In a contest that pitted the NFL’s best defense against the best offense in NFL history, defense prevailed as the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Denver Broncos in a rout, 43-8.
Peyton Manning might be the best quarterback in NFL history, but he was no match for the Seahawks’ defense in Super Bowl XLVIII. The Broncos’ record-setting offense, which generated 606-points and 77-touchdowns during the regular season, was held to merely 306-yards for the contest. That may seem like a good day’s work, but they lacked any type of fight against a Seahawks’ defense that held its opponents to 14-points per game and forced 39-turnovers during the regular season. In this game, the Seahawks forced 4-turnovers, including three crucial ones in the first half to set the stage.
On the first play of the game, an errant snap sailed by Manning’s head and was recovered by Knowshon Moreno in the end zone for a safety, the second time in three years that the Super Bowl started with one. Two series later, with the Broncos in an 8-0 hole after two Steven Hauschka, Manning overthrew Julius Thomas and fell into the lap of Kam Chancellor. The second turnover led to a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Marshawn Lynch, who generated a lot of publicity this week for his reluctance for not wanting to talk to the media.
“Our defense is one of the best that has ever played,” Seattle defensive lineman Michael Bennett said. “We just have so many great players. I can’t believe the NFL even lets us all play on the same defense. Guys like me, Earl Thomas and Cliff Avril. It’s just unfair.”
The next possession did not help any future comeback efforts made by the Broncos. Manning, under duress, was hit in mid-throwing motion and the wild heave was picked off by Malcolm Smith, the game’s MVP who also intercepted Colin Kaepernick two weeks ago, and returned 69-yards for the Seahawks’ touchdown. Smith was the first defensive player to win it since Tampa Bay’s Dexter Jackson in 2003. However, the MVP could have been rewarded to the entire defense for their stellar play from the opening whistle to the Gatorade bath for head coach Pete Carroll. On the stat sheet, it says that Manning was sacked once, but what it doesn’t show is much heat he was under throughout the game.
“It’s unbelievable,” Smith said. “No way I thought this could happen, but it feels good. I just feel so fortunate to be a part of this defense. Peyton is a great quarterback, and they have a great offense, but we felt they hadn’t seen a defense with the amount of speed we have.”
To start the second half, the game was put to rest for good despite the Seahawks leading by three scores at the half. Percy Harvin, who missed most of the season due to surgery, fielded the short kickoff and sprinted by the coverage team for the 87-yard touchdown. Harvin, who was acquired by Seattle via trade from the Minnesota Vikings, also contributed to the game by accumulating 45-yards on two carries and a reception for 5-yards.
Even though the defense seemed to have stolen the show, the record-setting offense of the Broncos was overshadowed by Seattle’s, an offensive unit that ranked 17 in total offense during the regular season. The catalyst for the offensive production was Russell Wilson, the second-year signal-caller from the University of Wisconsin. Wilson went 18-for-25 for 206-yards while throwing 2-touchdowns. He also contributed on the ground by rushing for 26-yards on 3-carries. Wilson, a third round draft pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, was overshadowed by the likes of Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, yet was the first quarterback of the draft class to hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
“The goal was to win the first one,” Wilson said. “We’ve got a great group of guys, and I believe we can do it again, but it’s not easy. So you can think about the future and how many great players we have and one of the youngest teams in the league, but we just wanted to win this one. To think about the future, that wouldn’t be us.”
Seahawks offensive cordinator, Darrell Bevell, believes that the key element to their success was in fact the humble Wilson.
“He refuses to fail. He refuses to let himself fail. And he’s going to refuse to let anyone else around him allow that to happen,” Bevell said. “So he’s always going to be grabbing guys and making them watch a little more film, make them work a little bit more on this play or that play. A lot of the things that you would say about Peyton Manning, he has a lot of those qualities.”
Heading into the game, all eyes were not on Wilson, but were instead on his teammate, Richard Sherman. A lot was made of Sherman’s controversial comments following the NFC Championship Game, but he made news earlier in the week for an article that he contributed to in October. Sherman, a Stanford graduate with a degree in communication, wrote an article for Sports Illustrated ranking his top-five quarterbacks in the NFL and gave reasoning. Even though he rated Manning as the top quarterback in the NFL, he took a shot at him by saying that ‘he throws ducks,’ wobbling and imperfect throws for a quarterback. In the contest, Manning never really tried targeting Sherman. Sherman compiled 3-tackles and deflected the one pass thrown his way.
The youngest team in the NFL managed to win the first Super Bowl in their franchise’s history and won by slowing down the league’s best offense. Like I said, defense wins championships. In the last three meetings when the top offense played against the top defense in the Super Bowl, the defense prevailed. This was no different. Seattle’s defense was impenetrable and ferocious for much of the season. Now that the Vince Lombardi Trophy is going to the Emerald City and this team has achieved what many great teams have not done, the question has become where do we rate this defense in the list of the greatest of all-time?
