What an embarrassing performance the Denver Broncos put on for the football world Sunday evening. From the opening play from scrimmage, a safety, to the end, the Seattle Seahawks dominated in every possible way. They forced four turnovers, including two Peyton Manning interceptions in the 43-8 route.
Russell Wilson, like he has all season, did what was asked of him. He played a clean, turnover-free game in route to an 18-of-25 passing performance with two touchdowns. An injury-plagued Percy Harvin led Seattle in rushing (45) and and all-purpose yards (132), showing everyone why Seattle yielded three draft picks for him last March.
Malcolm Smith, the underrated hero of the NFC Championship game, took home MVP honors in this one. He returned an interception for a touchdown and forced a fumble in what was a dominating performance from the Seahawks defense.
Meanwhile, the best offense in the history of the NFL from a statistical standpoint couldn't muster double figures in this one. Despite accumulating more first downs than Seattle, the Broncos committed 10 penalties for 104 yards and yielded a whopping 16 points off turnovers. Denver's drive chart was about as ugly as it gets in this one, too.
The game wasn't even close from the start. While Seattle put up just eight points on three scores in the first quarter, it was able to turn those scores into touchdowns, reaching the end zone the last five times it scored.
Smith's 69-yard interception return for a touchdown to cap the scoring in the first half ended up being one nail in the coffin. When Harvin opened up the scoring in the second half with by opening it up with a 87-yard kick return for a touchdown, the route was on.
Denver's only score came late in the third quarter when Manning hit Demaryius Thomas for a 14-yard touchdown strike to pull within four touchdowns...four touchdowns. Want me to repeat that again?
This Super Bowl ended up being a snooze fest for about the last 25:00 minutes of game action. Both Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch were pulled in the fourth quarter, which gave the likes of Tarvaris Jackson and Robert Turbin to see the field in New Jersey.
In terms of the weather, it didn't play much of an impact. It was actually warmer in New Jersy than it was in both Seattle and Denver. The NFL really struck gold and got lucky on that one.
The narrative leading up to this game was all about the No. 1 offense in the league against the No. 1 defense. Seattle's emphatic performance on that side of the ball continues what has been a trend recently. Offenses may win you a ton of regular season games, but come January and February it's all about defense and winning in the trenches.
As the youngest team in the NFL, some will want to talk about the Seahawks as the next dynasty. That's jumping the gun a bit. After all, I am pretty sure the San Francisco 49ers will have something to say about that in the coming years. Remember, they were a couple inches from playing in this game.
As it is, we can pretty much guarantee that the NFC Championship game will be the real Super Bowl in the coming years. After all, it was this season. It's now up to the rest of the top teams in a stacked NFC to close the gap between themselves and the Seahawks.
This dominating performance was indeeed Earth shattering. There is no other way to look at it.
Stay tuned to eDraft for articles reviewing the Super Bowl in the coming days.