Manning and the Broncos offense deserve a lot of credit for what they accomplished this year. By the numbers, they were quite simply the most effective offense - ever. They certainly deserved to be in the big game.
However, they were not going to beat the Seahawks by passing 50+ times - Seattle's secondary is too damn good. Denver failed to establish a credible running threat, and great defenses eat one-dimensional offenses for breakfast.
IMHO, the Broncos hadn't faced a defense as fast and ferocious as Seattle's in the regular season, and they simply underestimated them and were unprepared.
I for one did not expect it to be a blowout Seahawks win - I expected Seattle would either win a close game, or lose big. Being a long-term Seahawks fan leads one to expect disappointment. That Seattle was able to stick to a conservative offensive game plan to the end was very satisfying - after 35+ years of underperformance, you get used to it.
That they got the big win, against an old division rival who's shadow they always seemed to be in was that much more satisfying.
As luck would have it, I hear the NFC West and AFC West - the toughest divisions last season - will play each other in the next regular season. Should be some good games in store.
However, they were not going to beat the Seahawks by passing 50+ times - Seattle's secondary is too damn good. Denver failed to establish a credible running threat, and great defenses eat one-dimensional offenses for breakfast.
IMHO, the Broncos hadn't faced a defense as fast and ferocious as Seattle's in the regular season, and they simply underestimated them and were unprepared.
I for one did not expect it to be a blowout Seahawks win - I expected Seattle would either win a close game, or lose big. Being a long-term Seahawks fan leads one to expect disappointment. That Seattle was able to stick to a conservative offensive game plan to the end was very satisfying - after 35+ years of underperformance, you get used to it.
That they got the big win, against an old division rival who's shadow they always seemed to be in was that much more satisfying.
As luck would have it, I hear the NFC West and AFC West - the toughest divisions last season - will play each other in the next regular season. Should be some good games in store.
