Seahawks in the Super Bowl, part two: (r)ode to joy
Seahawks bring the NFL championship to the 12s
As if the Broncos weren’t already facing an uphill battle, the Seahawks special team unit got into the fun. Percy Harvin returned the second-half kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown and a 29-0 Seattle lead. Harvin may have been one of Seattle’s worst trades ever, but he came through big time here. After Denver and Seattle exchanged punts, Manning connected on his longest pass play of the day, 23 yards to Demaryius Thomas. Again the Legion of Boom struck, as Byron Maxwell forced Thomas to fumble and Malcolm “I’m wherever the ball is” Smith recovered it. After an unnecessary roughness penalty on Denver, Seattle had the ball at their own 44.
The Seahawks took advantage of the short field as Wilson hit Mr. Clutch, Jermaine Kearse, with a 23 yard strike for Seattle’s fourth touchdown of the game. The score was now Seahawks 36, Denver 0. If anything, most people outside the Pacific Northwest would have expected that score to be reversed. Perhaps more than any game before or since, this one emphasized the adage that defense wins championships.
The Broncos finally got on the scoreboard to avoid the ignominy of suffering the first-ever shutout in the Super Bowl. With just seconds to go in the third quarter, Manning found Thomas for a 14-yard scoring strike. Denver converted the two-point play to get within – sorry, I had to stifle a laugh – 28 points. The Lions, of all teams, once scored 34 points in the fourth quarter. But that was against a mediocre Bears team in 2007, not against one of the league’s best defenses of all time.
Denver tried an onside kick and failed. Gotta love the true believers, right? Seattle took advantage of the short field once again, as Wilson drove his team down to the Denver 10-yard line. This time it was Doug Baldwin who did the honors for the 12s as he took the ball into the end zone. The lead was back up to 35 points with just under 12 minutes to play. Denver never quit, I’ll give them that. Manning was in the game to the very end. That had to feel like an eternity to the Broncos and their fans.
Malcolm Smith won the MVP award, but if there ever was a time to give the award to an entire unit, this was it. The Seahawks defense forced four fumbles and recovered two. They picked Manning off twice and held him to 280 yards passing. He had just shredded New England in the AFC title game for 400 yards two weeks prior. The number one ranked defense in the league proved they ranked among the best ever.
Next. The Seahawks began their long road to the title here. dark
Those final 12 minutes may have felt like a lifetime, but many 12s literally spent a lifetime as Seahawks fans, cheering for their team to win the NFL title. It had been a long road since 1976, with more than a few bumps along the way (can you say Tom Flores?) and a detour or two (like moving from the AFC to the NFC), but in the end, every moment was worth it.