2013 NFL Super Bowl Prediction Challenge

[Shannow]

suck it denver. Funny what happens when you play a team that can actually play defense.

[Fabricated]

What a shit show.

[Tannhauser]

This has been a shit year for NFL football, culminating in a shit Super Bowl.  So tired of this NFL product.  

[Abagadro]

About all that game did was make me want a Ghibli.

[Nevermore]

I have no idea. Such terrible play. From the gun, it's been horrid. I can't decide if I'm angry or depressed or both.

So was the beer good at least?

[Ginaz]

I haven't seen a Super Bowl team shit the bed like that since the Buffalo Bills in 1992 against Dallas.

[MournelitheCalix]

Commercials Sucked, Superbowl Sucked, and the half time show sucked.  Triple crown of suck for the NFL this year .  I guess it can't all be good... but hey at least the puppies were cute on Animal Planet (Especially if you love Brittany Spaniels).

[HaemishM]

What a shit show.

Defense wins championships. What an utterly fucking dire piece of shit game totally undeserving of being called a Super Bowl and being played to this large an audience. This was a goddamn freak show.

ANNNNNNDDDD Fox gives us 24 again. Is it possible to transmit 4 hours of pure excrement through the screen? Yep. Fox has perfected the art of the shit show.

Fuck you, Fox, fuck you, NFL.

[Paelos]

If that games sets ratings records it will be because they only counted people watching before the first half.

[Ginaz]

If that games sets ratings records it will be because they only counted people watching before the first half.

I took a nap after the 1st quarter, came back to see it was 29-0 in the 3rd, made some stir fry for supper, watched the Walking Dead marathon, came back in time to see the Seattle coach get his cliched Gatorade bath.  The end.  Thank fuck.

[naum]

Kind of sobering to think Peyton Manning would be 0-3 in Super Bowls if it weren't for the Bears.

Ron Musselman

[naum]

[Ghambit]

This is for Denver-pickers:


Vegas made a killing, good for them... the spread was just small enough to get people all giddy about Denver.  My father almost fell for it too, but my constant bitching that he should pick Seattle paid off.  He cleared $1500 from this game.

Lastly, I'm a bit saddened they didn't pull at least a small part of the race-card (1st starting QB 'of color' to ever win a SB; and no, D. Williams wasn't a perennial starter) - but it's Faux so I'm not surprised.  Actually, that was the only negative for the SB for me.  The constant hyper-patriotism, intro. Obama-bashing, Peyton-bromance, and general propaganda from Fox was maddening.  It felt like I was watching a Starship Troopers Jumpball game; only thing we needed was "Would you like to know more?"

[schild]

That wasn't even a good game. I don't even want to call it a game. I don't even like or watch football but when I first noticed it was 5-0, I was like, wow, a safety. A safety in the superbowl. This shit is over.

[Mithas]

Let the rioting commence! Does Vegas take bets on number of overturned flaming cars?

[Sjofn]

I've been to three superbowls in the last decade, I've always flown in and out either the day before and out on Sunday or in and out the same day. The week-long tourist shit here is fucking ridiculous. Between New Yorkers giving precisely zero fucks about an event that usually takes over a city and the NFL being butthurt by its inability to shut the whole town down, we probably won't be seeing a Superbowl here ever again.

What the fuck did the NFL expect? The stadium isn't even in the same fucking state as NYC!

PS: That was a crap Superbowl, but at least it produced some amusing Manning gifs.

[Phildo]

A safety in the superbowl.

On basically the first play.  This game was great comedy!

[Goumindong]

Hoping to see this for 4 quarters-

We also got a bonus sad eli face.

That wasn't even a good game. I don't even want to call it a game. I don't even like or watch football but when I first noticed it was 5-0, I was like, wow, a safety. A safety in the superbowl. This shit is over.

The Bronco's beat up on shit teams all year. They had to beat other teams who beat up on shit teams all year in order to get into the Superbowl. The Chargers were 9-7, the Patriots were 12-4 in the weakest division in the league.

The Seahawks were 13-3 in the toughest division in the league, which was so strong that the third place team nearly made it to the Wildcard slot. Any of those three would have beaten the Bronco's. Seattle, Arizona, and SF lost a total of 6 games outside of their division (10 counting St Louis) better than any other division and did so while also playing the majority of their games against the strongest divisions. The top 3 in the Bronco's division lost 7, but these were to the rest of the AFC or the NFC-East which was also terrible

It shouldn't have even been a question that this would happen. We beat em 40-10 in the preseason too.

