How critical was the safety to open the Super Bowl?

[Stryker44]

I think the nail in the coffin was Harvin's kickoff return for TD to start the second half more than the safety. Manning must have been thinking "well, there goes the merit of any halftime adjustments we made"....and at that point he looked broken.

 

[Blackspider214]

Snowball effect for the rest of the game. Just like we had a blocked punt or whatever it was our first possession when we played Seattle. It was all downhill from there.

You talking about the game in 2012? We fumbled the opening kickoff. Believe it was Felix who put the ball on the ground. Although we did only hold them to 3. Still set a bad tone for that game. But much like Denver went through against them, we could just not get anything going against that offense and Seattle stayed on the field on 3rd downs.

Denver after playing the worst 1st quarter you could imagine with a safety the first play and gaining no 1st downs, were only down 8-0.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Denver after playing the worst 1st quarter you could imagine with a safety the first play and gaining no 1st downs, were only down 8-0.

Yes.

Denver needed a TD before the half. It was 22-0 but still doable.
Denver needed to stop that quick score by Seattle coming out of half time.

If they kept their composure it could have been 22-14 early in 3rd quarter.
A good coach and QB that doesn't fold when things are not perfect accomplish that.

 

[DFWJC]

Dallas was up 14-0 in the first quarter and couldn't finish the kill at home.

Washington was up 21-7 in the 3rd quarter and lost 45-21 on the road.

Seattle finished the kill. But both Dallas and especially Washington let the foot off the gas pedal once they got the lead and established superiority against Denver.

Wow. That Washington game must have been nuts.

As for the Dallas game, I'm assuming that you mean the Dallas defense let them off the hook. The 48 points scored by Dallas (15 in the 4th qtr) were by far the most by any team vs Denver all of the regular season. I think Dallas only punted once. Unfortunately, I don't think Denver punted at all.

 

[Exclusivejuan]

Critical enough to screw up all the good football pool numbers therefore giving my cheap numbers a shot to win the first quarter

 

[UKCowboysFan]

Crucial enough for a guy over here, he had a bet at 66/1 that the first score in the Super Bowl would be a Safety

 

[DFWJC]

I think the safety was a huge downer for Denver. It effectively took away two possessions.

But, imo, the back breaker was when Denver had the ball, trailing 15-0, with 3 minutes to go in the half, and the ball at the Seattle 35. Score there and it's 15-7 at the half and huge change. Instead, Seattle gets the huge pick 6 to go ahead 22-0. That was massive, and sucked the life right out of the Broncos.

 

[Kevinicus]

Denver didn't show up ready to put their best foot forward in that game. It was obvious from the start and that high snap and consequent safety simply set the tone for what followed. Perhaps the pasting that the Broncos took earlier in the season left a lingering fear of that repeating in the heads of the Broncos players. The fact that their o-line was so completely and consistently overwhelmed by the Seattle front seven made their defeat highly predictable from the start. By halftime and perhaps even before, the outcome appeared imminent. It was all Seattle from start to finish. Manning was unable to even set up properly, much less put the ball on target.

What pasting are you referring to?

 

[Blackspider214]

Yes.

Denver needed a TD before the half. It was 22-0 but still doable.
Denver needed to stop that quick score by Seattle coming out of half time.

If they kept their composure it could have been 22-14 early in 3rd quarter.
A good coach and QB that doesn't fold when things are not perfect accomplish that.

Exactly. I kept getting tired of hearing how out of control this game was and how Manning could do nothing. This was nothing like our 94 NFC title game being down 21-0 after 7min. Manning got the ball back down 5-0. 3 and out. Got the ball back 8-0. INT that led to a TD. Got the ball back and was moving to score and cut it to a one score game. Pick 6. This was a lot his fault. Defense held seattle to 2 FGs to keep them in the game. Maybe they could have stopped them on 3rd downs to keep them from getting points altogether? Maybe. But they held when it did matter at least.

Manning and Fox were not good. Carroll coaches circles around John Fox.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

A good team shouldn't lose confidence after going down 2-0 in the first minute of the game. There's no excuse.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Exactly. I kept getting tired of hearing how out of control this game was and how Manning could do nothing. This was nothing like our 94 NFC title game being down 21-0 after 7min. Manning got the ball back down 5-0. 3 and out. Got the ball back 8-0. INT that led to a TD. Got the ball back and was moving to score and cut it to a one score game. Pick 6. This was a lot his fault. Defense held seattle to 2 FGs to keep them in the game. Maybe they could have stopped them on 3rd downs to keep them from getting points altogether? Maybe. But they held when it did matter at least.

