just an early look/thoughts from .net on superbowl matchup

I don't really know much about Denver aside from bits I have caught on siriusxm NFL radio. I know they have weapons all over the place. If I remember right, they have a solid, but not great defense. The run game has been a pretty good compliment for them with Manning's ability as a quarterback, and their O-line, from what I have heard, has done a surprisingly good job considering the pieces they have playing and the loss of their tackle and if i'm not mistaken possibly another o-line starter.

Pat Kirwan, who is a big fan of what the Seahawks do, clearly stated a couple of days ago that of the 3 other teams that had made it to the Conference Championship games, Seattle was the only team he felt could match up with all the weapons that Peyton has available to him in that offense.

I think that even though Peyton Manning is the caliber of player he is, and even though that offense is just spectacular as a whole and presents a whole other set of challenges for the Seahawks defense...I just feel like, without any threat of the running quarterback, the d-line is going to be able to settle in a lot better because they will just have their main responsibilities with stopping the run with disciplined play, defending passes, coverages past the line of scrimmage. Without that extra hat trick of having a lethal threat to move, or even to pick up a handful of valuable yards here and there, the defense will be able to really play even more to their game.

Expanding on the above points, Carroll and the players always preach all the time when asked questions that they worry about what they are going to do and their responsibilities. I think that they will have a much easier time doing that against Denver. Now is this to say I think that playing Peyton Manning with his Broncos offense will be easier? not by any means. There will be that chess match with wondering what Manning will do on any given play on offense. The defense will lose some battles, but the way they are coached and the way they play..the seattle defense as a unit is going to be very sound in all aspects.


d-line will be accounting for their gaps, getting penetration, and as down and distance dictates will be working on moving the pile to swallow up plays and getting to Manning whenever possible. The linebackers will be assignment sound in both run/pass/pressure packages. The LOB will continue to do what they do, they will win some battles and will lose some but with the high level they always play at I think they will be able to do enough from their end of the deal.

I don't really know anything about the Broncos D so I will not really comment on matchups between them and the Seahawks O.


What does the rest of .Net officially think without listening to the two weeks of buildup from all the different media sources?

The weather could be bad.

Manning is 0% chance threat to run the ball, nice to be able to completely 100% remove that as an option when game planning.

KJ on Julius Thomas
Sherman on demaryius Thomas
pick up welker/decker and pick them off underneath.

Stop the run. Denver is 0 give/take, seattle is +20.

Seahawks will win and hold broncos to under 20 points. bookit kids.

I think our WR corps is better than theirs. They rack up the yardage because they are a throw first offense. Our WR's don't get the targets that theirs get. But you look past DYAR, which measures total output, and you look to DVOA which measures value per play and Baldwin ended the season #2 in the league. Had Kearse gotten enough targets to qualify, he'd be rated #9. Tate is #19. Denver? Decker is 13th, Thomas is 7th, Welker is 22nd.

That means if our guys played for Denver, getting all the passes they'd be getting, they'd be man for man better than the WR's Manning currently has.

WR's who are going to be shut down by the LOB in two weeks.

I feel really good about our chances. I said it before today's game, THIS was the Super Bowl. The AFC was playing for who gets to lose to the NFC.

If its cold.. and snowy.. as expected.. we win this going away.

another thing is, I don't think KJ Wright looked like his normal self tonight, although I could be wrong..i'm far from even being an adequate amateur when noticing things like that. I think that he did look rusty, I don't think that if had avoided injury and played all these weeks prior he would have taken such bad angles to Kaep(although to his credit he normally makes good choices when he decides to run and he has ridiculous acceleration and speed). I think KJ Wright will potentially come up big in the Superbowl with a couple more weeks of work.


Also...man..the drool I am barely containing with Harvin being available(not heard anything that he has any reason not to clear in plenty of time to get in work and play)

Go look at Denver's regular season schedule.

I guess you could make a slight comparison to the hawks but their schedule is full of wins over bad teams.

Pete said Percy will practice this week

Hawknballs":3dlbmcky said:

Go look at Denver's regular season schedule.

I guess you could make a slight comparison to the hawks but their schedule is full of wins over bad teams.

Click to expand...

Well, whether over good teams or bad, a win is a win. They also took care of the best the AFC had to offer them. They did beat KC twice, and the Chargers who were not great but no slouches(and took out Cinci in their own house), and the Eagles.

Certainly not the most impressive..but again..wins are wins and so far they have passed the crucible of fire.

Diezel Dawg":12693k5n said:

Pete said Percy will practice this week

Click to expand...

glad that is already confirmed. Guessing he will clear by wed-fri, if i had to make a guess.

I'm not even sure the eagles and chiefs are very good. Both with last-place schedules. The only team with a winning record the chiefs beat was the same Eagles. The only two teams the Eagles beat all year of any note were the Packers minus one aaron Rodgers, and the Cardinals.

I dunno. to me it just seems like the Broncos preyed on the piss poor AFC + the equally bad NFC East.

I don't want to be too overconfident but I really really like our chances against them. Especially when the main thing the Broncos do well is the exact thing we want them to do, throw on our secondary. Please.

Hawknballs":2efajuq7 said:

I'm not even sure the eagles and chiefs are very good. Both with last-place schedules. The only team with a winning record the chiefs beat was the same Eagles. The only two teams the Eagles beat all year of any note were the Packers minus one aaron Rodgers, and the Cardinals.

I dunno. to me it just seems like the Broncos preyed on the piss poor AFC + the equally bad NFC East.

I don't want to be too overconfident but I really really like our chances against them. Especially when the main thing the Broncos do well is the exact thing we want them to do, throw on our secondary. Please.

Click to expand...

