SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Seattle Seahawks had throttled the New England Patriots all game but still only managed a 12-0 lead before Derick Hall made the play that opened the way for the team’s second Super Bowl victory.

The linebacker sacked Drake Maye in the third quarter Sunday and stripped the ball for a fumble recovered by Byron Murphy II. Five plays later, Seattle reached the end zone for the first time on a 16-yard touchdown catch by A.J. Barner on the way to a 29-13 win.

It was the first turnover of the game and essentially helped Seattle put the game away. Hall finished with two sacks after getting only two all season.

“It’s been a little bit of a crazy year for me,” Hall said. “Obviously the pressures and the hits have been there, but no sacks, and man, what a more rewarding time to be blessed and have opportunities there to go out in this game and help lead this team to success tonight.”

For the 24-year-old Hall, to even play in his first Super Bowl — let alone make it to the NFL — was impressive in its own right. Hall was born four months premature in Gulfport, Mississippi, and was pronounced dead at birth without a heartbeat before being resuscitated.

Doctors believed Hall would likely be in a permanent vegetative state and advised his mother, Stacy Gooden-Crandle, to allow life support to be discontinued. But Gooden-Crandle refused, and Hall survived five months in an intensive care unit, frequent hospitalizations and intense asthma throughout his childhood.

He began playing flag football at 4 years old, and after a standout career at Gulfport High School was a star defensive end at Auburn.

“I started playing the game just to be able to get my lung capacity up. Just to be able to run around a little bit,” Hall said. “I fell in love with the game. It allowed me to be a normal kid.”

He was selected by the Seahawks in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft and quickly entrenched himself as a key cog in Seattle’s defense. Less than three years after being drafted, Hall was one of a number of standout defenders as the Seahawks dismantled the Patriots.

Shortly after the win, Gooden-Crandle tapped Hall on the shoulder so they could hug. The waterworks came soon after as both shed tears of joy.

“Mom doesn’t miss a game,” Hall said. “From the time I started playing football at 4 to tonight, my mom has been at every single game.”

All season, it wasn’t just Gooden-Crandle that showed up at Seahawks games; it was Seattle’s entire “Dark Side” defense that did so.

During the regular season, no defense allowed fewer points per game (17.2) than the Seahawks. It was a unit that featured a trio of players — cornerback Devon Witherspoon, linebacker Ernest Jones IV and defensive lineman Leonard Williams — that were selected to The Associated Press 2025 NFL All-Pro second team.

Jones, who led the Seahawks with 11 tackles Sunday, had five interceptions, tied for second-most in the NFL. Linebacker Uchenna Nwosu tied for the team lead with seven sacks in the regular season, then intercepted Maye before returning it 45 yards for a pick-6 to put the Super Bowl out of reach.

But it was Hall who set in motion the Seahawks’ victory. It wouldn’t have been possible with decades of perseverance, which isn’t lost on teammates such as Murphy.

“Hell of a player, hell of a guy, man, been through so much,” Murphy said. “That’s a determined dude, man. I love him to death — I love him to death.”