Super Bowl XLVIII Afterword: Broncos vs Seahawks

Jermaine Kearse spun out of four tackles on his way to a touchdown
in the third quarter of Seattle's dominating Super Bowl XLVIII victory.

Cory Puffett

We are two days removed from Super Bowl Sunday and I am still struggling to understand how Seattle dominated this game so thoroughly. The Broncos took away the Beast, Marshawn Lynch. Denver was penalized five fewer times for 60 fewer yards.

The Seattle Seahawks are Super Bowl championships, though. They dominated in all facets of the game.

Marshawn Lynch and Robert Turbin combined for just 64 yards on 24 carries. But Seattle still outgained Denver by more than 100 yards on the ground because Russell Wilson and Percy Harvin combined for 71 yards on just five carries.

Russell Wilson only attempted 25 passes. Peyton Manning completed 34. But Wilson connected on 72-percent of his attempts for 206 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Percy Harvin was electric on special teams, but Seattle stuck with what got them here in the passing game. Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse combined for 131 yards and two touchdowns on nine receptions. Almost as impressive, those nine catches came on just ten targets.

The Seahawks’ defense only sacked Peyton Manning once, and it only went for a one-yard loss. But the veteran quarterback was hurried often and even scrambled from the pocket at times, which is very atypical.

That pressure from Seattle’s defensive line forced two interceptions. One was returned for a touchdown by Malcolm Smith, who won Super Bowl MVP honors for that, his fumble recovery, a pass deflection and 10 tackles.

Demaryius Thomas had 13 grabs on 18 targets for 118 yards and a touchdown. But most of his yards were after the catch because Seattle gave no room for Denver’s receivers to run downfield. Quite a few of those yards also came on a catch and run that ended in a fumble forced by Byron Maxwell.

Percy Harvin had just one kick return for 52 yards all season entering Sunday. He took his only kick return of Super Bowl XLVIII 87 yards to the house. Jon Ryan punted only once, and it was a booming 45-yarder. Britton Colquitt punted twice for Denver and his longest was just 31 yards.

We can talk about whether or not this loss affects Peyton Manning’s legacy. We can talk about what this loss means for Denver, who may lose key offensive pieces like Knowshon Moreno and Eric Decker to free agency this offseason.

But this is the Super Bowl, and when a team wins this game they deserve to have the focus placed on them. The Seattle Seahawks are world champions for the first time in franchise history and they beat a former AFC West rival to capture it. This is the city’s first championship since the SuperSonics beat the Washington Bullets in the 1979 NBA Finals.

Let’s talk about how, for the fourth time in five tries, the league’s leading offense failed to beat the league’s leading defense when the two teams met on this stage. This was the first time such a matchup occurred since 1991. NFL rules were supposed to favor offense much more than it did then. But Seattle’s defense still dominated Denver’s record-setting offense.

And how about Seattle’s own offense? They did pretty damn well for themselves. How does 6.2 yards per play sound? They picked up 2.2 more yards per pass attempt than Denver and 2.8 more yards per rush. They ran nine fewer plays than Denver but still outgained them by 35 total yards on offense.

Don’t forget the new storyline that most analysts didn’t even think about before the game. Is this a Dynasty? Will the Seahawks be to the 2010s what the New England Patriots were to the 2000s? They certainly could be in the short term, though it will be difficult to keep a lot of their pieces once their rookie contracts are up.

Remember that this was the youngest team in the NFL this season at 26 years and some change on average. Seattle is the fourth youngest victor in Super Bowl history.

This was one of the most dominating performances in Super Bowl history and the first true blowout since Jon Gruden’s Buccaneers dismantled the Oakland Raiders more than ten years ago. The fan in me aches for Peyton Manning. I know he wanted this championship and I wanted it for him.

But I pride myself on being able to set aside my fanaticism about Peyton Manning and the Washington Redskins when the time is right. And right now I am just glad I got to witness such a great moment in NFL history.

