Seahawks/Broncos Super Bowl Preview

Ok sure I'm writing a Super Bowl preview a week and a half away from the day before kickoff but so what! Too excited to wait. The second time in Seahawks history they are in the Super Bowl, but this opponent is way different from any opponent that they have face this season. For the first time since Super Bowl XXV that the number one offensive and defensive teams will be facing off for the ultimate prize......the Lombardi Trophy and to be crowned Super Bowl Champs!

The Seahawks have been from this stage in the NFL for 8 years and the last time they were there it was a complete disaster (thanks to the striped assholes calling the game). They fell short of their goal of Super Bowl champs to the Pittsburgh Steelers 21-10. Let's just hope that the refs will call a fair game in this Super Bowl huh?

Anyways, getting back to the game the Seahawks have the better team. Why do I say that the Seahawks have a better team compared to the Denver Broncos who have had Peyton Manning, DeMaryius Thomas, Wes Welker, Knoshon Moreno, and Eric Decker on their team? Simple, the Seahawks want this game more and have more to prove then the Broncos.

The Hawks have gone through criticism all season and have had the media doubt them all season long. Their wide receiver's have been called "pedestrian" but quoting wide out Doug Baldwin "It irritates the hell out of me when guys constantly want to talk about receiving, talking about we're average, we're pedestrian. Well guess what? We're walking our ass to the Super Bowl as pedestrians".

The Seahawks wide receiver core may not have any Pro Bowlers or highlight players in the eyes of the media and the experts but all season long Baldwin, Golden Tate, and Jermaine Kearse have shown how good they really are. The experts fail to forget that it was Kearse who made the game winning catch against the Panthers in Week 1, or made a spectacular catch in the Colts game to keep the Hawks in the game, and guess what? It was Kearse who made the tough catch against the 49ers last Sunday that basically won the game for the Seahawks. Golden Tate has had a career season for catches (64) and yards (898), he also had a career game against the St. Louis Rams in the final game of the season catching 8 passes for a career high 129 yards.

Those are not "pedestrian" wide receivers to me. The Seahawks may not have three guys who have caught 10+ touchdowns like the Broncos have no they have speedy and athletic young men who are ready to prove to the whole nation that even though they are not Pro Bowlers they are just as good.

The Broncos have Peyton Manning yes we know but here's the thing you take Manning away and the Broncos are not a Super Bowl team! That's all the Broncos are is a passing team and all season long the Seahawks secondary has shut down passing teams like this. The Legion of Boom have three terrific All-Pro and Pro Bowl players but their backups are just as dangerous. Byron Maxwell was put in for the suspended Brandon Browner and in just 5 games he picked off 4 passes!!!

Walter Thurmond III is just as dangerous, he may only have had one interception during the season but he still a great defender. Jeremy Lane has been outstanding for the Seahawks as well. To me this guy should have been a Pro Bowler for special teams, he's also a great cornerback as well.

The Broncos defense is good......but not that good. Their defense has proven that they are weak, when they go up against teams who actually HAVE an offense they struggle. The Broncos D almost blew it two weeks ago as the San Diego Chargers scored 17 points in the 4th quarter, their offense also struggled against the Chargers defense as well. The Broncos D has shown they are week in their three loses and in a couple of their wins.

If Russell Wilson can get his legs moving while under pressure and run the ball in 10 days then the Seahawks may have a shot at really pounding the Broncos. Wilson has been holding the ball way too long in the past couple games, during the first half of the season he ran the ball more often but since week 8 he has ran the ball less and less. During a three game stretch he ran 33 times and ran for 240 yards!! I mean damn what happened after that huh? Since Week 17 he has ran the ball 13 times for 15 yards.......that's not Russell Wilson. It's a big importance that Russell runs in his first Super Bowl when he has no one to go to.

Another big key in this Super Bowl for the Seahawks is get to Manning early and sack his ass! You do that you have Manning and the Broncos on the ropes. Manning has been sacked 7 times in the 3 loses this season and in the 13 that he has won he's been sacked 11 times......yeah weird huh? Doesn't matter the Seahawks D-Line needs to get to Manning early and put pressure on him and get him to panic to throw the ball, that will allow the secondary to pick Manning off or with the pressure have Manning throw it away.

Another thing is that Seahawks offensive corridinator Darrell Bevell needs to call a smart game. He's been highly criticized by myself and a lot of other Seahawks fans, but I do have to give him kudos on calling a great game last week, but he really does need to let Russell call the game. In the loss against the Colts it looked like Russell was calling the plays, actually the three game rushing stretch for Wilson looked like he was calling the plays. The point I'm trying to make is that Bevell needs to call one more smart game and let Russell call the plays from time to time.

The running game in the last three games has been scary for the Seahawks, lead by their Pro Bowl running back Marshawn Lynch has ran for 346 yards in the last 3 games (249 in the playoffs). Beast Mode has been on another level since Week 17......boy has been eating his Skittles. Lynch needs to keep this stretch going against the Broncos, who are ranked 8th in run defense in the NFL. Before the Divisional Round Game Lynch had gone 6 weeks of not going over the century mark but since then he's broken big runs and of course created two new Beast Quakes.

The Broncos really have nothing to threaten the Seahawks if you look at it. The Hawks have the number one defense against the passing game and are 7th against the running game. Last week the Seahawks had one horrible game against the run game as Colin Kaepernick ran for 130 yards, but getting onto a positive note they only allowed 31 yards on 17 carries to the other running backs that the Niners had. The Seahawks have also shut down some of the game's best quarterbacks this season.

They held Cam Newton to 125 yards in Week 1, Kaepernick to 127 the following week, held Andrew Luck to 229 yards in Week 5, Matt Ryan to 172 in Week 10, Drew Brees to 147 in Week 13, Kaepernick to 175 in Week 14, held Eli Manning to 156 in Week 15 and picked him off 5 times, and then Kaepernick one more time last week to only 153 yards.

The numbers don't lie, this Seahawks secondary is the most feared in the NFL and the Seahawks lead the NFL in takeaway's with 28 coming from interceptions. This Super Bowl is really going to be one helluva show. Both teams have explosive offenses but the Seahawks still have the advantage in the defensive face-off.

This is going to be a game to remember win or lose the Seattle Seahawks have had a terrific season and the 12th Man will always be there to support the team including myself. I just wish the Super Bowl was kicking off this week instead of on February 2nd.

GO HAWKS!!!!!