SEATTLE SOAKS DENVER
Seahawks control game from the start, roll to one-sided victory over Broncos
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Before the aging rock stars sang it at halfitme, the aging quarterback star lived it.
“Give-it-away, give-it-away, giveit-away, now,” the Red Hot Chili Peppers shouted during Sunday night’s Super Bowl. Peyton Manning had. The Seahawks won Sunday night’s Super Bowl, 43-8, scoring twice on defense, once on special teams and sending America back to the days when Super Bowl second halves were redundant.
The Home of the 12th Man scored 12 seconds into both halves, slowing any hope Denver had for traction.
The league’s best defense, bruising and bullying, brought Seattle’s franchise, founded in 1976, its first title.
“To be the first to win it for your organization, you’re the first,” wideout Percy Harvin said. “That means everything.”
The Legion of Boom did so by embarrassing the typically fantastic Manning, starting with the first play.
Ironically, the Broncos’ first mistake came on what the quarterback has become known for: the audible.
Manning — whose call of “Omaha!” during the playoffs crept into pop culture like an earworm — walked from the shotgun toward his crouched center to change the play.
Manny Ramirez, believing Manning was telling him to snap the ball, sailed it past his temple and into the end zone, where Manning cradled it and was downed for a safety.
“A little bit of a cadence issue,” Broncos coach John Fox said.
Ramirez said it “kinda put us on our back end off the bat.”
Twelve seconds in, the score was the fastest in Super Bowl history, besting Devin Hester’s 2007 game-opening kick return by two seconds.
The Seahawks used the field position gain from the ensuing free kick to march for a 31-yard Steven Hauschka field goal. The kicker added a 33-yarder eight minutes later for an 8-0 lead.
In the first quarter, the Seahawks kept Manning and the Broncos where it wanted them: off the field. The quarterback completed 3-of-4 attempts for a measly 10 yards.
Manning’s first interception led to the Seahawks’ first touchdown.
On third-and-7 early in the sec- ond quarter, Manning’s pass was jumped by Kam Chancellor. whose violent style embodies the Seahawks ethos.
Seven plays later, Marshawn Lynch lunged forward for a 1-yard score to put Seattle up, 15-0.
His “ducks” — popularized by Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman this week — would yield more Seattle points.
With 3:36 left in the half. Manning was hit by Cliff Avril as he threw, and the ball wobbled into the arms of outside linebacker Malcolm Smith. He ran it 69 yards for a score. Smith, who would later recover a fumble, was named MVP of the game.
Needing a score to swing momentum, the Broncos eschewed a field-goal try when Manning threw an incompletion on fourth-and-2 from the Seattle 19.
They went into halftime down 22-0, and Manning had a quarterback rating of 46.3.
Any hope for a comeback was gone as fast as Percy Harvin’s navyand-white blur on the second half ’s opening kickoff.
The wide receiver, who played only two games this season because of hip and head injuries, returned the boot 87 yards to go ahead, 29-0.
“So many guys made so many plays,” quarterback Russell Wilson said. “It’s unbelievable.”
The Seahawks offense wasn’t electric — it didn’t have to be — but Harvin gave it the boost it needed.
He ran two fly sweeps for 45 yards and finished the game as the leading rusher on either team.
Wilson completed 18-of-25 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns. The second-year quarterback was calm and in control; his offense didn’t turn the ball over; Denver did four times.
Wideouts Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse each caught scores. No Seahawks receiver, though, had more than Baldwin’s 66 yards.
“Once we started getting touchdowns, we just ran away with it,” Wilson said.
Manning’s final numbers were more prolific, though largely irrelevant.
His 34 completions were a Super Bowl record, though two of his 15 misses were interceptions. His deep attempts, particularly, were off mark.
“Going against Peyton Manning … I don’t think anyone could predict this,” Harvin said.
Manning had 280 yards but no running game. Knowshon Moreno, the team’s leading gainer, posted 17 yards on five carries.
Manning avoided the first-ever Super Bowl shutout when, on the third quarter’s final play, he found Demaryius Thomas for a 14-yard score.
By then, the outcome was academic.
And it might be again next season.
The Seahawks are the NFL’s youngest team.
“Our defense was ridiculous,” Wilson said. “And our special teams were phenomenal.”