Seems like I remember these type of arguments against the Seahawks a good deal that last superbowl year if I'm not mistaken. I don't know about you, but i was sick and tired of those arguments pretty quick. In the NFL, regardless of the teams, you beat who was put in front of you and the playoffs bring out the best in everyone(generally speaking). That it is so rare to have two #1 seeds in the superbowl..much less one of those #1 seeds in the superbowl makes me not really account for the 'soft' 'hard' schedule of any team in the playoffs.

niveky":18lmt9p3 said:

Hawknballs":18lmt9p3 said:

I'm not even sure the eagles and chiefs are very good. Both with last-place schedules. The only team with a winning record the chiefs beat was the same Eagles. The only two teams the Eagles beat all year of any note were the Packers minus one aaron Rodgers, and the Cardinals.

I dunno. to me it just seems like the Broncos preyed on the piss poor AFC + the equally bad NFC East.

I don't want to be too overconfident but I really really like our chances against them. Especially when the main thing the Broncos do well is the exact thing we want them to do, throw on our secondary. Please.

Click to expand...

Seems like I remember these type of arguments against the Seahawks a good deal that last superbowl year if I'm not mistaken. I don't know about you, but i was sick and tired of those arguments pretty quick. In the NFL, regardless of the teams, you beat who was put in front of you and the playoffs bring out the best in everyone(generally speaking). That it is so rare to have two #1 seeds in the superbowl..much less one of those #1 seeds in the superbowl makes me not really account for the 'soft' 'hard' schedule of any team in the playoffs.

Click to expand...

I just think we match up well with them. You're right, everyone plays who's in front of them. I'm not saying that they aren't any good, but I haven't seen anything to make me think they are unstoppable. We're all going to have an opinion on it formulated over what we know. I know that the chiefs and eagles lose to good teams so wins over them don't really impress me all that much, that's all.

Hawknballs":2m62ig8a said:

niveky":2m62ig8a said:

Hawknballs":2m62ig8a said:

I'm not even sure the eagles and chiefs are very good. Both with last-place schedules. The only team with a winning record the chiefs beat was the same Eagles. The only two teams the Eagles beat all year of any note were the Packers minus one aaron Rodgers, and the Cardinals.

I dunno. to me it just seems like the Broncos preyed on the piss poor AFC + the equally bad NFC East.

I don't want to be too overconfident but I really really like our chances against them. Especially when the main thing the Broncos do well is the exact thing we want them to do, throw on our secondary. Please.

Click to expand...

Seems like I remember these type of arguments against the Seahawks a good deal that last superbowl year if I'm not mistaken. I don't know about you, but i was sick and tired of those arguments pretty quick. In the NFL, regardless of the teams, you beat who was put in front of you and the playoffs bring out the best in everyone(generally speaking). That it is so rare to have two #1 seeds in the superbowl..much less one of those #1 seeds in the superbowl makes me not really account for the 'soft' 'hard' schedule of any team in the playoffs.

Click to expand...

I just think we match up well with them. You're right, everyone plays who's in front of them. I'm not saying that they aren't any good, but I haven't seen anything to make me think they are unstoppable. We're all going to have an opinion on it formulated over what we know. I know that the chiefs and eagles lose to good teams so wins over them don't really impress me all that much, that's all.

Click to expand...

i definitely understand where you are coming from and can respect that opinion...i just remember how many of us were so sick of those weak schedule arguments when we were riding high this time of year during the 2005 season tail ending into the Superbowl that season. Just doesn't feel right going that route when that was so overused that year by opposing fans and analysts.

Denver fans sure are confident. Was checking out a few threads here: http://forums.denverbroncos.com/showthr ... Super-Bowl

According to them, we don't stand a snow balls chance in hell and Manning is king. The don't seem to respect our defense at all. Probably because they haven't faced one anything like it.

Sample: This guy is hinging his entire argument on defenses using points as the be all end all argument.

Interesting fact. While Denver has gone up five times against three top 10 defenses in points allowed (Kansas City, Indy, and New England) and proven that they can still score plenty of points, Seattle (the leagues #1 in points allowed) has only gone up against one top ten offense, and that was New Orleans (#10 in points for), both times at home, with New Orleans being a dismal 3-5 on the road this year.

So what it comes down to, is that if you look at the Seahawk's schedule this year, they haven't seen an offense like the Broncos. In fact, nothing close. Manning himself threw for more touchdowns than the Saints had as a team. And this game isn't going to be in Seattle with the twelfth man.

The take: Denver has seen it's share of excellent defenses, played them both at home and on the road, and proven they could put up points anywhere, and in some cases big points (35 on the road against the Chiefs highly touted D and in a stadium that rivals Seattle's for HF advantage). Seattle has seen nothing like what they're about to come up against in two weeks, and they won't have the advantage of their home crowd.

While anything can happen any given Sunday, I think Denver has a decided advantage, especially if the D can play the run the way they have been.

The Patriots were a top ten defense and a top three offense, and Bill Belichick schemes for Peyton Manning better than anyone, and Denver handled them without a problem.

Again, anything can happen, but I think New England was a scarier matchup for Denver, and the season history just doesn't show that Seattle has ever had to contend with anything close to what's coming to them in New Jersey.

Click to expand...

Diezel Dawg":1bcd34ag said:

Pete said Percy will practice this week

Click to expand...

Percy will play. Guaranteed.

Hasselbeck":2eprmq0f said:

Diezel Dawg":2eprmq0f said:

Pete said Percy will practice this week

Click to expand...

Percy will play. Guaranteed.

Click to expand...

yep

patriots got 0 pass rush on Manning today. That won't be the case for the Seahawks. I won't be surprised to see us get Irvin in on the edge rushing action once again just to mix it I up. You can't compare the patriots defense who does 'just enough' to a team like Seattle's that does more than you can handle.