Things I Noticed: Super Bowl XLVIII

Super Bowl XLVIII pits the league's best offense against its best defense.  Does the old saying about defense winning championships still hold true in today's NFL?  Nobody pressures the QB as well as the Seahawks, who manage to do so while rarely blitzing.  That means they have more guys back in coverage, led by their secondary known as the Legion of Boom.  But does Peyton Manning have too many weapons at his disposal for even the league's best pass defense to handle?

This is the fifth time in Super Bowl history that the league's top offense has faced the top defense.  The defensive team has won three of the previous four such meetings.

Here are some things I noticed this week:

• With the game being played in the home of the Giants and Jets, the league invited New York
  
  legends Phil Simms and Joe Namath to join in on the field for the coin toss.  Namath screwed up the coin toss by flipping it before Seattle could call heads or tails.  At least he still looked stylish, bundled up in a heavy fur coat, despite kick-off temperatures around 48 degrees.
• A bad snap led to a safety on the first play of the game. Manning was moving up toward the line of scrimmage to make a protection change, but Manny Ramirez missed the call and sailed the snap over Manning's head.  At 12 seconds, that's the fastest score in Super Bowl history.  The previous record was Devin Hester's kick-off return in Super Bowl XLI, which took 14 seconds.
• Pete Carroll wasted an early challenge by questioning the spot of the ball after Russell Wilson scrambled toward the sideline and made a diving attempt for the first down marker.  The ball was re-spotted closer to the first down after review, but still came up short.  Seattle settled for a field goal on the drive.
• Doritos gave us the first good commercial of the evening with a time machine that runs on Doritos.  Jimmy!  You're so old!
• Not a great start by Denver's historic offense, as they went three-and-out on their second drive. It's the first time this postseason that Denver failed to score on consecutive drives.  On the bright side, they managed to run three plays before punting instead of turning the ball over on just one play, so that's progress!
• So Jesse Pinkman is now in a movie based on the Need for Speed video game.  From the looks of it, this could just as easily be a continuance of his Breaking Bad character racing away from his criminal past.
• Seattle tried to get creative on offense with a flea flicker.  The hand off went to Marshawn Lynch, who pitched it back to Wilson.  The defense wasn't fooled and soon closed in on Wilson. After an attempt to scramble free of the pass rush, Wilson tossed the ball away.  It didn't make it back to the line of scrimmage, which made it dangerously close to intentional grounding, but officials determined a receiver was close enough to avoid a penalty.
• Wilson followed that play with a 37-yard lob that dropped perfectly into the hands of Doug
  
  Baldwin to put the Seahawks inside the 10-yard line.  
• John Fox challenged that Wilson's pass that was dropped by Percy Harvin was not a forward pass, but reply confirmed it was an incomplete pass instead of a fumble.
• Broncos linebacker Nate Irving saved a touchdown by knocking the ball out of the hands of Jermaine Kearse in the end zone.  Seattle settled once again for a field goal to go up by eight.  As terribly as Denver played in the first quarter, they were remarkably only down by one score at that point.
• Manning missed a wide open Julius Thomas and the overthrown pass was picked off by Kam Chancellor.  Manning was under pressure from Cliff Avril, but had time to deliver an accurate pass.  He just missed it that time.
• Denver is the fourth team in Super Bowl history that failed to get a first down in the 1st quarter. They finished the quarter with only 11 total yards, with their three possessions ending in a safety, punt and an INT.
• Pass interference in the end zone gave Seattle first and goal at the 1-yard line.  Tony Carter never looked back for the ball before shoving Golden Tate out of the back of the end zone just before the ball got there.  Marshawn Lynch gave the Seahawks the game's first TD with a 1-yard run.
• That score salvaged a quiet day for Lynch, who finished with only 39 yards on 15 carries. Beast Mode was not in full force in this game, but scoring that TD may have earned him a bag of Skittles anyway.
• Tim Tebow never got to play in a Super Bowl in his time as Denver's starting QB, but his performance in these T-Mobile commercials was far better than the performance Manning had in this game. 
• Denver finally got a first down with about 10:30 left in the 2nd quarter!  Knowshon Moreno burst up the middle for a gain of 5 yards.
• Manning's arm was hit as he threw, causing him to throw up a floater that was easily picked off by Malcolm Smith, who raced 69-yards the other way for a TD.
• Tough to blame Manning for that one.  Moreno should have hooked back to make a play for the ball.  He didn't, but Smith did and managed to make a play.
• After getting stopped well short of the 20-yard line on his first two attempts to run back a kick-off, Trindon Holiday finally broke through with a big return near the 35-yard line, but the Seahawks stripped the ball from his hands and recovered the fumble.  The call was overturned after replay showed Holiday was down by contact prior to the ball coming out.  
• The Broncos failed to convert on 4th and 2, turning it over on downs, rather than attempt a long field goal.  Given the way this game was going, a field goal wouldn't have done them much good.  Going for it on fourth down was the right call, but as was the case most of the night, the Broncos just couldn't execute.  The best offense of all-time was shut out in the first half.
• Bruno Mars put on a great show at halftime.  I had never seen him perform before, but the dude
  
