NEW YORK — It’s been a couple of days now, and perhaps it’s time for Denverites to take a step back, use some perspective and at least appreciate how far the Broncos came this season.
No, what am I saying? This still hurts, still stinks and feels like your ex-girlfriend just stepped on your throat with her stiletto while wearing a Marshawn Lynch jersey and gleefully chomping on Skittles.
It’s crazy to think back to the weeks after the loss to the Ravens last season. The sadness didn’t dissipate after dethawing. The piercing painful reminders popped up randomly, which hit you during a work meeting or a drive home, and all you could think was AAAARRGGHH!
Well, this one was for a Super Bowl title. And the greatest offense in NFL history scored eight points. What was that? This was LeBron James putting up six points with four boards. This was circa “Magnum PI” Tom Selleck leaving Ladies’ Night with just his mustache. It was unfathomable. Joe Namath had a better night than most Broncos.
“It doesn’t feel real,” said Denver defensive tackle Terrance Knighton. “It almost feels like a nightmare.”
In the 43-8 Super Bowl shellacking by the Seattle Seahawks, you were let down by the people you trusted, and that’s perhaps the best way to explain the inexplicable, to capture the reality of the rout. That’s why it hurts. Coach John Fox was valiant all season, next men were up, but in this chess match against Pete Carroll, sometimes it seemed like Foxy was playing checkers. Denver’s offense was going sideways for much of the evening. Denver’s defense, at times, looked like the clock had struck midnight on these Cinderella second-stringers, who had been playing well in place of the injured star starters.
I would have voted Seattle’s Percy Harvin for MVP, not just for his coffin-nailing kickoff return to start the second half but also for his pair of runs that caught Denver completely off guard, as if Seattle were literally playing with 12 men.
But really, the game MVP was Dan Quinn. Wait, who? He is Seattle’s defensive coordinator, who not only developed a historic defense with many overlooked low draft picks but also admitted he found a flaw in Denver’s offense, a mole on Mona Lisa. After the game, Quinn and some Seahawks told The Newark Star-Ledger that quarterback Peyton Manning often reveals where he’ll throw the ball with his eyes. As explained by the vicious Kam Chancellor, Seattle’s fifth-round safety: “It just allowed us to see the routes develop. We were able to jump a few routes. Just see everything that develops in front of you, playing off Peyton’s eyes. He takes you right to the ball every time. He’s a great quarterback, but he definitely has tendencies and he takes you to the ball.”
So that stinks.
But that’s what great coaches do: They find weaknesses. I’m not saying that Fox blew the game by not finding Russell Wilson’s tell sign. I’m just saying this was another example of the Seahawks’ staff rising to the moment.
Maybe it was Namath’s fault. The legendary quarterback, draped in a preposterous fur coat, botched the coin toss, flipping before the Seahawks could call heads or tails. The ref caught the flip in the air and Namath did a redo. Seattle called tails, it was tails, the first snap of the game sailed into the end zone for a safety, and when the deferring Seahawks got the third-quarter kickoff, Harvin ran back that thing all the way to Hoboken.
What if that first flip was heads, Denver won and deferred as it is wont to do? Denver was 14-1 when it won the toss this season. Makes you wonder, only for a moment, until you hear Manning’s postgame words: “You can ‘what if’ all you want.”
I was told Denver’s parade would have been Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the weather.
Instead, they’ll celebrate in Seattle, where it might rain on their parade — which, so it seems, has become a Seattle theme.
Benjamin Hochman: bhochman@denverpost.com or twitter.com/hochman
