Super Bowl XLVIII

Right after the game the critics came out. I’m not a big fan of the critics, because they are often wrong. Sure, they appear to be right in the moment, but time often tells a different story.

Before I give you some of my observations on the game, let’s go back to the NFL Draft of 2012. One sportswriter heavily criticized Pete Carroll. In fact, he gave Pete an F for his draft skills that year.  Oh, and he also considered Russell Wilson “by far the worst move of the draft.” To be fair there were many who doubted Wilson’s ability to play in the NFL.

In case you are not aware, Russell Wilson was the starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks in their blowout win in Super Bowl XLVIII! So much for any credibility regarding the remarks of the sportswriter.

Now let’s move on to Peyton Manning. Yes, he gets a lot of attention due to his spectacular play on the field. Yes, he was expected to have a much better game than he did.

I am not going to defend or take up for Peyton except to say football is a team sport. Also, I don’t think Denver could have won even if Peyton had a great game. Seattle was playing at way too high of a level.

With that said, at least four things happened in the game that Peyton had nothing to do with, yet he was expected to overcome.

1. The first play from scrimmage consisted of a poorly snapped football that turned into a safety.

2. At halftime the score was 22-0. That is not good by any stretch of the imagination. However, if the defense can hold Seattle’s offense on the opening possession of the second half, have them punt, and then put together a scoring drive, we have us a ball game.  But that is not what happened. The opening kickoff of the second half was returned by Seattle for a touchdown, all while Peyton is on the bench. Now he gets the ball back and the score is 29-0. That’s very difficult.

3. But Peyton is able to complete some passes and makes a good throw to Damaryius Thomas who makes the catch, runs for extra yards, but then has it stripped from him for a fumble and Seattle recovery. Once again, Peyton is expected to overcome that mistake also.

4. The defense. What did they do to help the cause? Nothing. No one stepped up and made a great play or caused a turnover. That’s what good defenses do. But not Denver’s.

With that said, yes Peyton did not have a good game. And he will be highly criticized for some time, perhaps forever in football world. But football is a team sport, and where was the rest of the team?