this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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The broncos when they got smoked by the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. It doesn’t help they played one of the most physical teams ever. Also just the way manning had to throw looked soft.
That whole Manning offense that year was bullshit crossing routes. They were fucking pick plays. It worked all year until they played a defense where the cornerbacks just fucking held and dared the refs to throw flags. Broncos had zero answers that day.
I mean I know I’ll sound like a homer but they didn’t always hold. They played within the rules. The NFL DID change and tighten those rules right after, by the way. But the LOB were still amazing then too.
To say a defense with Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, Bobby Wagner, KJ Wright, Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett, Chris Clemons, Red Bryant, Brandon, Brandon Browner etc won that game because they held is silly. It was an unbelievably, insanely stacked defense. The only defensive starter who wasn’t pro bowl caliber at the very least was SB MVP Malcolm Smith.
Damn, I forgot just how stacked that defense was. Everyone talks about the secondary, but all three levels were about as good as I've ever seen.
Well you better shield your eyes, because I feel the same way about the 2017 Jags defense.
Campbell, Jackson, Ngakoue, and Fowler on the line. Smith, Jack, and Pos at linebacker. Ramsey, Bouye, Church, and Gipson in the secondary. Pro-Bowlers and All-Pros at every level.
I did some football tourism that year and saw a Seahawks game in Seattle as a neutral fan. That defense was unbelievable. I didn't mean to imply that they only won because they fouled all day. They certainly had the talent on defense to execute. But you're not going to hold up with slow cornerbacks against pick plays unless you move to a zone, which Manning would eat up. So they played man and held. It worked great.
That Super Bowl was a matchup of a Broncos offense that committed illegal offensive pass interference every play and a Seahawks defense that committed just about every penalty they thought they could get away with.
What most people forget (or didn't even see) was that in the AFC Championship Game 2 weeks prior to that Super Bowl, Welker went and fucking speared Aqib Talib and knocked him out of the game on an illegal pick, no flag. Broncos were the healthier team going into that game anyway and would have won anyway, but for the Pats to lose their best and most physical corner to a cheap shot with no flag early essentially sealed the victory before halftime. Watching the Seahawks beat the shit out of the Broncos was cathartic after watching Denver get away with that garbage all year to set records.