Super Bowl XLVIII was a night of many firsts. If you watched it, you’d know that it was the first time ever that Bruno Mars performed in front of thousands of Super Bowl fans. The 28-year old singer had the audience at the palm of his hands with his rousing performance during halftime. In fact, he made history that night, garnering 115.3 million viewers – the largest Super Bowl halftime audience thus far.
Moreover, no other Super Bowl championship game in NFL history has ever been played outdoors until this one. In addition, it is the only game in Super Bowl history where a team scored right away merely 12 seconds after the kickoff. This particular Super Bowl Sunday was also hailed as the most-watched television program of all time with 111.5 million viewers.
That team was none other than the Seattle Seahawks, which likewise made franchise history that same night by winning their first Super Bowl championship ever since its inception to the NFL in 1976. Yes, they’ve been division champs 13 times and even won conference championships twice. Still, their 2013 Super Bowl win is obviously the sweetest and grandest of the lot, especially with the way they routed the Denver Broncos, 43-8. They were the first team to post a lopsided victory in 21 years.
The Seahawks, which have the fourth youngest roster as far as Super Bowl champs go, won under the tutelage of Pete Carroll. The average player age for the Seahawks is 26, and the championship MVP, Malcolm Smith, is only 24. He is one of the youngest Super Bowl MVPs ever, and the first defensive player to win the much-coveted award in 11 years, since Dexter Jackson won it in Super Bowl XXXVII.
It took three years for Seattle Seahawks’ defensive roster to be built, and this core obviously paid off. Proof of this is Smith’s highlight play during the second quarter, when he intercepted a pass from Peyton Manning and returned it 69 yards for a touchdown. Later in the game, Smith recovered a fumble by Demaryius Thomas, which factored greatly in their lopsided victory. It’s not really surprising why he was chosen as the MVP, what with his defensive contributions that earned them the Lombardi Trophy.
Incidentally, the Denver Broncos also scored a first on that fateful night. It was the first time in the season that they didn’t score by halftime. They trailed 0-22 during the break, their biggest deficit thus far.
In a game where the more offensive-minded team usually takes home the win, the Seattle Seahawks showed grit and poise and proved that a defensive team can lopsidedly win the Super Bowl. The Broncos have been known to command the best offensive stat in NFL history, but they suffered a major setback this time at the hands of the Seahawks.
Many sports analysts are already speculating that the Seattle Seahawks could reign for a long time, especially after the way they shut down 5-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning and the rest of the Denver Broncos, which is actually one of the highest scoring offensive teams in league history.
This early, the Seattle Seahawks are favored to win the Super Bowl next year in Arizona, 9-2. I’m sure that as the offseason kicks in, most NFL teams will start taking a long, hard look at their rosters and decide how they can match up with the Seahawks.
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