Puff’s Pick: Super Bowl XLVIII

Cory Puffett

It is finally here, the one game of the year that I turn over the responsibility for my pick to EA Sports. Every year since the 2000 season, I have played the Super Bowl on Madden to determine my prediction. Every year I pick a team to root for (what fun is the Super Bowl if you don’t care who wins?) and play as that team in the first half. I let my competition nature come in by playing as the other team in the second half.

This year, surprise, surprise, I’m rooting for Peyton Manning and the Broncos. So I played as Denver in the first half and Seattle in the second half.

Here are the results of each of my 13 previous Super Bowl prediction games on Madden.

Super Bowl	My Result	Real Result	My Record
Super Bowl XXXV	NYG – 42, BAL – 38	BAL – 34, NYG – 7	0-1
Super Bowl XXXVI	NE – 21, STL – 17	NE – 20, STL – 17	1-1
Super Bowl XXXVII	TB – 13, OAK – 10	TB – 48, OAK – 21	2-1
Super Bowl XXXVIII	NE – 24, CAR – 23	NE – 32, CAR – 29	3-1
Super Bowl XXXIX	NE – 42, PHI – 31	NE – 24, PHI – 21	4-1
Super Bowl XL	PIT – 17, SEA – 14	PIT – 21, SEA – 10	5-1
Super Bowl XLI	IND – 35, CHI – 21	IND – 29, CHI – 17	6-1
Super Bowl XLII	NE – 27, NYG – 21	NYG – 17, NE – 14	6-2
Super Bowl XLIII	PIT – 14, ARI – 12	PIT – 27, ARI – 23	7-2
Super Bowl XLIV	NO – 37, IND – 31	NO – 31, IND – 17	8-2
Super Bowl XLV	GB – 31, PIT – 30	GB – 31, PIT – 25	9-2
Super Bowl XLVI	NE – 35, NYG – 21	NYG – 21, NE – 17	9-3
Super Bowl XLVII	SF – 27, BAL – 17	BAL – 34, SF – 31	9-4

So my main struggles have come with the Giants and the Ravens, but for all I know last year could have been more about the read option being too easy to execute on Madden.

Today I played this Sunday’s game. You can check out the box score and stats below.

Now you know my official prediction, based on Madden. But I had been leaning toward Seattle as it was. I remain optimistic about Denver’s chances on Sunday, but if you recall my post early this week comparing the two teams, Seattle was better in four of eight categories and tied with Denver in two others.

The forecast for Sunday has looked less and less hostile each day and is now looking to be on par with what the Broncos have been experiencing in Denver the past few weeks. The only difference is that Sunday’s game will be after dark. Still, with very little chance for precipitation, this should not be a sloppy game.

That would seem to favor Denver, but Marshawn Lynch will beat you no matter what the weather is. I don’t know that he’ll pick up almost 200 rushing yards like he did in my game of Madden, but he is without a doubt my x-factor in Super Bowl XLVIII.

If Denver’s defensive line can stop him early and force Seattle to punt, the Broncos will take the lead and very likely hold on to it. If the Beast can break some tackles early and pick up some momentum for his team, it is going to be very difficult for the Broncos to put the brakes on him, much less put a lot of points on the board.

I think Sunday’s game will be a really good game with both teams protecting the ball. The one thing I know will be different from my prediction game is the number of penalties. If I remember correctly, the last time a game featured even one team without a single penalty was well before I was born, and I’m 22 years old.

Penalties very well could be a deciding factor. Seattle tied Philadelphia for the most defensive pass interference penalties this season and they haven’t matched up with a receiver corps like Denver’s. If they run into those kinds of problems, they’ll be in for a long day.

But if Seattle can eliminate those big-yardage calls, I wouldn’t at all be surprised if they walk away with the 34-27 victory that I am predicting.

Thanks for following my NFL coverage all season and I look forward to writing my Super Bowl afterword on Monday and hopefully continuing my coverage of the NFL throughout the offseason.

Puff’s Pick: Seattle beats Denver, 34-27

Puff’s MVP: Marshawn Lynch