"I really wanted to get a sense of how the game was going to go and how pregame was and halftime was going to be and how the end of the game was going to be," said Wilson, who completed 18 of 25 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns in Seattle's 45-8 win Sunday. "I wanted to take it all in and put myself in that situation. I asked some guys who won, Terry Bradshaw and Drew Brees, about what they did to be successful. They told me to prepare and to get your mind right."
Lo and behold, there Wilson was a season later with the chance to beat Peyton Manning and the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. Wilson looked a little jittery early in the first quarter, throwing an inaccurate pass or two, but he and the offense soon calmed down. In a sense, he'd already put himself in that pressure-packed scenario a year earlier.
"Coming last year and observing, that was a big help," Wilson said. "I had never been to the Super Bowl, and I got the whole vibe. But at the end of the day, the field is still 100 yards long and 53 1/3 wide. It's still football. First, second and third down. It's still red zone. The game doesn't change that much. You have to be calm and poised and lead your guys."
