Defense Wins Championships: Denver Broncos Fall to Seahawks in One of the Most One-Sided Super Bowls Ever

So I picked the Broncos to win. Let’s start there. After my big rant on intangibles, who wants it more and who has more to play for, none of it mattered. It was most likely both Peyton Manning’s and Champ Bailey’s final Super Bowl. It was Manning’s chance to back up his record-setting fifth MVP award with a second ring and truly catapult himself near the top of the GOAT conversation. Whatever. Seattle didn’t care. Right from the opening kickoff in East Rutherford last Sunday, Denver was overwhelmed and outclassed by the Seahawks.The Seahawks were the better defensive team. A safety on the opening play of the game and a couple of interceptions (including a pick-six) later on proved that. Denver was overmatched offensively. Seattle put up over 40 points on Sunday, while the Broncos couldn’t muster two scores. So there’s no debate there. A kickoff return for a touchdown settles the “who won on special teams” argument. So I could just end the recap here. The Seahawks dominated the Broncos in every single facet of the game.Yet there is some greater significance to this game other than it being the biggest joke of a Super Bowl in recent memory.In 2007, there was an incredibly anticipated fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It shattered pay-per-view records, raking in over a million buys. A legendary welterweight boxer, Oscar de la Hoya, was matching up against rising star Manny Pacquiao. Many doubted the Filipino fighter, who was much slighter in stature than de la Hoya and had started his career as a light flyweight (105 pounds). He bulked up significantly to prep for the fight, moving up to 147 pounds to meet the welterweight minimum. Questions were tossed around: did the aging Golden Boy still have it in him to put down an elite challenger? Could Pacquiao prove that he wasn’t just a flash in the pan by coming out on top on the biggest stage against one of the greatest boxers to ever grace his weight class? With all the hype, all the excitement, the fight began.And it wasn’t even close. Pacquiao’s mixture of speed and power was unlike anything de la Hoya had ever faced in his career, and with his career in decline, his significant height and reach advantage couldn’t hold off his opponent. His hits lacked their signature pop, and Pacquiao peppered his face with every punch in the book until the Golden Boy’s eyes were almost swollen shut. The fight didn’t go the distance. De la Hoya’s corner stopped the bout before the scheduled 12 rounds were completed. It was a TKO victory for Pacquiao. As the two fighters embraced in the center of the ring at the conclusion of the bout, Pacquiao told de la Hoya: “you are my idol,” to which de la Hoya responded:“No. You are mine.”In boxing, this sort of passing of the torch is very common to see. Very few fighters retire undefeated, often lacking the wherewithal to know when they are past their peak until they are taken down by a faster, stronger, younger challenger. In football, though, such an occurrence is rare. But you may have seen it this past Sunday. I think that Russell Wilson is now the undisputed alpha male amongst NFL quarterbacks today.For as long as I can remember, it was always Tom Brady and Peyton Manning at the top of the pantheon of signal callers, but this season, a changing of the guard took place. If you think about it, every single “elite” quarterback was featured in the playoffs this year—both young guns and been-there-done-that veterans. Manning knocked out Brady in the AFC Championship game, after the legendary Patriots quarterback had handily come out on top against Andrew Luck, the number-one overall pick in 2012. In the NFC, Colin Kaepernick beat Cam Newton and Aaron Rodgers, while Russell Wilson overcame Drew Brees before defeating Kaepernick in the NFC Championship game. So, no doubt about it, the best of the old was pitted against the best of the new in MetLife Stadium, and you know how that story ends.I know that the relationship isn’t that simple, but follow the trail—Wilson beat the quarterback who beat Brady, who beat Luck, while also beating Brees and Kaepernick, the latter having beaten Newton. I think he has differentiated himself from every quarterback in the league. He is not your stereotypical pocket passer a la Brady, Manning and Brees, but he also isn’t a quarterback who relies very heavily on his legs such as Kaepernick, Newton and Robert Griffin III. He is a new breed, a hybrid perfected through evolution. Just like Manny Pacquiao combined two things, speed and power, in a way that no one had ever seen before, Wilson has constructed a game that utilizes both his legs and his arm in a fashion that has no equal.So perhaps it was fitting that he gave Peyton the biggest beat down of his career on Sunday. You may have just witnessed the passing of the torch. Before Super Bowl XLVIII, Russell Wilson was looking up to Peyton Manning. Now, the Broncos quarterback may be looking up to Seattle’s young gunslinger, and unlike Peyton, Wilson has shown early in his career that he can hack it in the playoffs. Heck, he’s already tied Manning for championships won. Look for this Seahawks team to be a Patriots and Brady-like dynasty from here on out. You may not trust my predictions, but mark my words—Russell Wilson is Hall of Fame-bound.