Super Bowl XLVIII Recap

Well, better late than never I suppose.  I’ve been pretty busy lately, moving to the greatest city in the country (that’s right, Oakland!), so I’ve only now had enough time to sit down and write my Super Bowl recap.  However, I believe the delay in my recap has allowed me to fully absorb what happened a week ago.  In short, it was an awful game from a neutral standpoint.  It was possibly the least entertaining Super Bowl I have ever witnessed.  However, the one upside of the game was that the clear cut, best team in the league was crowned champion, which has not happened in a little while.  I finished the 2014 playoffs with a respectable 7/11 playoff predictions and 6-3-2 ATS (against the spread).  Let’s take a look at where I went wrong with my Super Bowl pick, by examining what happened, why it happened, and what it all means.

Seattle Seahawks 43, Denver Broncos 8

From the very first snap, this game was all Seattle.  The snap over Manning’s head into the endzone was a harbinger of the awful things to come for the team wearing orange.  In the end, the game came down to a couple things: turnovers and speed.  These are the two areas where the Seahawks dominated.  In my mind, Seattle made three key defensive plays that I remember, and they were all against screen passes.  The Broncos run a great screen game, which generally keeps their opponents honest against the rest of their pass game.  Additionally, these simple throws often help Peyton get in a rhythm.  On these three plays that I remember, Seattle were incredibly fast to the ball and were able to blow the plays up either at the line of scrimmage or shortly after.  They were simply too fast for the Broncos’ offense, something the Boncos' receivers, in particular, seem to lack.

As for turnovers, it would be tough to blame any of the turnovers solely on Peyton.  His first interception was caused by a mistake by Julius Thomas, and Manning got hit on the arm on the second interception.  He also had a fumble, which came on a 4^th down, when the game was already out of reach.  What made these turnovers so valuable was that the Seahawks did a phenomenal job of holding onto the ball themselves.  A team will rarely win with a -4 turnover differential. 

Ultimately, when Percy Harvin returned the second half opening kickoff for a touchdown, the game was over.  And companies that payed for prime advertising time during the fourth quarter were probably pretty upset by the prospects of losing viewership at the end of the game. 

So, I whiffed on my Super Bowl prediction.  However, I dominated my prop bets, including the coin toss.  The only bet I’m not sure about is whether Pam Oliver or Erin Andrews were on TV first.  Other than that, I got all five other bets correct.  That’s quite impressive if I do say so myself. 

Anyways, more importantly, I feel pretty silly for picking the Broncos now.  I mean, a few posts ago I said, “By winning this game [against the Panthers], the Niners set up the third and final matchup of the season between, in my opinion, the two best teams in the NFL.  The winner will represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, most likely as the favorite to win it all.”  As in, I had already deemed the Niners and Seahawks to be the top two teams in the league.  So, why did I go against my gut?  I had already stated that these were the two best teams, AND the Seahawks were pitted as underdogs at the Super Bowl’s kickoff.  It should have been obvious for me to predict a Seattle victory at Super Bowl XLVIII; however, I must have been blinded by my awe of Peyton Manning.  I felt as though, if he had a chance at the end of the game, he would get it done.  Obviously, I was very wrong about this because he didn’t have a chance, and if anyone was going to come through in the clutch, it was the Seattle defense. 

Looking ahead, we have a Seattle team who is young, talented, and hungry for more.  They will continue to be an intimidating force next season; however, I don’t expect them to repeat as champions.  I will admit that I found myself rooting for the Broncos at kickoff.  Peyton Manning has always been my favorite player to watch.  As a Raider fan, I was pretty devastated when he signed as a free agent for the Broncos.  However, during the Super Bowl, I put the rivalry behind me and just rooted for Peyton Manning.  He is a likeable guy, he runs an offense more entertainingly than any quarterback before him, and he is arguably the greatest of all time (it is a tough argument to make though, considering I haven’t seen most of the other quarterbacks in this argument play before).  Super Bowl XLVIII may have been Peyton’s last shot on the big stage, and that probably only adds to the sting of what was a devastating defeat. 

In spite of the total lack of competitiveness in the Super Bowl, I saw one glaring positive that came from the game: the return of defense to the NFL.  In a league that is always adding rules to make the game easier for the offense, defense was the dominant factor for the Seahawks this season.  Seattle’s secondary is physical and fast, and that showed throughout the playoffs.  Fortunately for Seattle, the playoffs is an environment that generally sees fewer penalties called, which was beneficial to a very physical Seattle secondary.  And I, for one, was happy about that.  I love watching a great defense, and when cornerbacks and safeties are allowed to play receivers physically, I think the game benefits.  There are too many nearly indefensible timing routes in the NFL these days; it is nice to see that a talented defense still has the ability to make plays against even the best offense in the league. 

In conclusion, congratulations to the Seahawks and to Seattle.  The fans truly got behind their team this year, and the team deserved it.  This season was fun, and up until the Super Bowl, this was one of the most exciting post-seasons in recent memory.  For now, we head to the off-season, which will be full of anticipation for every team, as owners stay busy, trying to improve their team in any way possible.  I can’t wait until next season, for every season brings new hope to every single franchise, even the Raiders.