nfl Super Bowl XLVIII - Denver Broncos vs Seattle Seahawks

[Mathachew Veteran]

Both number one seeds facing each other, which is only the second time to happen in the last 20 years. The last time it happened was in 2009 for Super XLIV, Colts vs Saints. Peyton Manning was the quarterback for the Colts then. It also faces the number one offense against the number one defense. Other random Super Bowl tidbits here.

 

I didn't pick either team to win yesterday, and prior to that I was 8-0 in my playoff picks (doh!). As a long time Saints fan, I'm not prone to rooting for the 49ers, but in this case, definitely. Nevermind the tough losses the Saints have had in the past few years to Seattle, the hubris coming from the Seahawks was reinforced with Richard Sherman's rant on Michael Crabtree immediately after the game was won (Crabtree's no saint either). Something about arrogant people makes it so easy for me to root against them, hence my support for the 49ers. Their defense is incredible, but they also get away with way too many non-calls.

 

So, who do you think will win? Who do you want to win? Who do you think will get the MVP award? If the Broncos win, I don't see the MVP going to anyone but Manning, unless he plays subpar, like 1 TD, 2 INT and 200 yards passing. If that's the case, then probably a defensive or special teams player would get it. If the Seahawks win... well, I'd rather not think about their egos getting a boost from winning the Super Bowl.

[tsupersonic]

Broncos/Broncos/Manning. Sad to see the Pats lose, but they played terribly yesterday, and the calls! 

[spenser.d]

Seahawks/Broncos/Manning

Wilson was QB at UW-Madison while I was a student, so I'm rooting for him, but I think the Broncos have them beat and tbh, I'm not opposed to that outcome either.

[Marshall Veteran]

I'm not that big into football, but I'd like to see the Seahawks win, mainly based on the fact that they've never won a superbowl and have only been there once.

[JoeC]

Broncos, Broncos, Manning. It's really hard to look past the highest powered offence that the league has ever seen, even though the Seahawks secondary is the best in the league, they're not anything special (yet - that could start to change after the SB though).

 

The thing that boggles my mind is that for all the praise heaped on the SEA defence, if you take a gander at the postseason top 5s here - http://www.nfl.com/stats/team?seasonId=2013&seasonType=POST&Submit=Go - the teams stack up like this:

Broncos: #4 Off YPG (#4 pass, #8 rush) // #2 Def YPG (#7 pass, #1 rush)

Hawks: #9 Off YPG (#12 pass, #5 rush) // #6 Def YPG (#6 pass, #8 rush)

 

Not only are the Broncos (in the postseason, vs. San Diego and the Pats) being much more effective than the Seahawks on offence (played Saints and 49ers) but they're #1 against the run because they put a big lead up early and often so teams can't run it. That takes Lynch out of the game earlier than Seattle would like, unless they're very patient with it.

 

The last thing is strength of opponents - the Seahawks are only #6 Def against the pass in the postseason, and although they played Brees (big numbers), the Broncos played Rivers and Brady who (this season) are both top passing QBs. I don't particularly rate Kaepernick as a passer, and he nearly got his team past Seattle. Manning is far better than that.