Meyer’s Super Bowl Assessment

The Broncos got off to a rough start in Super Bowl XLVIII with
some miscommunication between Peyton Manning and his center.

Eric Meyer

Peyton Manning completed 34 of 49 passes for 280 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. His passer rating was a meager 73.5. Manning also had a fumble and missed twice on fourth down opportunities. The supposed greatest offense in NFL history scored a measly 8 points to Seattle’s 43 in Super Bowl XLVIII. Talk about a choke job, right?

Wrong.

The narrative of Peyton Manning being a lackluster postseason performer has some merit. An 11-12 postseason record (1-2 in Super Bowls) along with some less-than-stellar statistics give that argument some life. Manning hasn’t always had his best showings in January and has lost in pretty shocking and ignominious fashion in the past. But that narrative is inappropriate right now.

The reality is that Manning and the Denver Broncos lost on Sunday because they played a team that was so much better than them that they couldn’t even put up a fight. The narrative for this game ought to be that Seattle’s historically good defense went out and destroyed the league’s top offense.

Any talk of the Broncos squandering an opportunity or “choking” or not showing up is an insult to Seattle’s dominance. The fact is that the Broncos didn’t have a chance to choke. They didn’t have an opportunity to squander. They simply could not compete.

NFL fans, and even experts, do a funny thing when it comes to discussing quarterbacks and their legacies. Countless pundits and analysts will say that Sunday’s loss will stain Manning’s legacy, that he can’t be the greatest ever with a losing record in the Super Bowl.

What these pundits don’t realize is that by slamming Peyton Manning for not performing, they are implying that Seattle was a defense that Manning should have been able to beat. That couldn’t be further from the truth. You can say that Manning played poorly, and you’d be absolutely right. But he played poorly because Seattle forced him to hurry, to force it, and to throw underneath for minimal yardage.

The only conclusion that I draw about Denver from Sunday’s game is that their offense, and by extension Manning, was slightly overrated this year. Manning was the no-brainer MVP and his record-setting season deserves praise. However, the “greatest offense in NFL history” should score more than 8 points, regardless of whom they’re playing.

Denver had the luxury of playing a weak schedule almost all season, which undoubtedly inflated their scoring statistics. They had a perfect storm of sublime quarterbacking, a phenomenal supporting cast and a full helping of weak defenses to abuse. They shattered records as a result.

Because of their prowess, we put Denver on a pedestal. We concluded that they were an unstoppable unit and assumed Seattle would simply have to contain Manning, not dominate him. As a result, we act shocked. But we shouldn’t be.

Seattle’s defense was vastly superior to Denver’s offense, and it showed. Some would say that this was an embarrassing loss for Denver, but as Manning said, “The word ‘embarrassing’ is an insulting word, to tell you the truth.” I couldn’t agree more with that assessment.