The best defense against the best offense, the sergeant vs. the out spoken corner. What could make this match up any better? What better stage than our own backyard? East Rutherford held the ticket for Peyton Manning to secure his destiny as the best quarterback of all time. The stars were aligning for one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time.
Disappointment is an understatement. Blow-out and embarrassment are the first words that come to mind to describe the big game that took place last Sunday, February 2nd. The game has been described as men playing against boys. The “best offense of all time” put up only eight points and turned the ball over three times. No one could have predicted a 43-8 whopping of the Denver Broncos by the Seattle Seahawks. While this Super Bowl did not cement Peyton’s legacy as the greatest quarterback of all time, it did, in fact, put the Seahawks defense in the history books as one of the best of all time.
Many believe that the game was over in the first 15 seconds. On the first offensive play for the Broncos a miscommunication between Manning and his center sent the ball rolling into the end zone. Before you had even eaten your first plate of wings, the Seahawks were up two to nothing. The momentum swung immediately in the “Hawks’” favor and the Broncos never even came close to getting it back. By the time “legion of boom” had two plays under their belt they had a 5-0 lead. The Seahawks wanted to show the country why they deserved to be talked about in the same sentence as the 1885 Chicago Bears and the 2000 Baltimore Ravens (two of the best defenses of all time). The moment a Broncos receiver touched the ball, three Seahawk players surrounded them. By the end of the game the Bronco receivers seemed afraid to even catch the ball. The Seahawks defense played at a speed that could not be matched by the Broncos’ offense.
If you made it to the end of the game and did not leave your Super Bowl party early, you got to see the heart-wrenching look of defeat on Peyton Manning’s face. A look of despair and complete sadness dripped from every pore of his skin. The “sergeant” kept his helmet on the whole time while shaking hands; it looked as if he had finally aged and become human. The 38-year-old has had four neck surgeries and a chance to be the only quarterback to win a Super Bowl with two different teams; these stats and circumstances can only be told in football fairy tales. Many football fans wish they could have said they saw the great Peyton Manning win and defeat all odds to be a champion. The sad truth is that with that loss Peyton became the quarterback with the most losses in the postseason, but it will be a sin if that is what he is remembered for. Peyton is one of the top three quarterbacks to ever play the game. His mind for the game should be in its own display in the Football Hall of Fame. One day I will be proud to tell my kids that I saw the great Peyton Manning play this country’s great game of football.