In 1987, the Washington Redskins crushed the Denver Broncos. It was the biggest blowout in Super Bowl history until two years later when the San Francisco 49ers obliterated almost the same Broncos team. 26 years removed, nobody remembers that the Redskins and Broncos offenses were almost identical in every way. They don’t remember that Denver’s defense was supposed to be vastly superior to Washington’s. We just remember that Denver blew a 10-point lead and lost 42-10.

We may not think so now, but by the time Super Bowl LX (60) rolls around many of us will have forgotten that Denver’s offense wasn’t just great, it was historically great. We won’t even remember how the NFL dodged a bullet with the weather. But we will always remember the way Seattle dominated every aspect of the game and walked away with the city’s first championship.

Final Score:

Seattle Seahawks – 43

Denver Broncos – 8

MVP: LB Malcolm Smith (10 Tack, FR, INT, TD)

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.

Super Bowl XLVIII: Comparing Teams

Tomorrow I will preview the Super Bowl matchup and on Friday I will make my official prediction, as will my Football Freaks co-hosts.

Today I want to begin my preview process by taking what I know from scouting the two teams last week and comparing each team’s individual units to each other.

I did this with last year’s Super Bowl matchup between Baltimore and San Francisco and got a lot of feedback. And so now I’m back at it with this year’s Broncos and Seahawks.

Quarterbacks

All discussion surrounding these teams tends to begin with the individuals starting at quarterback, so let’s go ahead and knock that out here.

Peyton Manning is one of the greatest quarterbacks in the game. He makes quick pre-snap decisions to change plays and put his playmakers in the best position to help his team gain yards on every play. He also makes quick decisions after the snap, giving the defense little time to break down his pocket and the secondary little room for error in their coverage of his receivers.

Russell Wilson does not have the experience Manning has. Wilson is the sixth quarterback in NFL history to lead his team to the Super Bowl in his first two seasons. He lacks the quick decision making that Manning has, and he also lacks height. But Wilson is one of the most talented young quarterbacks in the game. He has a sixth sense about him that allows him to keep his eyes downfield even as he scrambles from a broken pocket on almost every play.

In a game like this, though, I think experience is just a little more important than talent. And it isn’t like Manning is completely devoid of talent anyway.

Edge: Broncos

Running Backs

I love what Knowshon Moreno and Montee Ball have done this year for Denver. Both are great runners and allow Denver to switch off players to always have fresh legs on the field. They root for each other during games, too, which is important. Ronnie Hillman is also a very good runner but his fumbling problems will likely keep him out of this game as they have through the second half of this season.

Marshawn Lynch is the main guy for Seattle, and he is very capable. He is one of the best running backs in the league right now, and he has been almost since he first arrived in Seattle. And there shouldn’t be any worry about him wearing down during the game. He rarely does, and even when Seattle does want fresh legs out there, Robert Turbin is no slouch.

Edge: Seahawks

Receivers

This is not as cut and dry as one might assume. I love Denver’s receivers. Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, Wes Welker and Julius Thomas are four of the best receivers in the NFL right now, especially with Manning at the helm. And then you have guys like Andre Caldwell, Joel Dreessen and Jacob Tamme who can be plugged into the offense at any given time and respond well. The strength of the Broncos receiving corps is not just its strength at the top; it’s the depth it boasts.

But I also really like Seattle’s receivers. Golden Tate irritates me with his tendency to showboat, but he is a very good receiver with some of the best hands in the NFL. His height often leads to offensive pass interference calls when he goes up for a big catch, but he doesn’t always get called even though he always finds a way to come down with the ball. Jermaine Kearse and Doug Baldwin are two of the most underrated receivers in the league. Kearse doesn’t drop passes and Baldwin is one of the best sideline receivers in the game right now. Remember Mario Manningham’s amazing sideline catch in Super Bowl XLVI? Baldwin has made at least three of those this season.

Seattle also has Percy Harvin and Ricardo Lockette, but with their level of involvement this weekend in question, Seattle doesn’t come that close to matching Denver’s depth at this position.

Edge: Broncos

Offensive Line

This is a difficult one to dissect. Seattle’s offensive line is very good in run blocking, but it was probably the worst pass blocking line in football this season. Denver’s line is very good in pass protection, made better by Manning’s quick release on most plays, and respectable in run blocking. But it does often fatigue late in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter.

