SAN JOSE, Calif.—Super Bowl LX is almost here, with the Seahawks looking to bring home the second Lombardi Trophy in franchise history when they face the Patriots on Sunday at Levi's Stadium. But before that game can get going, it's time for one final mailbag of the 2025 season (don't worry, we'll keep it rocking in the offseason), a Super Bowl bonanza of mail, if you will.

As always, thanks to everyone who asked questions this week, and apologies if I wasn't able to get to yours this time around. And remember, the mailbag is always open for submissions at Seahawks.com/mailbag.

@DrSoub26 asks, "What has been the most interesting part of Super Bowl media week so far?"

A: I wrote about this on Thursday, but what really jumps out to me is just how loose and relaxed the team seems during what, in theory, could be a high-stress week. This is the first Super Bowl for nearly everyone on the Seahawks roster, but the moment does not appear to be getting to players at all. They're acting the same three days before the Super Bowl as they would have been in the locker room on a Thursday in Week 4.

@wookiemonster07 asks, "How much of Sam Darnold's success came as a result of facing the Seahawks defense every day in practice?"

A: Darnold had a heck of a season last year before he had practiced against Seattle's defense, and he was the No. 3 pick in the draft coming out of college because he is so talented, so he deserves most of the credit for what he has done this season regardless of who he is practicing against. That being said, Darnold, as well as Seahawks coach mike Macdonald, has talked on several occasions this season, including this week, about this very topic. Facing a defense as talented and complex as Seattle's in practice does test an offense and a quarterback, and that can only help them be prepared for the defenses they'll face in games.

@stretchjonsen asks, "Is it true that only the Patriots and Chiefs have more Super Bowl appearances than the Seahawks (four) this century?"

A: That is correct, only the Patriots, who will be playing in their 10^th Super Bowl this century, and the Chiefs, who have been in five, have more appearances since 2000, than the Seahawks, while the Eagles also have four. And that's a good reminder of how consistently good the Seahawks have been since Paul Allen took ownership of the team in 1997, then hired Mike Holmgren in 1999. Under the leadership of both Paul and Jody Allen, Holmgren, Pete Carroll, John Schneider, and now, Mike Macdonald, the Seahawks have reached the postseason 17 times dating back to 1999, won 11 division titles, and are about to play in their fourth Super Bowl. Not bad for a team that was about to move to Anaheim before Allen stepped up to keep the Seahawks in Seattle.

@RajeshP74187015 asks, "John, who is your X-factor helping the Seahawks win Super Bowl LX?"

A: I feel like I was asked this question before the divisional round, and I said Cooper Kupp, who went on to lead the team in catches and receiving yards in that game, so let's go ahead and pick him again. Kupp is a former Super Bowl MVP, so that experience certainly doesn't hurt, and as he showed late in the NFC championship game, he's so good in clutch moments. The Patriots will probably have top cornerback Christian Gonzalez on Jaxon Smith-Njigba for much of the day, so depending on how much extra attention they put on the newly-crowned AP Offensive Player of the Year, there could be opportunities for other pass catchers such as Kupp, Rashid Shaheed and AJ Barner.

And speaking of Shaheed, I think you could also look at special teams play as a whole as a potential X-factor. As we've seen over and over again this season, the Seahawks are capable of making big plays on special teams, and given how good both defenses are, scoring or setting up a score on special teams could be massive.

@tylerdixon125 asks, "What's the long-term possibility of keeping the core of the team intact?"

A: Sheesh, Tyler, can't we enjoy the Super Bowl before worrying about the future? No? OK. Well like every NFL team, the Seahawks will have some turnover this offseason, that's just how things work in sports, and in the NFL in particular. But the Seahawks do have a chance to keep a lot of this team together in 2026 and beyond. Thanks to some really good drafts in recent years, many of their core players are still on rookie contracts with multiple years left, and they've also signed several other key players to multi-year extensions over the last two years, including Ernest Jones IV, Leonard Williams, Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas. There are some important players set to become free agents this offseason, including members of the 2022 draft class like Riq Woolen, Kenneth Walker III, Boye Mafe and Coby Bryant, as well as recent trade acquisition Rashid Shaheed. But overall, the Seahawks are set up very well to, as general manager John Schneider likes to phrase it, be a consistent, championship-caliber team well into the future.

Michael from Tacoma asks, "Did Ernest Jones get fined for saying the F word in support of Sam Darnold?"

A: Haha, no, luckily for Ernest Jones IV, the FCC doesn't have jurisdiction over what's said on the internet, and even if that were live on broadcast TV, the network, not Jones, would be in trouble.

And to my knowledge, the league doesn't get involved in fining players for something like that where he's swearing just to support a teammate. And considering that, looking back, that Week 11 loss to the Rams, and the way Jones, Darnold and the entire team responded, turned into something of a turning point for the team, it would have been worth a fine if there had been one.

"It's funny, if you took a straw poll from the guys around the team, I think that game was a game where it really came into focus about what type of team we could be," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said of that Week 11 loss in L.A. "We have a special group that was resilient as heck and had each other's backs and were going to stick up for each other and fight like heck for 60 minutes and really becoming the team we wanted to be. We started to have some real evidence of it, even though it wasn't really the outcome we wanted. So kind of glad that it happened. It stunk in the moment, but given where we are at now, that was an important part of our season that I felt like something maybe we had to go through to get to the point we are now."

@holliwinters57.bsky.social asks, "This week has to be nerve-racking, what do players do in their downtime when they aren't practicing or at events?"

A: It could be nerve-racking, but as I mentioned in an earlier answer, this team seems so loose, it doesn't seem like nerves are an issue at all. Between practice, meetings and media availability, there isn't a ton of down time, but when there is, players are spending it the same way they would for any other road trip or, as Sam Darnold compared it to earlier this week, training camp. They hang out, maybe play card games or chess, have meals together, and of course, there’s lots of shadow boxing.

@FearlessAlexRVP asks, "If the 2025 team played the 2013 team, who would win?" @TrillyxWonka also asked about the 2013 team facing this year's team.

A: I would definitely say the 2025 team, because everyone on the 2013 team is now in their mid-30s or older, and almost all of them have been retired for several years. Doesn't seem like a very fair matchup to me to throw a bunch of retired players on the field with a current Super Bowl squad.

Now, if you're talking about some hypothetical version where those two teams play each other at their best, like if there was a time machine involved or something, well, I don't think I want to go down that road and inevitably offend somebody. Both were/are great teams in their own right, though the 2025 team needs to win one more rather significant game to be in the same conversation as the 2013 squad, and I'd rather just appreciate each for their own unique traits that made them great rather than try to compare.

@EastsideHounds6 asks, "Are the Seahawks the road team Sunday and wearing white jersey? The Eagles wore home jerseys last year."

A: Yes, the Seahawks are the road team—it alternates each year between the AFC and NFC Super Bowl representative, and the Patriots are the home team this year. The Seahawks are wearing their normal blue home uniform, however, because the home team gets to pick, and New England chose to wear its white uniforms.