³ÉÈËXÕ¾

Patrick Mahomes and his crackly voice and strange gait. Kendrick Lamar on the mic at halftime, fresh off winning five Grammys. An abundance of gameday snacks. Millions of dollars spent on sports gambling — and even more on advertising. More water cooler conversations about Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift brewing.

The Super Bowl and its massive production has finally returned after a turbulent season that ultimately led to a rematch between the same finalists two years ago. It’s a bittersweet weekend for Seattle Seahawks fans, who can reflect on both the highest of highs — winning a Super Bowl by five touchdowns — and the lowest of lows — losing on the game’s final play at the goal line — that this weekend brings.

For the franchise’s former players, it’s the loss of Super Bowl XLIX against New England that lingers the most.

Mike Salk:

“Do you still think about that Super Bowl?” ³ÉÈËXÕ¾ Newsradio’s Gee Scott asked on his Seattle Seahawks-themed podcast, .

“Definitely,” responded , former Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle and Super Bowl champion. “I think about how close we were to winning the second one. And I think we could have went to three. I think we could have gone to one in 2012 if (OLB) Chris Clemens didn’t get hurt. I think we’d have had a great opportunity to play in that Super Bowl.”

Mebane cited a victory over the cross-conference opponent Baltimore Ravens, the eventual world champions of the 2012 season, a year before in November 2011. The Seahawks won 22-17 after stopping the Ravens’ run offense, holding Ray Rice to just 27 rushing yards.

“We beat the Ravens at home. We shut them down. They couldn’t run all,” Mebane said. “They couldn’t do nothing, so I feel like we had their number.”

But it’s the final play of Super Bowl XLIX that players from the Legion of Boom era dwell on the most, ending the franchise’s chances of becoming the ninth team in history to win back-to-back Super Bowls. This current Kansas City Chiefs team became the most recent squad to pull off that rare feat.

“This is some trauma, man,” Mebane said. “They’re in the huddle. Here we go. Right here. One-yard line. Easy money. And, as good as our defense was, I don’t think we would have stopped our offense from one yard out. I don’t think we could have stopped Marshawn back there.”

What came next remains forever etched in the minds of the players on the field, the faithful 12s watching with jaws agape and football enthusiasts at large who can’t stop asking, “Why didn’t they run the ball?”

“You just assumed it was going to be a run?” Gee asked Mebane.

“I think everybody assumed it was a run,” Mebane responded. “Like, man, we got Beast Mode in the backfield. Marshawn Lynch. I’ve been playing with Marshawn since ’04 … I know when he is getting the ball. I can tell. I can feel it. I can smell it.”

Gee Scott on Pete Carroll joining the Raiders: ‘It’s tough to win in Vegas’

Lynch and Mebane played together in Seattle for six seasons (both leaving in 2016) after spending three years of college together playing for California.

“So Tarvaris Jackson — I’m kind of not near him, but I can see him — has an earpiece in his ear, and they call the play. Tavaris Jackson says, ‘Nooo! Don’t run that play.’ He turns his back and walks up the sideline away from the play. And I’m like, ‘Where is he going, and why did he say don’t run that play?’ But he said don’t run that play. He walks back, and then they ran the play. And you know what happened after that.”

Malcolm Butler’s game-saving turnover has been ranked as the No. 1 interception in league history, per , the second greatest Super Bowl finish, according to , and is widely considered one of the most devastating losses a football team has ever had to suffer through.

Former football coach and research director Ernie Adams told the play was a pass Seattle liked to call when it was deep in its opponent’s territory. There were several versions of it, including a shotgun package with three receivers. It was also a play New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick knew about, and one he had practiced often with his defense leading up to the big game.

“I talked to Alan Branch, who used to be with the Seahawks and was with the Patriots also,” Mebane said. “He was like, ‘Bro, I’m going to keep it real with you. We couldn’t have stopped y’all on the one-yard line at the goal line. We thought it was over.”

As the team was licking its wounds after the tragic loss the next day over breakfast, Russell Wilson approached Mebane.

More from Seattle Sports:

“Russell pops up and said, ‘Man, they was in goal line (formation), that’s why I threw the ball.’ I said, ‘Oh, OK,’ and then I walked off. So, pretty much, Russell changed the play. It was one play. Russell changed the play to that play and then what happened happened.”

“Wait, wait, wait, are you saying that the original play was a run with Beast Mode?” Gee asked to confirm.

“It was an option (play),” Mebane said. “When Russell went in and lined up, he saw that they were in goal line. They had like six, seven defensive linemen on the field. So when he saw that, he was like, ‘That’s a great opportunity.’ They don’t have linebackers right there to intercept those quick little passes for slants or in the flats. So they’re like, this is perfect.”

But Belichick wasn’t the only one who knew what was coming with 23 seconds to go; Brandon Browner also knew. Browner, a former Pro Bowl corner for the Seattle Seahawks and a part of the 2013 championship team, had joined New England in 2014. Standing on the opposing sideline, he knew what play was coming.

“If BB (Brandon Browner) didn’t know that play was the play, the play would’ve went smoothly,” Mebane said. “It was perfect. The ball was so perfect. So beautiful.

“But he knew the play because, like I said, we used to run that play all the time in practice,” Mebane continued. “When Brandon was here, we used to run that play for three years in a row. And we always had success on that play, but for some odd reason, they didn’t think that BB remembered that play. But BB remembered the play. It was the same formation, he smelt it and called it out.”

Mebane also revealed that, if you watch that play unfold again, Marshawn Lynch can be seen “doing jumping jacks” as he was wide open due to New England running a zone coverage, not man defense, with just two linebackers on the field.

By the Numbers:

“I’m going to give you a confession,” Gee told Mebane. “I watched the original play, and I think I’ve watched it one more time in my life. I don’t watch that play.”

“It’s devastating because you know the outcome,” Mebane added. “It’s kind of like watching ‘Boyz n the Hood.’ I can’t stand watching Ricky get killed.”

Super Bowl LIX, a rematch between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles from two years ago, is airing on CBS on Feb. 9 with Tom Brady, the quarterback who won the 2014 Super Bowl against Seattle, in the broadcast booth.

Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest and producer of the Seattle Seahawks podcast, . You can read his stories here and you can email him here.