I watched every snap of every game Denver and Seattle played this regular season and postseason. Rarely did Seattle run a pass play where Russell Wilson didn’t have to scramble from the pocket. Now, it is a very difficult job to establish a pocket that a short player can see and throw from. But often the pocket is gone within two seconds of the ball being snapped.

Denver’s offensive line does not have the same problem. The only thing that concerns me about their offensive line in pass protection is that when it breaks down late in the game, it tends to collapse on the left side of the line, which is Manning’s blind side. In run protection, Denver runs a lot out of the shotgun, which means that they run block much like they pass block. They do a good enough job of it, but the problem is that if the linebackers cheat up to play the run, they will plug up Denver’s running lanes.

When Seattle blocks for Marshawn Lynch, they plow ahead and deal off a wall, making it difficult for defenders to get a hand on Lynch before he crosses the line of scrimmage. And of course we all know what Lynch can do once he gets a head of steam.

Edge: Tie

Defensive Line

 Both teams run a 4-3 defense, which makes it a little easier to compare the teams. I love Terrance Knighton and Shaun Phillips on Denver’s defensive line, and Robert Ayers is also very good. But the left side of that line is a little weaker. Nothing against Malik Jackson and Sylvester Williams, but Seattle will have a lot more success running to that side of the line.

Seattle’s defensive line is just better, and it’s deeper. Red Bryant, Chris Clemons, Brandon Mebane and Tony McDaniel are the starters and then you have guys like Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril backing them up. This might be the best defensive line in all of football. They are very good in run stopping and they got pressure on opposing quarterbacks all season.

A big story line of this Sunday’s game will be whether Peyton can get the ball out quickly enough to beat Seattle’s pass rush.

Edge: Seahawks

Linebackers

Again, I really like Denver’s linebackers. Wesley Woodyard is a tackling machine and Danny Trevathan has overcome a nationally televised blunder in the regular season opener against Baltimore to become a leader on that defense. They are great against the rush and they are very good against the pass. And hey, Nate Irving is pretty damn good, too.

But it’s hard to call them better than Seattle’s linebackers. Bruce Irvin is very good and Bobby Wagner is severely underrated as a middle linebacker. He’s the best coverage linebacker in this game, and he’ll make an impact against the run, too. I think Denver has a little more depth at linebacker, but this position isn’t all about depth.

Edge: Tie

Secondary

Champ Bailey, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Duke Ihenacho, Mike Adams, Tony Carter, and Quentin Jammer… that just sounds like an all-star secondary. And it is. They struggled to find an identity early in the season, but they have gotten better every week and have really had a solid postseason so far.

But then you throw out Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor and Byron Maxwell. These guys never had to search for an identity. They are the “Legion of Boom.” They have been since the season started. And don’t worry about depth; Jeremy Lane and Parish Cox are perfectly capable backup corners if they are called on.

Edge: Seahawks

Special Teams

This one is a no brainer. In the punting game, Seattle leads by a mile. Jon Ryan punted 74 times this season and only 21 of them were returned. On those 21 returns, opponents gained less than four yards per return and only about five yards per game. Golden Tate handled returns all year for Seattle and averaged 11.5 yards per return. Their blocking is great and his elusiveness is greater.

Denver simply doesn’t have that on punt returns. Trindon Holliday is a good returner, but he doesn’t always make great decisions. As for Wes Welker, he doesn’t have the speed of Tate. And Britton Colquitt is a very good punter, but he didn’t have the same success in avoiding returns that Jon Ryan did this year.

Now, in the kick return factory, you would probably say that Denver has the edge. They certainly did in the regular season on both sides of the ball. But Percy Harvin was out most of the season. In his first action, he returned a kickoff against the Minnesota Vikings. It was his only kick return of the season and it went for 58 yards, Seattle’s longest of the year. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him fielding kicks on Sunday.

Edge: Seahawks

Total: Seattle 4, Denver 2, Tie 2

Super Bowl XLVII: The Preview

Super Bowl Sunday Countdown: 1 Day

Photo credit to International Business Times.

