Originally published February 3, 2014 at 5:04 PM | Page modified February 3, 2014 at 9:16 PM
More praise for the Seahawks
Writers from around the country weighed in on the Seahawks’ dominating Super Bowl victory.
The Seahawks’ dominant Super Bowl victory is bringing praise from around the nation. Here is a sample.
Don’t cross that bridge
Not even Chris Christie could stop the Seahawks.
Loud and proud fans
With the blowout in full swing, Seattle played to the Seahawks crowd that had traveled across the country, flailing their hands for them to get louder — as if that were even a possibility.
Stopped cold by defense
No cold weather shut down the Super Bowl. Seattle’s defense handled that.
Late night with Pete, Paul
(Pete) Carroll’s spirits, always zestful, were hardly dampened as he and the Seahawks partied until the wee hours Monday. The rapper Macklemore, a Seattle native and Seahawks fan who counts Carroll among his admirers, took the stage and performed. So did Seattle’s owner, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who strummed a guitar with his band.
Just another quarterback
To the Seahawks, (Peyton) Manning was just another quarterback to smother and suffocate, to force into bad decisions and worse throws and turnovers that would tilt the game in their favor. This was how the Seahawks had won all season, and this was how they won Super Bowl XLVIII. This was how they became champions.
Unleashed on Broncos
What the Seahawks did to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII was all about Pete Carroll’s personal style and what his teams want to do every time they step on the field. And what they did to the Broncos was this:
The Seahawks unleashed hell.
Boom meets Monsters
The 2013 Seahawks mirrored those 1985 Bears. Chicago was the last NFL defense to lead the league in fewest yards and fewest points allowed as well as most takeaways. Monsters of the Midway, meet the Legion of Boom. The Seahawks defense shut out the Broncos for three quarters and forced four Denver turnovers.
Still winning with defense
The Seahawks emphatically proved in a league in which offense and scoring is on the rise annually, defense still wins championships.
Attacking, opportunistic defense
Manning & Co. had no answer for an attacking and opportunistic defense that silenced the best group of skill-position players in the league. Seattle’s Legion of Boom secondary was only part of the story on a night when its defensive line made life miserable for Manning.
A case for best defense ever?
The Seahawks didn’t just pressure Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning. They seemed to scare him. They didn’t just shut down running back Knowshon Moreno. They made him a nonfactor. And they didn’t just win Seattle’s first Super Bowl, 43-8, bringing home a sterling silver trophy to a city previously known only for heartbreak. They made a case to be considered among the best defenses of all time.
No breathing room
This defense had it all. We came in praising the Seattle secondary endlessly, and the secondary played great, putting a halo of punishment on almost every Denver reception. By that, I mean every play, no matter what the route or who the receiver was, had two or three defenders pouncing within a millisecond of the catch. ... Seattle was so on top of everything Manning did.
Vision fully realized
The Denver Broncos offense set all the regular-season records. But the Seahawks’ defense will be the one remembered as an all-time great.
Coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider spent the past four years building the toughest, deepest, most versatile defense in football. Their vision was fully realized for the world to see on the game’s biggest stage.
— Sean Gregory, Time.com