Monday Afternoon Quarterback: Super Bowl 48

Feb 2, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Seattle Seahawks outside linebacker

holds the Vince Lombardi Trophy after Super Bowl XLVIII against the Denver Broncos at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

I thought we would put a bow on this one by having one more “Monday Morning Quarterback” for the season, recapping the Super Bowl. It’s 1 PM, so it’s an “Afternoon Quarterback” but you get the idea.

So, the Seahawks complete the “Road to MetLife Stadium” by just blowing the doors off of the Broncos from MetLife Stadium, 43-8. Radio host Chris “Mad Dog” Russo put it quite eloquently with this tweet after the game last night:

Game simply- Seattle set the tone, Manning couldn’t stop the bleeding, and the Denver defense gave up.

— Chris Mad Dog Russo (@MadDogUnleashed) February 3, 2014

Well, I am not sure I would say Peyton Manning was “tight”, he’s been doing this for far too long. He certainly, along with the rest of the offense, wasn’t effective, and they fell too far behind to come back against the number one ranked defense. They couldn’t stop the bleeding, and then it did seem like the Broncos’ defense packed it in a bit.

As I said last night, the first play from scrimmage for the Broncos’ set the tone for the rest of the night. Peyton being out of sync with his center, Manny Ramirez, told the story. The offense was out of sync for most of the night.

The Broncos fell behind 22-0 in the first half, and that was it. Percy Harvin ran back the opening kickoff of the second half for a touchdown, making the score 29-0. It was 36-0 before the Broncos finally scored on a touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas. Thomas set a record for receptions with 13 and Manning one for completions with 33, but it was far too little too late.

The once chance the Broncos had to change the momentum was in the second quarter, on one of their few drives that they penetrated into Seattle territory. The score was 15-0 at the time, and a TD here would have likely altered the face of the game. Just outside the red zone, Manning is hit as he throws, and MVP Malcolm Smith picks off the pass, and takes it 69 yards to the house to run the score to 22-0.

Points for Denver here would have changed the momentum, but instead, a score was added that nearly put the game out of reach.

Seattle is just so fundamentally sound. Not seeing them that often during 2013, that was impressive to watch. They allowed Denver a lot of underneath throws, which would have worked for Denver if they were able to produce yards after the catch.

They weren’t.

The Seahawks did a textbook job of tackling. The Broncos’ receivers were not able to do a thing after catching the football. The Broncos were not able to create a big play, and the defense being so fundamentally sound was a big reason why.

This Seahawks’ team is very young, should be strong for a long time.