Kenneth Walker III is doing exactly what nobody expected against the NFL’s best playoff run defense. The Seattle Seahawks running back has racked up the bulk of Seattle’s 89 team rushing yards at halftime of Super Bowl 60, gashing a Patriots defense that allowed just 71.3 rushing yards per game across three postseason wins.
With Seattle leading 6-0 and its defense suffocating Drake Maye, Walker could see an avalanche of second-half carries. Timmy Smith’s 37-year-old Super Bowl rushing record of 204 yards is suddenly in play.
The Record Walker Is Chasing and Why It Has Survived 37 Years
Smith set the mark on 22 carries in Washington’s 42-10 demolition of Denver in Super Bowl 22, averaging 9.3 yards per attempt. Marcus Allen’s 191 yards in Super Bowl 18 is the closest anyone has come, followed by John Riggins’ 166 on 38 carries in Super Bowl 17 and Terrell Davis’ 157 in Super Bowl 32. Only five players have ever topped 150 rushing yards on the Super Bowl stage.
What unites those performances is game script. Smith, Allen, and Riggins all played for teams that built commanding leads. The Super Bowl rushing record doesn’t just require talent. It requires a blowout.
The modern NFL produces fewer runaway title games, and the committee backfield era has diluted individual totals. Since 2000, only one player has topped 130 rushing yards in a Super Bowl.
That’s what makes Walker’s first half so striking. He’s averaging 5.9 yards per carry behind a Seattle offensive line winning at the point of attack, with a 30-yard rush already on the board. With Zach Charbonnet out for the postseason due to an ACL tear, Walker won’t share carries. Every handoff is his.
Think it’s fair to say Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III was worth the 41st pick in the NFL Draft.
His explosive playmaking ability to kick out when there’s nothing between the Tackles >
— Clint Goss (@NFLDraftDome) February 9, 2026
“He’s just playing his best football at this time of the year,” offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak told NFL.com ahead of the game.
Walker entered Super Bowl 60 having rushed for 178 yards and four touchdowns on 38 carries across two playoff games. He became the first Seahawks player since Marshawn Lynch in 2014 to post consecutive playoff games with 100-plus scrimmage yards. Now he’s threatening to put together a performance that would top them all.
What Walker Needs in the Second Half to Make History
If Walker has roughly 86 rushing yards at the break, he needs approximately 119 more to surpass Smith. That’s a full game’s worth of production for most backs, compressed into 30 minutes. But the conditions are aligning.
Seattle’s defense has New England completely bottled up. The Patriots have managed just 52 total yards of offense and punted five times. Maye has been sacked three times. If this trajectory holds, the Seahawks will hold the ball for the majority of the second half, and Kubiak will have every incentive to lean on the ground game rather than risk turnovers through the air.
The historical parallel is striking. Smith’s 204-yard game came in a blowout where Washington scored 35 second-quarter points. Allen’s 191 came in a 38-9 rout. Walker’s path follows the same formula: a dominant defense that keeps the offense on the field, a lead that encourages running, and a back talented enough to keep gaining yards against a tiring front seven.
Seahawks legend Shaun Alexander sees a player built for moments like this. “He explodes through the holes, he’s shifty, he kind of makes the moves,” Alexander told NFL Network. “He’s got great leg power and balance. Breaks way more tackles than he gets the credit for.”
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Walker forced 64 missed tackles during the regular season, second only to Bijan Robinson. He averaged a top speed of 13.2 mph on his carries, the second-fastest among backs with at least 100 attempts per NFL Next Gen Stats. He hasn’t fumbled in 1,015 career touches, a streak stretching back to his NFL debut. That ball security keeps him on the field when the game tightens.
Smith’s record has survived the careers of Emmitt Smith, Terrell Davis, Marshawn Lynch, and every other great postseason back. If Walker keeps running like he did in the first half, the most unlikely name on the all-time list might have company by tonight.
