Peyton Manning Is What His Playoff Records Says.....And So Is Fox.

The Seattle Seahawks beat my Denver Broncos in just about every way that you can beat a team.

Except on defense.

Denver's defense did exactly what I though they would do.  They have had moments of failure, but they have risen to the biggest moments.  Denver's defense came with the kind of fire that it takes to compete with the Legion of Boom.  Unfortunately, they had to sit on the sideline and watch the offense cower in the face of a sonic boom.

Speaking of sonic, the last time Seattle had a championship team in its town was the first time as well.  Way back in the day, the now defunct Seattle Supersonics, lead by coach Lenny Wilkens, overcame a feisty challenge from the Washington Bullets to earn the NBA crown.  I remember that series well because the team I liked lost then too.  Its been a while for the city of Seattle, so thankfully the hawks ended the long drought.

The Broncos have certainly seen a bit of a drought themselves, but championships are never given, always earned.  When you end the season as the #2 team in the league you've worked hard to have every other team in the league watch you take the walk of shame.  For two years in a row, the Broncos have lost to the champion of the league.  There is a lot to work with when you can declare such an accomplishment.

Manning is what his post season record says he is.  The only time he won a Superbowl was against a team led by Rex Grossman, and even that game was tight.  On the first play in the final game, Manning got suckered into the very thing I was afraid of.  Passing when you should have been running the ball.

And still our defense stood strong.

After donating 5 points early., Manning passed again when we should have established the run game and the Broncos go three and out; and still our defense stood strong.  Four turnovers and a special teams touchdown later and the defense could no longer stand strong.

It might be time to decide if paying the offensive coordinator for the Broncos is worth the money if Peyton has the power to abandon the game plan at will.  Somewhere around halftime I was dreaming of Tom Brady at quarterback.  By the fourth quarter I would have taken Tim Tebow just to get someone who could move their feet out of that collapsing pocket.

By games end, I was convinced that John Fox simply doesn't have the courage to take chances in big games.  Much of that trepidation appears in the style of play, but it is triggered by the fear of dictating a style to and through the quarterback.  Any defensive minded coach has to understand the importance of stopping the run.  If stopping the run is so important, starting it is more important.

The Broncos defense shut down Marshawn Lynch and the Seattle run game.  Except for some poor tackling late in the game, they shut down the passing game as well.  Seattle moved the ball, but they could not convert in the red zone and the Broncos had every chance to make a run at that game if they would have run in that game.  The best evidence of how well our defense played is the games MVP.  Malcom Smith (who?), an OLB for the Seahawks was awarded the prize because the stat sheet was totally pedestrian for the winning offense.

Blow outs suck, but close defeats hurt way more.  Our defense stood strong and we still live in Colorado.  We may never win it all under Fox and Manning, but we should remain a fun team to watch until Manning calls it quits.

Raise your hand if you'd prefer to watch two other teams in the Superbowl?