[Ghambit]

Yah, but Peyton!   

Honestly, I enjoyed the game and didn't think it was shit at all.  But, I'm sadistic like that and relish good D laying the wood on sissy offenses; especially where turnovers are involved.

[Sjofn]

That wasn't even a good game. I don't even want to call it a game. I don't even like or watch football but when I first noticed it was 5-0, I was like, wow, a safety. A safety in the superbowl. This shit is over.

I don't find safeties in the Superbowl particularly surprising, but that is because I am a Giants fan and they have had one happen in their Superbowls three out of five times.  

[WayAbvPar]

First I was like


and then I was like

and then I was like

and then I was like

I didn't talk a lot about this beforehand, or watch a lot of the 'experts'. I knew if Seattle played their game that it would be a two score game at least. I did not expect the total asskicking. But let's just say I wasn't surprised.

[Abagadro]

(1st starting QB 'of color' to ever win a SB; and no, D. Williams wasn't a perennial starter)

Not sure I agree with that. He was a first rounder that started from the start of his career (getting paid peanuts) and then when he wanted to get paid what he was worth was basically tossed out of the league. He was a starter in the USFL and was only a backup when he came back to the NFL when the USFL folded.  When it mattered in the playoffs Gibbs knew what he had and he played him as a started all the way from then on. His career was flukey and significantly impacted by racial prejudice in my opinion.  Hell, he took the fucking Buccaneers to the NFC championship in his second year. I don't think it is all that fair to minimize what he did.

[Nebu]

I haven't seen a Super Bowl team shit the bed like that since the Buffalo Bills in 1992 against Dallas.

I grew up a vikings fan.  We saw it a lot too.

[Ghambit]

(1st starting QB 'of color' to ever win a SB; and no, D. Williams wasn't a perennial starter)

Not sure I agree with that. He was a first rounder that started from the start of his career (getting paid peanuts) and then when he wanted to get paid what he was worth was basically tossed out of the league. He was a starter in the USFL and was only a backup when he came back to the NFL when the USFL folded.  When it mattered in the playoffs Gibbs knew what he had and he played him as a started all the way from then on. His career was flukey and significantly impacted by racial prejudice in my opinion.  Hell, he took the fucking Buccaneers to the NFC championship in his second year. I don't think it is all that fair to minimize what he did.

I'm not trying to minimize him but, you're right.  But I'd always thought he was inserted due to injury (when he won the SB).  Gotta check my facts. 
Regardless, I think this win by Wilson will represent a bit of a changing of the guard so-to-speak, and holds more inherent importance then Peyton's legacy.

[Soulflame]

The super bowl in one gif!

[Surlyboi]

So neither manning can win in the Meadowlands... 

[Malakili]

The surprising part is how unprepared the Broncos looked for the game.  I picked them in part because I thought Peyton Manning with two weeks preparation was going to be able move the ball, and there were a couple series there where I saw what I thought I was going to see all game.  But the Seahawks were just far better prepared, seemed to deal with "the moment" much better than the Broncos and flat out came to play.

[Cyrrex]

I am not going to do a bunch of "I told you so", because I think I officially did pick Denver to win earlier in this thread.  That said...

As I wrote before, if Seattle could take away the short yardage stuff and get some pressure on Peyton, that was going to be how they would win.  And boy was that ever the case.  Denver lived all year against soft defenses that would let them catch the ball underneath and then run like the blazes.  Yesterday, the caught the ball underneath and then got absolutely creamed, over and over and over.  Once you can do that, Peyton can no longer count on the quick pass where he holds it for two seconds or less, and then he is in trouble.  And when he gets in trouble, he often caves. 

And there is where Peyton is a bit of a double-edged sword.  Once he gets all mopey, his team has no chance.  He is part time coach and full time offensive coordinator, and as he goes so goes the whole team.  I won't say that the very first play of the game cracked him, but the three and out on the very next drive, where Seattle creamed the living fuck out a few of those short yardage passes...I think he knew right then and there that he was in serious trouble.  And then he moped on the sidelines for the rest of the game, even when he was still theoretically in it.  John Fox is powerless to adjust, because the only adjusting possible is whatever happens between Peyton's ears. 