Manning and Fox were not good. Carroll coaches circles around John Fox.

Nice breakdown.

With regards to Switzer and 21 point hole. I do not believe for one minute that a jimmy johnson led team lets that happen. Even if that starts to happen johnson would have stopped the bleeding before 21-0. Maybe 13-0.

Then we win. IMO.

 

[Nova]

Pretty big. You say it was a pretty heads up play to fall on the ball for a safety, I disagree.

I think a safety is the worst thing that can happen, because you completely squander your first posession, and unlike a fumble return for 6, you don't get the ball back.

So they gave up points AND had to give the ball to Seattle with good field position. And since seattle kicked off in the first half, they would essentially always have at least one more possession.

You can't give a defense like that, that kind of immediate advantage and seattle's offense that kind of leeway. I think to beat Seattle, you have to put the pressure on Wilson and their inept offense, and that safety liberated them of that.

 

[mrmojo]

Championship teams overcome that. In SB 27 buffalo blocked mike Saxons punt and scored the first TD but the young boys didn't get spooked they came back and the rest was history.

I think Denver got spooked and with Manning's history in big games maybe they lost confidence. But Seattle defense had a lot to do with that...they just punched them in the mouth and never stopped.

 

[Blackspider214]

Nice breakdown.

With regards to Switzer and 21 point hole. I do not believe for one minute that a jimmy johnson led team lets that happen. Even if that starts to happen johnson would have stopped the bleeding before 21-0. Maybe 13-0.

Then we win. IMO.

Agreed. Same as I don't think a competent coach for Denver lets it get out of hand that bad but like I mentioned, this game just got out of hand more organically over the 1st half due to mistakes. Mainly from Peyton. That's the risk you take with Manning. He pretty much controls the offense. Every single aspect of it. The OC is pretty much rendered useless. When the offense was in a funk, that's when adjustments need to be made and get the players to calm down. We all know Manning is a good QB but how good of a leader is he to rally the troops? I just saw him sulking on the bench after his turnovers. Not looking at film print outs or talking with anyone else.

I like how Seattle said they were going to line up and do their thing and tune out all his b.s. yelling at the line. Funny how he pretty much did none of that in the SB.

 

[barney]

Not very Seattle battered them

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

It was telling how so-called analystS rushed in to say that THE safety "set the tone." it was a miscommunication. It was 2 points.

I doubt that when old man Manning was thowing picks and bronco defenders were missing tackles they were thinking about the safety.

Anybody who assigns much significance to the opening safety is purely a casual observer.
I HATE CASUAL OBSERVERS! LOVING FOOTBALL AND PARTICULARLY COWBOYS FOOTBALL IS LIKE A MARRIAGE CONTRACT. YOU DONT BE CASUAL ABOUT NOTHING! YOU ARE OR SHOULD BE ALL IN, UNLESS IT IS LIKE A MARRIAGE TO OPRAH AND IN THAT EVENT YOU NEED TO GET OUT BECAUSE OPRAH FIRST THING IN THE MORNING COULD MAKE THE EARTH SKIP A SPIN AND THEN WHERE WOULD WE ALL BE HUH?
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[Szczepanik]

Kickoff to open the 2nd half is what nailed that coffin shut.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Agreed. Same as I don't think a competent coach for Denver lets it get out of hand that bad but like I mentioned, this game just got out of hand more organically over the 1st half due to mistakes. Mainly from Peyton. That's the risk you take with Manning. He pretty much controls the offense. Every single aspect of it. The OC is pretty much rendered useless. When the offense was in a funk, that's when adjustments need to be made and get the players to calm down. We all know Manning is a good QB but how good of a leader is he to rally the troops? I just saw him sulking on the bench after his turnovers. Not looking at film print outs or talking with anyone else.

I like how Seattle said they were going to line up and do their thing and tune out all his b.s. yelling at the line. Funny how he pretty much did none of that in the SB.

I think that messed up the center more than the defense on the very first play. Lol
Backfired!!!

 

[TellerMorrow34]

Extremely. It quickly set the tone. It brought out the feeding frenzy in the Seattle defense. It got the Seattle fans that were all over that stadium even more into it.

Quite frankly the only way the game could have started worse for the Broncos is if the Hawks had scored the TD. That was the worst thing that could have happened to the Broncos.

 

[mahoneybill]

Not critical at all.

Denver was outscored heavily by the Ravens in the early part of that game, and won.

They were behind in double digits to both Dallas and Washington...and won.

Seattle finished the kill. Other teams took the foot off the gas pedal.

Agree on the finished the kill. They were playing just as hard through the final 2 minute warning as they were at the beginning of the game.