EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The sun blazed. The cold was tolerable. And the New York/New Jersey Super Bowl Committee’s No. 1 fear since being awarded this game four years ago — an avalanche of snow that would make travel treacherous and the game a slopfest — never emerged.
No, the only avalanche that mattered was the slew of hits and hurts and points the Seahawks laid on the Broncos.
The only slop that surfaced was the Broncos offense, messy and tangled from the start, and then twisted and mangled by the Seattle defense.
There is no way the Broncos can look on any of this and feel good about it. Not right now. All of the questions about whether the first cold-weather-outdoor Super Bowl could click were buried underneath, 43-8 — for the Broncos a trancelike, sinkhole loss that will require weeks, months, even years for some in orange to overcome.
Seattle looked younger, faster. They are younger, faster.
The Seahawks have three players age 32 and three age 30. The rest are all 20-somethings.
The Broncos have 14 players age 30 or older.
The Seattle defense played hands-on, their style, tipping passes and intercepting passes and forcing fumbles while their offense broke Broncos tackles for touchdowns. You know you have been routed when you allow the opponent to score on a safety, an interception return, a kickoff return and more scores by the offense on the ground and in the air. That is way too many holes to fill. And not enough speed to fill them.
One of the most striking components of this game was the Broncos receivers’ inability to run after catches. Peyton Manning tossed a Super Bowl record 34 completions. It often went this way — Bronco makes catch, Seahawk squashes receiver. Manning averaged a trivial 5.6 yards per completion.
Seattle had watched the Broncos all season throw it short and run it long.
“That was the key component of our game plan,” Dan Quinn, the Seahawks defensive coordinator, said. “Lock down anybody who makes any catch. We did it near perfectly.”
New York took pride in its ability to mix Wall Street and Broadway and flex its broad shoulders in hosting this Super Bowl with a New Jersey assist. The energy in the city was high. The parties were glitzy.
Manning did, at least, make it to the big game. On the night before kickoff, his brother, Eli , of the Giants, and New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees rocked at a Jay-Z, Beyoncé concert. Most quarterbacks would rather be in a Super Bowl and take their chances than be at a hip concert with no championship chance.
Before Joe Namath’s coin flip, John Mara, the Giants co-owner and a key member of the bid that brought the Super Bowl here, said: “It has been a great week, beyond what was my wildest expectation, really something.”
It was a mass transit spectacular of Super Bowls. More than 28,000 fans arrived by train and more than 30,000 by bus.
The Maxfield family arrived early to the stadium.
They flew in from Denver on Saturday and met family and friends here. Outside the stadium, they stood together with all but one wearing a Broncos jerseys. Brothers T.J. and Josh would walk into the stadium wearing special gear: Josh, a pair of John Elway actual game socks that his father won in an auction in the late ’80s and T.J. an Elway jersey he last wore in 1999 in Elway’s last pro game.
In the middle of their group was their friend, Rick Biggs, a Seattle fan wearing a Seahawks jersey.
“There will be blood,” Biggs told them.
That was the posture that New York/New Jersey took in hosting this game.
Work together, solve problems together or both states fail. Be big, be bold. Set the stage for more cold-weather cities to host this game outdoors.
“It turned out to be typical weather for a cold game, nothing major,” Seattle safety Earl Thomas said. “I think Denver could do this. I know Seattle could do it. Every region of the country should have a chance to experience it.”