  can sing.  He put on a very energetic performance that pumped up the crowd.  Basically everything the Broncos didn't do in the first half.
• The weather turned out to be much better than expected, but you have to wonder - if the temperature had been below freezing, would the Red Hot Chili Peppers still perform without shirts on?
• Percy Harvin returned the opening kick-off of the 2nd half for a TD.  It was a short kick intended to keep it away from Harvin, but he took it on a bounce and ran it back.  In addition to that 87-yard kick return, Harvin finished with 45 rushing yards and a catch for 5 yards.  Not bad for a guy that played only one regular season game due to injury and was also forced to sit out the NFC Championship game.
• Manning badly overthrew Eric Decker on a pass that was nearly picked off by Richard Sherman. Decker had been ignored most of the game with Manning not wanting to challenge Sherman.  
• Joe Buck: "Denver might as well send their punter home.  Down 29, you get the feeling, unless they are pinned back, it's four down territory."  Three plays later, Denver sent out the punt team with the ball on Seattle's 40 yard-line.  Troy Aikman: "4th and long, you don't want to give Seattle this kind of field position."  Thanks guys, great commentary! 
• Lynch burst through for 18 yards, which was easily his best run of the game.  He had totaled 18 yards on 11 carries prior to that run.
• Wilson scrambled for a big run that got called back for a holding penalty, leading to Seattle's first punt of the game.  
• Since when is Kia considered a luxury car?  Almost as bizarre is that they thought using Laurence Fishburne for a Matrix reference wasn't about 10 years too late.
• Demaryius Thomas caught a pass for a 10-yard gain, then fumbled it away.  Byron Maxwell punched the ball out of his arms and Malcolm Smith pounced on it.
• Bruce Willis just told everyone to hug the people around them.  I received no hugs. #hugfest
• Clearly Denver has thrown in the towel, as Jermaine Kearse shrugged off three defenders that made half-hearted attempts to make a tackle on his way to the end zone.
• Seattle is the only team in Super Bowl history to score on a pass, run, kick-return, defensive return and a safety.
• Is there anything more American than America?  According to Bob Dylan, this is why you should buy American cars.  Ok then.
• Denver finally got on the board as time expired in the 3rd quarter with a 14-yard pass from
  
  Manning.  Demaryius Thomas managed to hang on to the pass despite getting tackled before the ball got there.  Denver tacked on the two point conversion to pull within a 4 possession game.
• Thomas set a Super Bowl record with 13 catches for 118 yards and a TD.
• Omaha just asked Peyton Manning to use another city for his audible calls.
• A 24-yard completion down the middle of the field to Kearse set up a 10-yard TD pass to Baldwin on the next play.  Seattle was aided by more sloppy tackling by the Broncos defense, as Baldwin managed to elude three tackles to slip into the end zone.
• Baldwin ended up as the Seahawks leading receiver in the game, with 5 catches for 66 yards and a score.
• The record for points in a Super Bowl was Joe Montana's 49ers putting up 55 points against John Elway's Broncos.  Now the Executive VP of the Broncos, Elway must have been having flashbacks of that debacle as he watched his team get blown out on the big stage once again.
• Loki and The Mandarin in the same commercial?  They make a good point about the best villains having British accents. 
• It's a Full House reunion!  Dannon Oikos yogurt steals the best commercial title when John Stamos has his attempt to seduce a woman interrupted by Bob Saget and Dave Coulier.
• Richard Sherman was carted off the field with an ankle injury.  Sherman made headlines after Seattle's NFC Championship win over the 49ers with his post-game comments.  In a drastic reversal, Sherman had nothing but praise for his opponent after the game.  He called Manning a class act and a great competitor, while urging Seahawks fans not to bash the future Hall of Fame QB.  Given his defense's dominant performance, it may come as a surprise not to hear the outspoken Sherman talking trash.  Then again, it's tough to run your mouth when you're finishing the game standing on the sidelines on crutches.  
• I really have no interest in making my own soda instead of just buying Coke or Pepsi, but if anyone can make me give Soda Stream a chance, it's Scarlett Johansson.
• Jack Bauer is back!
• Seattle tried to put the game away with an attempt on 4th and 1, but Wilson's pass was overthrown.  That left Denver about 5 minutes to score 5 TDs.  That's feasible, right?
• So much for that.  Denver failed to even pick up a first down on their next drive.  Manning had the ball knocked out of his hand as he was pulling it back to throw.  The fumble was recovered by Denver, but it didn't matter since it came on 4th down.  Either way, it's a turnover.
• When have we ever seen a Super Bowl where the winning team pulls it's starters with over 3 minutes to go because it's such a blowout?
• Manning set a long list or records this season, including single season records for passing yards
  
  and TDs.  Yet the one record that seems a bit hollow is the Super Bowl record for completions.  Manning completed a Super Bowl record 34 passes on 49 attempts, but that led to only 280 yards and a single scoring drive.  He also had 2 INTs and a lost fumble.  Not exactly an MVP performance.
• Wilson completed only 18 passes for 206 yards, but he also threw 2 TD passes.  More importantly, he and his Seahawks avoided turning the ball over.  Thanks to the efforts of his defense and special teams, there was no need for him to do more than that.  Manning can have his stats and records, but Wilson will take the win.
• Wilson is the first QB to throw for over 200 yards with at least 2 TDs and complete at least 70 percent of his passes in a win, without being named Super Bowl MVP.
• Manning's 24.4 Total QBR was his lowest rating of the season and the worst by any QB in a Super Bowl since Rex Grossman in 2006 (in a game that he lost to Manning's Colts).  Wilson posted an 88.1 Total QBR, which is the second best rating in a Super Bowl since 2006.
• The Seahawks tied a record for the youngest team (26.4 years) to win a Super Bowl.
• Malcolm Smith earned the Super Bowl MVP trophy for his performance, which included a pick-six, fumble recovery and a team high 10 tackles. 
• Final score: Seahawks 43, Broncos 8.