EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsRENTON, Wash. -- Seattle Seahawks tight end AJ Barner said it will be "special" to see the championship banner unfurled in the Lumen Field rafters Wednesday night before the team kicks off its season with a Super Bowl LX rematch against the New England Patriots.But Barner, who scored Seattle's only offensive touchdown of that game, said he's "ready to turn the page" to 2026."The Super Bowl was awesome, definitely a sick moment, but it's over with, it's in the past," Barner said Saturday. "We still love it, but I'm good. Let's go play some new football."Barner's comments aligned with a sentiment that's been widely expressed by Seahawks players and coaches this offseason. As they try to become only the third team this century to repeat as Super Bowl champions, they haven't talked about "defending" their title or "running it back."Coach Mike Macdonald came up with an alternate phrase in the spring to acknowledge that it's a new year and a new team that will have to continue to evolve: "Run it forward."Macdonald said in the spring that he hadn't sensed "an ounce of complacency" in his players. He reiterated Wednesday how well the team has handled coming off a championship season."I feel like our guys have done a great job," he said. "I feel like if we would've sniffed it out, we would've addressed it, but I feel like when we've gone out on the field, our intent has been good. Are there days that we felt like we probably could've grown more and could've done a better job? Yeah, but I think that's what happens. ... There's things on top of my head preparation-wise that we did in the offseason that are under my purview of control that I definitely want to adjust moving forward, but I think that's our mentality, we're always searching for ways to make what we do better."Defensive tackle Leonard said he's been impressed with how Seahawks players and coaches have handled success and the potential distractions that can come with winning a Super Bowl."To me, better than I would have expected, to be honest," he said. "I don't see a single person in the building patting themselves on the back for what we did last year. I think everybody in the building understands that we have to start from the bottom all over again. To get to the top of that mountain, we've got to start from the bottom. Every single person is taking it day by day and trying to ... get better as a player. Everybody, regardless of what level you are in this league, has something to grow and get better at as a player, and I think the team has done a great job of handling all that."Williams called it "one of the most special moments of my career and my life" to celebrate the Seahawks' 29-13 win over New England with fans during their championship parade through downtown Seattle. Then, Williams said, he "quickly forgot" about the game when his wife gave birth to their first child a month later.The rest of the team will have also turned the page long before the Super Bowl LX banner is unveiled Wednesday night."I think you try to put it in perspective that we're beginning this journey," Macdonald said. "It's Week 1 and it's exciting and there's context behind it and everything, but it's also the first step in this journey as well ... But it's cool. How many opportunities do you have to start the year off at home, drop the banner, all that stuff. Put that in the bucket of the singular things that happen that you can have that moment that you work for? That's why the guys work so hard is to have moments like that, so we definitely want to respect that when it happens."
