Peyton Manning's arm has thrown for nearly 65,000 yards, driven two different franchises to the Super Bowl, put himself into the Hall of Fame and changed the way football is played in the National Football League. But his eyes, Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn found, are his weakness.
Early into Seattle's fortnight of preparation, Quinn and the Seahawks' defensive staff noticed that Manning's eyes indicated where the ball was going well before the ball left his legendary right arm.
"We worked really hard last week at it," Quinn told the Newark Star-Ledger. "Every single day. We even poured over it on the plane ride over here."
"It just allowed us to see the routes develop," echoed safety Kam Chancellor. "We were able to jump a few routes. Just see everything that develops in front of you, playing off of 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."
The result? Manning completed 34 of his 49 passes, but for only 280 yards with two interceptions (one returned for a touchdown), one fumble and one cosmetic touchdown pass. In a game where much of the pre-game conversation centered around whether Seattle's defense could keep up with Denver's record-breaking offense, the Seahawks' defense actually outscored Manning and company by themselves, 9-8. A Denver offense that set NFL records for points and touchdowns and never scored less than 27 points in the regular season didn't even hit a third of that number in the biggest game of the season.
Every great defensive performance is a symphony of moving parts, and Sunday was no different. The Seattle defensive front so dominated Denver's offensive line that the Broncos were held to 27 rushing yards on 14 carries and managed to get consistent pressure on Manning while blitzing only six times in 51 total drop-backs, according to Pro Football Focus.
That is what allowed Seattle to turn Super Bowl XLVIII into a three-hour highlight film of Chancellor, Bobby Wagner and the rest of Seattle's pass defense tee-ing off on Bronco receiver after Bronco receiver.
"There wasn’t a lot that we mixed in early, because we really wanted to play within the style that we have," Quinn said. "We’re really committed to the way that we play. There wasn’t a lot of coverage change-ups early on in the game. It was more of a function of how we were getting to them."