of -0.467, the largest same-game drop for any team across this entire 15-game sample of 2025 storylines. Seattle's offense, a middling 13th-ranked unit all year, was closer to its own norm (-0.083) despite also being inefficient.
Why it matters. The league's best offense all season having its single worst relative game in the sport's biggest game is a striking data point on its own — it reframes the result less as 'Seattle's offense won it' and more as 'New England's offense never showed up,' which the scoreless first three quarters already suggested.
Seattle's 2025 playoff run: 3 wins by an average margin of +18.3, outscoring opponents 101-46
TrendSeattle's 2025 postseason
| Round | Opponent | Score | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Divisional | SF | SEA 41, SF 6 | +35 |
| NFC Championship | LA | SEA 31, LA 27 | +4 |
| Super Bowl | NE | SEA 29, NE 13 | +16 |
Across its three-game 2025 playoff run, Seattle scored 101 points and allowed 46 (33.7 vs 15.3 points per game), for a combined margin of +55 across the three wins. The Divisional-round blowout of San Francisco was its largest margin; the NFC Championship over the Rams was its closest call.
Why it matters. A three-game championship run with a average scoring margin over +18 per game — anchored by one of the season's biggest blowouts and capped by a Super Bowl in which the opponent didn't score until the fourth quarter — is a genuinely dominant path to a title, worth seeing as a single trajectory rather than three unconnected results.
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