Russel Wilson didn't have to do much in this game, but the things that he needed to do, he executed with ice water in his veins.  I can only imagine that some of you are still sitting there thinking "he only threw for 200 yards!" and "yeah, but that defense!".  Bullcrap.  If you don't see it by now, it is because you never will.

[Malakili]

I thought that underneath stuff is exactly what was going to let Denver move the ball, quick pass that didn't let the secondary work their magic.  But the tackling by Seattle was superb and they just didn't let Denver get any momentum at all.  I picked Denver, but I had no particular rooting interest and it was an impressive show of defense.

[Chimpy]

It was all about the tackling. Manning threw a record number of completions in the game but there was pretty much never any post-catch yardage. The pursuit and tackling by the Seahawks was phenomenal.

[Fabricated]

About all that game did was make me want a Ghibli.

Any commercial with serious whispery kid voices fucking sucks. That shit went on for so long and the kid was so annoying I hope he/she gets throat cancer.

It was all about the tackling. Manning threw a record number of completions in the game but there was pretty much never any post-catch yardage. The pursuit and tackling by the Seahawks was phenomenal.

Payton Manning does not like being touched, tackled, or interrupted. Almost no quarterback does, but I noticed when Payton was playing for the Colts that any defense who could pressure him or rough him up a bit would completely fuck his ability to call plays or pass under pressure. Doesn't hurt that the Seahawks covered the receivers extremely well either. Payton just could not get enough time to find a target.

[MrHat]

It was all about the tackling. Manning threw a record number of completions in the game but there was pretty much never any post-catch yardage. The pursuit and tackling by the Seahawks was phenomenal.

Yup.  They tackled the fuck out of everyone.

And Denver just looked confused.  I thought after the safety - ok, no problem.  Then they held them to a pair of field goals and I thought, ok, no problem.

Then they just shit the bed on EVERY play.  Then Peyton did Peyton face and threw his duck.  He's been ENORMOUSLY lucky all season that those haven't been intercepted.

Seahawks looked like they just played "500!" with each ball.

Sigh.  On a brighter note - Bad Grandpa was funny.

[Rasix]

[Ghambit]

I noticed through three quarters that Peyton never looked in the vicinity of Sherman.  That was the other issue that I thought was a mistake, because he telegraphed everything to the weak side of the defense or underneath inside the right-hash.  It was almost like Seattle only had to play "half-D" the entire game.  The drive(s) where you guys saw some promise was when Sherman was hurt... but, by then it didnt matter.

Honestly, I think Seattle (and Sherman) got into Peyton's head bigtime, and for good reason.  As has been said by many, the matchup favored Seattle by far - not even close in my book.  Even with Peyton (who is actually the perfect QB for Seattle to play against, especially since he calls his own plays).  And watching Carroll's Dbackfield feast on Broncos receivers was glorious.  Seattle even schemed their tackles (if you paid attention)... e.g. they dont just "tackle" per se; it's more like an orchestrated beatdown wherein they sandwich-crush receivers purposely.  I saw a few plays where they LET them catch the ball.

Everything I harped on came to pass in this game; everything.  Only thing I missed was Golden Tate having an impact, but with Harvin back in the lineup Tate's job was mostly doing clearouts for speed sweeps.
As for Wilson, people who keep calling him a Dilfer can go fuck themselves - they dont know football, and I'm tired of explaining it.  In a nutshell you dont spend millions on Flynn only to insert a 5'11" rookie QB onto your SB-quality team if that rookie is a Dilfer.  Seriously?

Seattle is a pending dynasty imo.  Totally new type of team organization built around Pacific Northwest hardcore liberalish values.  They'll be the prototype for a while I think, but you'd need the right ownership and coaching to do it.  San Fran is the only team that comes close.

[Paelos]

You harped on the fact that Russell Wilson is some kind of difference maker, and I will continue to tell you that you're nuts. Russell doesn't do anything that 20 QBs in the league can't do with that team.

The Seattle team is all about special teams, defense, and running the ball. They had 29 points on the board doing just that, and Wilson makes a bunch of short throws and middle throws. He had one pass to Baldwin that was great, and the rest of the game just unfolded into a rout.

He doesn't have to be great. That's not a knock on him because he's smart about not fucking up, but Seattle fans pretending he's a difference maker is fucking silly. You need to get over that, and just celebrate the shit you have that matters.