photo by Jamie Squire, Christian Petersen/Getty Images
It is down to the final two teams. Both are number one seeds. One, the Seattle Seahawks, is the top ranked defense while the other, the Denver Broncos, is the highest scoring offense in NFL history. That being said, who has the edge?
Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is going to have his hands full trying to handle the pressure that the Seahawks are going to be bringing on Super Sunday. But the one thing that is working to Peyton’s advantage is that he has two weeks to watch film and prepare for the high-flying Seahawk defense.
Seattle will also have their hands full. With a pass defense led by cornerback Richard Sherman ranked first in the NFL, the Seahawks’ main goal is to take away the weapons Peyton Manning has at his disposal by playing man coverage across the board and pressuring the quarterback early and often.
But when is all said and done, I give the edge to the Broncos to come out on top.
When you flip the script and compare Seattle’s offense and how they match up against Denver’s defense, I give the edge to the defense. The Broncos’ defense has really upped their game in stopping offenses led by quarterbacks Phillip Rivers and Tom Brady. While on the other side of the ball, the Seattle offense has struggled down the stretch of the season and in the playoffs.
Quarterback Russell Wilson has been up and down as far as production in the latter half of the season. Running back Marshawn Lynch going into beast mode was a big reason why Seattle was able to have success on offense to help set up the play-action pass for Wilson. But with the way the Broncos have been stepping up to stop the run, look for them to contain Lynch from exploding for a big game and make Russell Wilson try to win the game with his arm.
With trying to put the game in the hands of Wilson to win the game, his receivers he has to choose from when it comes to throwing the ball are average at best. Receivers Golden Tate and Doug Baldwin are top choices for Wilson to find down-field and are hardly threats to the Denver secondary.
This does have the making to be a great game and even resemble Super Bowl XLII between the New York Giants and New England Patriots. The Patriots were the highest scoring offense in NFL history that season, Tom Brady had set the single season passing touchdown record at the time, and New England was undefeated heading into the game against a Giants’ defense that had been one of the best in the league leading up to that game. If you don’t know by now, the end result was the Giants pulling off the upset and winning 17-14.
As similar of a script as this may sound, the result will not be the same. Look for the Denver Broncos to get the win and Peyton Manning to complete the greatest season a quarterback could ever have.
But if the Broncos don’t win, what will the talks be surrounding Manning’s legacy amongst the greats?