Super Bowl weekend is finally upon us. In less than 36 hours the NFL will have a new defending champion. Today I will not be making my prediction, but I wanted to preview this game before I choose a winner since I don’t actually choose my official prediction on my own. Instead, today I will cover each aspect of the game and give an edge to a team.

Offense

On first glance, Baltimore and San Francisco are pretty even. Frank Gore is a little more power than Ray Rice, while Rice is a little speedier than Gore, but neither is limited to running for speed or for power. The 49ers had better depth before Kendall Hunter went down with an injury, but LaMichael James and Bernard Pierce are about equal.

At receiver, San Francisco has Randy Moss and Michael Crabtree. I give the Ravens a pretty clear advantage at receiver because of how stellar Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin have been this postseason. People give Boldin grief for not being as good as he was in Arizona, but I disagree with them. Jacoby Jones is a solid third receiver and the 49ers don’t really have much of a third option.

But there is another factor in the receiving game, and that is of course the Tight End. Dennis Pitta vs Vernon Davis and Delanie Walker; looks like a clear advantage here. The fact that San Francisco doesn’t really have a good third receiver and Davis still makes plays is remarkable.

The offensive lines are fairly equal in both the run game and the pass game, so not much to talk about up front.

As for the quarterbacks, it would be easy to continue to hate on Joe Flacco and call him overrated. I don’t really know where I stand on that argument right now, but he has had a fantastic postseason and I give him a lot of credit for that. So when I say that I give the edge at quarterback to San Francisco, it is not because I think Colin Kaepernick is a better quarterback than Flacco. It is because the 49ers have more versatility with Kaepernick than the Ravens do with Flacco.

Offensive Edge: San Francisco 49ers

Defense

If you look solely as defensive statistics from this past season, you’ll see that the 49ers were better than the Ravens in just about every category, in some more significantly than in others. A lot of people are leaning on those stats to claim that San Francisco has a clear edge. Ray Lewis changes that, whether you like to admit it or not. He was missing for 10 games during the regular season, during which the Ravens defensive rankings went down steadily. This defensive unit looks completely different this postseason. They look much more focused, much more energized, and much more comfortable working with each other.

On the defensive line, it is hard not to give the edge to the 49ers. Even though Aldon Smith is officially listed as the 49ers’ starting ROLB, he comes up to play off the line alongside Justin Smith pretty often and is very dangerous. Because of this, I tend to treat Aldon Smith as a lineman.

Take him away from the linebacker corps, and it’s much more even between Baltimore and San Francisco. If anything, it gives the edge to the Ravens with Lewis, Courtney Upshaw, Terrell Suggs and Albert McClellan. Good as they are, I don’t know that Ahmad Brooks, NaVorro Bowman and Patrick Willis quite measure up.

In the defensive secondary, I have to give the edge to the Ravens, and it’s not even close. Corey Graham and Cary Williams have been phenomenal on the corners this offseason. They rarely get beat and with 40 times around 4.4, they have the speed to make up for occasionally mistakes. Carlos Rogers and Tarell Brown have nothing on Graham and Williams.

Deeper in the secondary, Donte Whitner and Dashon Goldson have done a pretty good job, and C.J. Spillman is a good third man, but I again give the edge to Baltimore. Ed Reed is still a ball hawk and is healthy right now. James Ihedigbo is a terrific player and Bernard Pollard made a huge difference in the secondary when he returned from injury just like Ray did at middle linebacker.

Defensive Edge: Baltimore Ravens

Special Teams

Andy Lee has been slightly better than Sam Koch in the punting game this season, but it is by no close margin that Justin Tucker has outkicked David Akers. Just one year removed from setting the NFL record for most converted field goals in a season, Akers has been arguably the third most unreliable kicker in the league.

In the return game, Ted Ginn Jr. was much more explosive in 2011 than this season. LaMichael James has been pretty solid in kickoff returns, but Jacoby Jones has both of them beat in all aspects of the return game.

