Congratulations to the Seahawks on their impressive Super Bowl win last night. Seattle was, for some reason, my other favorite team growing up. I always had a thing for Steve Largent and Curtis Warner, so if there had to be one other team I wanted to win the Super Bowl, it would be them.
I know plenty of Pats fans had their issues with Seattle after last year’s game. You know, when it took two huge bombs for the Hawks to come back on the Pats after Brady had thrown for 400 yards on them. Funny how no one seems to be bringing that one up today.
But in my two trips to games in Seattle, I’ve never seen a more informed and passionate group of fans and I am happy for them today.
That said, I was never really rooting against Peyton Manning in this one. I don’t know what it was, but after the AFC Championship game I feel like I turned a corner and was able to appreciate Manning as the great quarterback he is. Really, if you ignore the Brady-Manning debate and it’s pretty easy to like Peyton. Of course, the way his team played yesterday certainly left me shaking my head.
But all this talk of legacy is way overblown. Brady and Manning are two of the best to ever play and unless one of them puts up two Super Bowl wins in this, the twilight of their careers, the debate will go on and on for all of time. Personally I’ve enjoyed being a Brady fan and wouldn’t want the Peyton Manning fan experience over the Brady experience. Both have fallen short plenty of times, but I think the Brady/Patriots’ losses were easier to stomach and left far fewer “what ifs”.
Once again one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time was shut down by a top defense. Have we gotten to the point yet where having an elite set of pass rushers is just as important as having an elite quarterback? It’s not far off.
The Seahawks beat the Broncos just like the Giants beat the Patriots twice in the Super Bowl. By physically dominating their offense at the line of scrimmage. Again, I hope this pushes the Patriots in the offseason to add as many pass rushers as they can get their hands on. Having them in September is one thing, having them all in February is what wins the big one.
It was really just nice to see some great defense last night. Maybe because I’m a Patriots fan I’m just not used to it, but I’ve always been a defense guy and the Seahawks defense was so fun to watch. I can’t wait to look at the all-22 to get a better sense of their game plan.
But it was great seeing their secondary come down hard on the Broncos’ crossing routes that burned the Pats so many times.
It’s just nice to know that there’s still a place for great defense in the NFL and I hope it gives the Pats something to aspire to.
And now we move on to the offseason!
