Seattle 43 - Denver 8

Who knew that the preseason game between Seattle and Denver (40 - 10) would be this prophetic?

Seattle's defense was so good, Denver's Peyton Manning was left to throwing mostly under the secondary, rather than test the corners with man coverage.  Oh, he tried a couple of times to throw it towards Richard Sherman, but he never got a completion against Sherman.  You know what they say about immovable objects?  Seattle's secondary was that immovable object and Manning's only recourse was to adapt to the short throw game.  He ended with a Super Bowl record on completions, but that resulted in just 5.7 yards per attempt, and his QBR and rating was just 24.4 and 73.5 respectively.

But what good is a solid defense without a good offense?  The question posed often in the media was whether Seattle move the ball against a surging Denver defense.  During the regular season, Denver's defense was just 22nd.  Russell Wilson, just in his second year in the NFL, ended the game with a QBR of 88.1 / rating of 123.1.  And while everyone thought that Beast would have to end up with 100+ yards for the Seahawks to win, it turns out having Percy Harvin in the game was worth a lot more, as Denver was caught focused too much on Marshawn Lynch, allowing Harvin to run a couple of reverses for 45 yards.

And hey, the 12th Man must have traveled with the team.  How else do you explain that safety to start the game?  I'm sure Manning called out, "Omaha!" more than a few times throughout the game, but I didn't hear it as the crowd was drowning out Denver's offense.

So how about all the ties back to USC?  Marcus Allen, MVP of Super Bowl 18, carried the Lomardi Trophy to the presentation stand.  Pete Carroll, possibly USC's best coach in history with what can only be described as a smothering dynasty, just completed a feat that few others have done (Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer), having won a championship at the NCAA and NFL levels.  (Hey, can we have Pete back in a couple of years after 3 Lombardi Trophies?)  And to complete the ties, the Super Bowl MVP was Malcolm Smith, former USC Trojan linebacker.

Finally, an admission.  When writing up my prediction, I actually wrote suggesting that you shouldn't be surprised if Seattle won in a blowout, and before that, I had initially written down that Seattle would win 31 - 17.  But then I rewrote it all, thinking it better to go with the conservative expectation.  My bad.