Special Teams Edge: Baltimore Ravens

Coaching Staffs

I personally believe that Jim Harbaugh is a better coach than his brother, John. It isn’t by a wide margin, but he has a very different relationship with his players than John does with his. Neither has, in any way, a poor relationship with their teams, but I think Jim’s personality is a little more conducive to coaching football players.

That said, I give Baltimore the edge with the assistant coaches. It is getting harder and harder to say that Jim Caldwell shouldn’t be the long-term offensive coordinator in Baltimore. His play calling has been very good this postseason, though it was very strange in the Denver game. Dean Pees has done a great job replacing Chuck Pagano on the defensive side. I like San Francisco’s position coaches a little more, but when it comes to coaching staffs, you have to look at head coaches and coordinators. The position coaches don’t have a huge affect on how the games go.

Coaching Edge: Even

Tomorrow I will make my official prediction by playing Madden, which I have done every year since the Ravens’ first Super Bowl appearance. To stay updated on my blog as new posts are published, ‘like’ my blog’s Facebook page and follow me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.

Super Bowl XLV: Analysis

February 7, 2011

After the game ended last night several thoughts were running through my mind. One was a feeling of…emptiness, perhaps. The Super Bowl is over and there won’t be any more football until August, assuming the new CBA is drawn up in time. Sure, baseball is right around the corner, but football is the more exciting of the two, and it’s much easier to write about.

The other feeling was excitement. I had just watched the most exciting Super Bowl played during my lifetime. Of course, right now, as I write this post, that feeling has slipped away and I can think of a couple Super Bowls that I would rank higher on the excitement scale. But hey, last night’s game was very exciting, everything you expect of a sport’s championship game.

But how exciting was it really? When you compare it other recent Super Bowls like the Steelers/Cardinals game or the Patriots/Rams one early last decade, this one doesn’t seem all that exciting, despite the outcome not being determined until there was less than a minute to play.

Trying to figure out the answer to that question, I looked at the stats from last night. The Packers had a +3 turnover differential. They never turned the ball over and they scored touchdowns after every Pittsburgh turnover. That didn’t help me answer my question, though. On one hand, the fact that the Steelers played such a sloppy game in terms of ball security would imply a very unexciting game. Yet the Steelers only lost by six points and had the ball with a chance to win the game as it drew to a close.

If I were to call this game the most exciting Super Bowl of my lifetime, I would have to say that last year’s game sits right there with XLV. Last year the Colts lost by 14 points to the Saints. But Indianapolis was in a very similar position as Pittsburgh was last night, down by seven late in the game with a chance to tie it and force overtime. I don’t think last year’s game ranks that high on the excitement scale, so I have to say the same for last night’s game.

But that is not to say Super Bowl XLV was not exciting, because it was. The Packers looked like they were going to run away with the game for a while and they had a 21-3 lead late in the first half. Only a late touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger to Hines Ward gave Steelers fans any sense of hope heading in the second half.

This game turned into one of momentum. Green Bay had the momentum early and built up a big lead, one that barely stayed intact. But going into the second half, momentum was on the Steelers side and they took advantage of it while they had it. But when Pittsburgh drew close, Green Bay responded and their offense finally came back to life.

I was a little worried about how Aaron Rodgers would perform after the Bears game two weeks ago. He played well in that game, but was forced out of his rhythm as the game moved into its latter stages and he was never able to get it back. When the Steelers started making him feel uncomfortable last night, I thought, “Here we go again.” But he stepped up, returned to form, and delivered when it was most critical that he do so. In terms of stats, I think Greg Jennings deserved to be named MVP. But because he responded at the times he had to, I agree with the decision to give Rodgers the MVP award.

I’ll conclude this post here since there isn’t much else I can analyze about the game. The Packers played well throughout. Their only poor play came on a few stalled drives in the third quarter, and when that defines your poor play, you are in an excellent position. Pittsburgh played poorly, turning the ball over about three times more than you can if you are expecting to win a game. They made a run and had about a quarter and a half of really solid play. It wasn’t enough to net them a win, however, and Green Bay won their 4th Lombardi Trophy and Aaron Rodgers became the third Packer to win Super Bowl MVP.

Final Score:
Pittsburgh Steelers – 25
Green Bay Packers – 31