Super Bowl XLVIII
Seattle Seahawks 43,. Denver Broncos 8
East Rutherford, New Jersey
February 2, 2014
You know, it was funny. The first time this thought really started passing through my head was actually early last season, when I thought that the Seahawks were not even that good yet.
It was the night when they "beat" the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football, with a highly controversial call that was widely regarded then, and still now, as a horrible call - possibly the most blatant mistake by referees in NFL history (and that's saying something).
The Seahawks won as a result, but the botched call forced the NFL to come to terms with their striking officials at that time, who had been sitting the early part of the season out. The game would forever be linked with that one play, which came in the waning seconds, with Seattle desperate to catch a prayer of a touchdown, and Green Bay aiming to kill the clock to preserve a close victory on the road.
The controversy that the play, and the game, generated, reminded me of what I had heard about another very famous play that, at least technically, was called wrong according to the rules of the game at the time: "The Immaculate Reception". Also, more recently, there was another hugely controversial play which resulted in "The Tuck Rule".
Of course, one of those games came in the seventies, and the Steelers, the "Team of the Decade" then, essentially gained momentum for the rest of the decade with that one, huge win against the Oakland Raiders was a direct result of the Immaculate Reception, when Franco Harris's catch and run to the end zone clinched the victory for Pittsburgh. A couple of seasons later, Pittsburgh would earn the first of four Super Bowl wins in a six year span, good enough to earn "Team of the Decade" honors.
Then, nearly thirty years later, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots benefited from another hugely controversial play that allowed them to win a game against, you guessed it, the Oakland Raiders, that allowed them to survive a game that they had been outplayed in. They would go on to beat Pittsburgh, of all reams, in the AFC Championship Game, and then would shock the Rams in the Super Bowl, for their first ever title in franchise history. But it would not be their last, as they won three of the next four Super Bowls, en route to clinching "Team of the Decade" honors.
And now, looking back, I remember that hugely controversial play, in what was, in fact, supposed to be a Packers victory. But officially, the Seahawks won, and it gave them a tremendous push from momentum. They played solidly, finished 11-5, and won a playoff game. Then, this season, they catapulted to the top of the division with a 13-3 record, and then dispatched with New Orleans, then the 49ers, to reach the Super Bowl. Their highly energetic showing their made the Broncos record setting offense look slow and inept, and Seattle won their first ever Super Bowl.
So, are the en route to clinching "Team of the Decade" honors, like the Steelers of the seventies, or the Patriots in the last decade?
Maybe. I certainly do not think it is a laughable notion, given how dominant they looked last night against the Broncos. And the first inkling that I got of it was early last season, with that controversial victory over the Green Bay Packers.
The so-called "Legion of Boom" defense was intense, and probably the best defense that we have seen since the Tampa Bay defense of 2002, and possibly since the legendary, record-setting Ravens defense of 2000.
Yet, that is where the comparisons stop, I think. True, this Seahawk defense put the league's most explosive offense to shame, and they can probably be mentioned in the same discussion as great defenses. But if they rank among the all-time elite defenses, they are not quite on the level of the truly upper echelon defenses among the all-time elites, particularly the 1985 Chicago Bears, and the 2000 Baltimore Ravens. Those were the best defenses that the league has ever seen, and on many levels, they changed the game. These Seahawks, despite the clinic that they put on against Denver last night, did not quite dominate either of their previous opponents defensively quite like the 2000 Ravens or especially the 1985 Bears did in their playoff runs.
That said, their dominance in dictating this Super Bowl reminded me a lot of the Ravens against the Giants back thirteen years ago. Yes, I am a Giants fan, but I can certainly admit that the Giants did not belong on the same field as Baltimore on that day. New York's offense was actually shut out, as their one and only score came on special teams. The Ravens defense pitched a shut out, while Seattle's defense came quite close to that feat themselves yesterday. But the Ravens defense allowed a total of 16 points in four postseason games, and that was against some top notch offensive teams of that season. The 1985 Bears were even more dominant, allowing only 10 points in three postseason games, including two shut out wins in a row in the NFC, and allowing one garbage time touchdown against New England in the Super Bowl.
The Seahawks allowed 40 points all told in their three games. They played some solid, talented offenses, true. But still, 40 points is a lot of an all-time defense that wants to be mentioned as a buzzsaw like those Ravens or Bears championship squads. That's just too many points.
Still, Seattle also proved that they are not just about their defense, although that is clearly the strength of the their team. The 'Hawks have a solid offense. They might not have the star power, numbers, and explosiveness of the Broncos offense, but they get the job done, with a solid, punishing running game, and an accurate, yet mobile quarterback who lacks the numbers of the elite quarterbacks, but nonetheless lends the offense both consistency and unpredictability with his young legs providing both agility and speed.
Plus, as they showed in the Super Bowl, their special teams are more than adequate.
And, a statistic that everybody must have heard by now: they are the youngest team to have won the Super Bowl in decades, and one of the youngest championship squads ever.
Plus, Pete Carroll has the program running in the right direction, and the organization believes in him. As well they should. By winning the Super Bowl, he became only the third coach (Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer being the other two coaches) who have won both the college football national championship, and the Super Bowl championship. Unlike Johnson and Switzer, Carroll did not have the numerous draft picks from a Herchel Walker trade like those Dallas Cowboys of the early nineties benefited from. Carroll apparently has a solid eye for talent, as well as a formula for success that has, so far, proven stunningly successful. He has had prior experience at the NFL level, and although some dismissed him because these terms with the Dolphins and Jets were considered failures, he seems to truly have allowed the lessons to sink in, and to have become a better all around coach for it. A lot of skeptics felt that his approach in college football with USC would never work in the NFL. They were wrong. It has worked beautifully.
Can the Seattle Seahawks be the "Team of the Decade"?
You bet!
But they obviously still have to earn it. No one's simply going to give it to them.
That said, next season, they have as good a shot of winning the title and repeating as anyone in the league. They will have most, if not all, of the pieces of their championship puzzle still in place. Of course, this is the age of parody in the league, of free agency. But for now, Seattle still really has a year to try and work out a plan, before some of their really big names become free agents, and want a big payday.
Inevitably, that day will come. Until then, though, the road to the Super Bowl might just run through Seattle, and the first ever visit of the Lombardi Trophy to Seattle might last a little longer than most of the rest of the league would like to think about. This is a team that can get the job done!
Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so, either. The official oddsmakers believe the Seahawks should be the favorites to take it all again next year. Here are a couple of links associated to a Seattle title defense:
"Seahawks ready to start work on Super Bowl defense By HOWARD FENDRICH of the Associated Press, February 3, 2014:
http://news.yahoo.com/seahawks-ready-start-super-bowl-defense-151553089--spt.html
"Seahawks are favorites to win 2015 Super Bowl; 49ers, Broncos close behind" by Jay Busbee of Yahoo Sports Shutdown Corner, February 3, 2014:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/seahawks-are-favorites-to-win-2015-super-bowl--49ers--broncos-close-behind-185255774.html
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