The majority of the 70,823-strong crowd seemed to support Seattle, who entered the game with a slim advantage, and their win also meant quarterback Sam Darnold completed his redemption story after being written off as an NFL starting quarterback.

The Seahawks are Darnold’s fifth team in his eight-year career and third in three years, but in his first year in Seattle, the former third-overall pick won the game’s biggest prize.

The 28-year-old has been haunted by something he said while struggling against the Patriots in 2019, when he said “I see ghosts,” but Darnold has now exorcised those demons.

Instead, Meyer suffered a nightmare against the fast, physical defense that Dude and coach McDonald built together during their two seasons in Seattle.

The breadth and depth of the threat it posed was so great that Devon Witherspoon claimed a sack at cornerback. He, Derek Hall and Riley Mills combined for just 2.5 sacks all season, but all three had a sack on Meyer in the first half.

The Patriots had just four first downs before halftime, totaling 52 yards. Some cruel people on social media even joked that Bad Bunny ran more while carrying the ball during the halftime show.

Hall’s second sack forced a fumble recovery by Byron Murphy, who also sacked Maye twice, and the Dark Side went into Seattle folklore along with the Legion of Boom, the defense that led the Seahawks to a Super Bowl title in 2014.

“My teammates and coaches believe in me,” Darnold told NBC. “We’ve come to work every day since the first training camp. Huge shout out to our offensive line for everything they do in the game. But I also have to give a shout out to our defense.

“We did it. It was a very special journey with these guys. A lot of hard work went into it and we did it.”