Well, that wasn’t the most exciting Super Bowl.
Despite the fact that the game wasn’t very competitive, it was extremely impressive how well the Seahawks defense played. That’s what should be remembered about this game. Not Peyton Manning coming up short yet again, but the Seahawks’ defense putting on a defensive clinic. Their defensive performance was up there with the ’85 Chicago Bears, 2000 Baltimore Ravens, ’02 Tampa Bay Bucaneers and ’07 New York Giants.
Right from the first play of the game, when the Seahawks scored on a safety, you could just tell the Broncos weren’t completely focused for a game they had two weeks to prepare for.
The Seahawks’ defense was clearly the more aggressive and physical team compared to the Broncos’ offense. The best way to disrupt a great quarterback is by getting pressure on him, and that’s exactly what the Seahawks did.
The reason the Seahawks are such an aggressive and emotional team is because they take on the image of their head coach, Pete Carroll.
Carroll is the definition of a player’s coach. He will do whatever he has to to ensure that his players are loose and ready for the game each week. Going back to his days as the head coach at USC, Carroll would constantly play music and pull pranks. Because of this, he is now one of three coaches in history to have won both a Super Bowl and a NCAA championship.
People are going to knock Manning and say his performance in the Super Bowl was just another choke job and how this is going to tarnish his résumé, which I don’t think can be any further from the truth.
He is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time and people need to appreciate his greatness, rather than just soil his reputation because he met a far superior team in the Super Bowl. He has one Super Bowl ring. There are so many quarterbacks who don’t have any rings, so he should not be criticized for failing to win the big game for a second time.
There’s no set of requirements that determine if one player is better than another. It’s all based on a person’s beliefs and opinion. That’s the fun thing about sports. While these debates go on forever, there’s no correct answer, which makes having these arguments and hearing all the different viewpoints extremely interesting.
Looking forward, I believe the Seahawks have a tremendous chance of repeating as long as they’re able to keep their players, who will become free agents this offseason. They have a system in place that is dominant and one of the youngest teams in the league.
I think the Broncos are going to have a major drop off next season. I think a team will overpay for wide receiver Eric Decker, so he won’t be returning. Wide receiver Wes Welker will be another year older and past his prime. Another big issue is the team’s defense. Vice President of Football Operations John Elway will have to find some defensive backs to secure up the back end of their defense.
Overall, it was another great NFL season. The NFL is continuing to grow and build its empire as America’s most popular sport. I’m excited for what should be a very exciting offseason, as there will be some very interesting storylines.
And most importantly I was right, Bruno Mars absolutely killed it.