OT: Super Bowl prediction thread

[coach james]

Hawks may frustrate Manning for a possession or two but the bottom line is the Broncos have too many weapons. If Seattle brings heat, look for a ton of screens and quick skinny posts. If they drop back, then here comes a heavy dose of runs.
Seattle does deserve to be there with their stellar defence, but Peyton aint Eli! Don't look for 5 picks in this game.

 

[bucket pinata]

Broncos finally learn what it means to play physical, Manning gets his jersey dirty and gets happy feet and struggles. The broncos defense will play like the 21st ranked defense they were all year. Beast mode gets 120yards. Wilson 2 tds 275yrds.
Seattle 31
donkeys 21

 

[CLM265]

Hawks! 24
Donkeys 17
Close at the end but Manning ends up on his back as time runs out.
BP, I do have to say that your cats are pretty talented!

 

[smddad]

I'm going with the Legion of Boom! Wildcard will be Percy Harvin.

Just got my voice back after attending the NFC championship game, but my hearing is still gone. Go Hawks!

 

[Dabears17]

daaaa Bears. final score Bears 5,360-Broncos and Seahawks-0

I'm with JJ!

 

[Indiana]

I have to chime in and say Broncos (of course! ). They won the Super Bowl 15 years ago when we first moved here - DD was a baby. The entire six-o'clock news hour was talking of nothing but the Broncos. I thought to myself, "well, this must be a nice place to live if the only things newsworthy are sports related"

Broncos 20, Seahawks 17

 

[Lenski]

I like both teams but I have to give the edge to Denver. Seattle will not have an answer for Denver's receivers and Denver's run defense will do "just enough" against Beast-Mode to seal the win.

Denver 27
Seattle 23

 

[YOCOACH]

I don't know peeps...I'm a Manning fan but my head is saying the Broncs defense falls flat on it's back. Should be a close one though since Peyton will keep them in it. I'm thinking 24-21 Hawks.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Broncos, unless Manning breaks his hand. 24-12

 

[RookKev]

I think the Broncos have a really unusual position as they enter this game. They are the favored, and yet, I feel they actually may have the larger chip on their shoulders. With all of the talk about the Hawks defense, and their performance against them in the preseason... they have not fallen to their own hype as a 'big' offense. It was ironic watching the season unfold, as they scored touchdown after touchdown... the defense was so miserable, ALMOST all year long... it never felt like any lead was enough. IMO, the defense had their mojo ripped out when Von Miller decided that he was bigger than his teammates, and broke the rules, by smoking pot. The entire defense was hinging upon him, with the signing snafus of the player whose agent can't use emails, and still uses fax machines...

The defense played the first half of the season thinking about when Miller comes back, but when he came back, he had lost his swagger. Added weight, was slower around the edge, and couldn't catch up to the game...and he'd lost his teammates respect, I believe. When he went down, they started playing better, and the defense got some strong teammate reinforcements in the end of the season. We saw a very bad defense start to turn the tide, and establish an ability to bolster the middle of the line and force runners to the edges. As the players run laterally, it feeds more to the secondary's strengths, tackling on an angle rather than head on, as most corners hate that straight up attack. Champ Bailey came back against the Pats? And man, moving him to cover the slot receiver really helped his game out. With his age, he simply can not cover a streaking receiver, and Broncos took too many injuries at safety this year to have a corner that HAS to have deep help. Champ on the slot receiver is a great combo, because he is an excellent open field tackler, and I believe he will be the factor that holds Lynch inside the corners, and thus limiting his explosive corner cuts for large yards. I think the Broncos defense has an opportunity here to subtly steal the spotlight, and I think they want nothing less.

As a life long Husker fan, I still have a chip on my should from when Wilson came into Lincoln and just shredded my Huskers. He instantly earned a chip on my shoulder towards him following that. He has a great ability to come up big when it's needed, but this is the pros now, when every player on the field is at the peak of the profession. I think we see his ability to scramble and chunk it deep fall short. And don't rule out Harvin's counterpart, Holliday. He has his fumbling issues, but, if he gets the ball....he gains you pretty much a solid 20 yards of field position on each touch. That is huge in the field position game and with a good punter/kicker.

Anyways, that is my short analysis of the key elements. I do think the Broncos win this game, and believe the games score will not reveal how lopsided it really will be. Broncos will move the ball well, but settle for more field goals than they are used to.

Broncos 27- Seahawks 12.