There’s an adage in football. Players, coaches, announcers, fans … they all say it. “Football is won in the trenches.” But when it comes time to pass out the accolades at the end of the season, everyone seems to forget that. When was the last time an interior lineman was awarded Super Bowl MVP? (Stick around and I’ll answer that, and you can win your next bar bet.)
I am happy to say, for those of you who truly believe in the adage above, that this Thursday’s tilt between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos is indeed likely to be determined in the trenches.
Sure, Sam Darnold and Bo Nix will get most of the attention. The battle between Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Patrick Surtain would be major news if only Surtain were playing.
Whoever wins inside will win the Seattle Seahawks-Denver Broncos matchup
And I’m not saying the commentators won’t mention Byron Murphy and Zach Allen on Thursday night. I’m just saying they won’t mention them nearly enough. Because those players, along with their defensive line teammates and the offensive linemen they'll face, will really determine Thursday’s outcome.
I won’t make you read ‘til the end. Randy White, of the Dallas Cowboys, was the last interior lineman to win Super Bowl MVP. He did it in 1977. And he shared the award with defensive end Harvey Martin. They are two of just ten defensive players to win the prize. There have been sixty Super Bowls. You do the math.
Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, and Jalen Hurts have taken the same award in four of the last six Super Bowls. (Mahomes did it twice in that span and three times overall.) Cooper Kupp and Kenneth Walker III also got the prize.
But do their teams triumph if they don’t have spectacular interior line play? Aaron Donald, Chris Jones, Jason Kelce, Creed Humphrey… These are among the best football players at any position over the past decade. They don’t win MVPs. But some of them … maybe all of them… will be enshrined in Canton one day.
Two years ago, the Eagles stifled the two-time champion Chiefs with Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Milton Williams in the middle. Last year, we all know what Byron Murphy, Leonard Williams, and even Rylie Mills did in the big game.
This Thursday will be no different. Seattle and Denver are not exactly carbon copies of each other, but in this one regard, they are almost identical. They both have excellent defensive tackles, and they both have interior offensive lines that are struggling. If one of those struggling units can overperform, that team wins.
Similarly, if one of the defensive units dominates, that team wins. That’s where everyone’s eyes should be focused.
Jalen Sundell, Grey Zabel and the probable tandem of Christian Haynes and Beau Stephens need to play much better on Thursday than they did last week against San Francisco. The Broncos will line up Malcom Roach, D.J. Jones, and Zach Allen across the front.
Allen has been selected as an All-Pro in each of the last two seasons. Jones will take on double teams in the middle, allowing Denver’s talented edge rushers the freedom to attack.
Vance Joseph may move them around from time to time, but all three are primarily A and B-gap players. They will be in front of Sundell and his two guards on virtually every play. Sundell and Zabel need big games.
So far this year, both have been average at best, and the Seahawks' offense has shown the effects. They are not moving defenders in the run game, and they are occasionally struggling against pass rushers.
That will be fatal on Thursday because Denver can rush the passer as well as anyone. Seattle would like to run the ball to offset that pass rush and stay out of third-and-long, but it is questionable whether they will be able to do that effectively.
On the other side, Denver has the same challenge. Like Seattle, they have solid tackle play, but they are suspect at center – with Luke Wattenberg – and at left guard, where Ben Powers does not resemble the player he was before his torn bicep in 2025. Denver does have an elite right guard in Quinn Meinerz.
Look for Byron Murphy to dominate Wattenberg and Powers and make things very tough on Nix and the Broncos' runners. Leonard Williams, Jarran Reed, and Rylie Mills did not have their typical games against San Fran last week, and it really showed in the fourth quarter. They need to regain their edge and play a full sixty if Seattle is going to Mile High and leave with a victory.
It is reasonable to view the interior line battles as a draw. Both teams have a decided advantage on defense. But here is what really worries me about this particular game. Sean Payton is going to be calling plays for the Broncos.
He may get plenty of input from offensive coordinator Davis Webb, from whom Payton recently took responsibility, but Payton will be the one making the decisions. And Sean Payton has done this for a long time. He knows how to minimize weaknesses and attack a superior opponent.
On the Seattle side, it will be up to Brian Fleury to figure out strategies for attacking Zach Allen et al., despite having a suspect interior offensive line. Fleury has yet to show he can handle that kind of challenge.
So come Thursday night, keep your eye on the middle of the line, regardless of which team has the ball. Keep your eye on those trenches. This is going to be one game where the adage proves to be true.
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