By Ron Griffitts
Contributing columnist
On February 2, 2014 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey the Denver Broncos (15-3) coached by John Fox met the Seattle Seahawks (15-3) coached by former USC head coach Pete Carroll.
The Broncos got past the New England Patriots 26-16 in the AFC Championship game and were led by thirty-seven year old Peyton Manning, who after spending the first thirteen seasons of his career with the Indianapolis Colts was in his second year with the Broncos and passed for 5477 yards and 55 touchdowns with a 115.1 rating.
They were led in rushing by Knowshon Moreno (1038 yards, 10 TD) and Montee Ball (559 yards, 5 TD) while Manning’s leading receivers were Demaryius Thomas (1430 yards, 14 TD), Eric Decker (1288 yards, 11 TD), Wes Welker (778 yards, 10 TD) and Julius Thomas (788 yards, 12 TD).
They were led on defense by Danny Trevathon with 88 solo tackles and Shaun Phillips with 10 sacks. Their place kicker was Matt Prater who converted on 25 of 26 field goal attempts during the season.
The Seattle Seahawks were led by quarterback Russell Wilson who threw for 3357 yards, 26 TDs and a 101.2 rating, running back Marshawn Lynch (1257 rushing yards, 12 TD), and receivers Golden Tate (898 yards, 5 TD), Doug Baldwin (779 yards, 5 TD) and Zach Miller (387 yards, 5 TD).
They were led on defense by Earl Thomas with 78 tackles, Bobby Wagner 72 tackles and Kam Chancellor with 65 tackles. Michael Bennett led in sacks with 8.5 and the place kicker was Steven Hauschka who made 33 of 35 field goal attempts.
Denver did not get off to a good start in the game as their center Manuel Ramirez fumbled on the second play of the game and it was recovered in the end zone for a safety by Knowshon Mareno and the Seahawks led 2-0.
The only other scoring in the first quarter were field goals of 31 and 33 yards by Steven Hauschka and the Seahawks led 8-0 after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the game turned the Seahawks way as Marshawn Lynch scored on a one-yard touchdown run and Peyton Manning was intercepted by Malcolm Smith and ran back 69 yards for a score and Seattle led 22-0 at the half.
Matt Prater kicked off to start the second half but Percy Harvin returned it 87 yards for a score and after the extra point conversion, the score was 29-0 in favor of the Seahawks.
Seattle scored again in the third quarter on a 23-yard pass play from Russell Wilson to Jermaine Kearse for a 36-0 lead before the Broncos finally got on the board at the end of the third quarter with a 14-yard pass from Manning to Demaryius Thomas for a touchdown and a two-point conversion from Manning to Wes Welker. After three quarters, the Seahawks led 36-8.
In the fourth quarter, Wilson completed a 10-yard TD pass to Doug Baldwin to make the score 43-8 which proved to be the final score for the Seattle Seahawk’s first Super Bowl victory.
Malcolm Smith got the game MVP for his interception and run back as Peyton Manning was 34 of 49 with two interceptions and one touchdown while Russell Wilson was 18 of 25 for two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Seattle returned the following year to the Super Bowl while Denver was back two years later.
The statistics for this article were from pro-football-reference.com and Youtube.com.
