EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — The blowout Super Bowl made a return Sunday – Seattle Seahawks 43, Denver Broncos 8. Russell Wilson tossed a pair of TD passes and the Seahawks capitalized on a host of Broncos mistakes in their stunningly easy upset.
Twelve seconds into the game, the Seahawks scored on a safety. Twelve seconds into the second half, Percy Harvin crossed the goal line to cap an 87-yard kickoff return.
In the most lopsided Super Bowl in 21 years, the Seahawks breezed to their first NFL championship since entering the league as a 2-12 expansion team in 1976. It’s Seattle’s first major sports championship since the old NBA SuperSonics won it all in 1979.
Seahawks QB Russell Wilson tossed threw a pair of touchdown passes in directing an efficient Seattle offense that scored three touchdowns directly off Denver mistakes.
The Seahawks scored touchdowns running and receiving, returning a kickoff and also with an interception return, as well with two field goals and a safety to start the game.
NFC teams now have won five of the last seven Super Bowls.
SUPER BOWL-MVP
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Seattle linebacker Malcolm Smith returned an interception of Peyton Manning 69 yards for a touchdown and later recovered a fumble in winning Super Bowl MVP honors in the Seahawks’ 43-8 victory over Denver.
Smith is only the third linebacker in Super Bowl history to earn the award, joining Ray Lewis of Baltimore in 2001, and Chuck Howley of Dallas in 1971.
It was appropriate that a member of Seattle’s league-leading “D” would be the MVP, considering the way the Seahawks shut down Manning and Denver’s record-breaking offense, forcing four turnovers and holding the Broncos scoreless until the last play of the third quarter.
Smith’s pick-6 made it 22-0 late in the first half, and Seattle was on its way.
SUPER BOWL-SEATTLE SCENE
SEATTLE (AP) — With shouts, cheers and fireworks, Seattle residents celebrated a dominant victory in the Super Bowl — the city’s first major sports championship in more than 30 years.
Scores of people took to the streets in the city’s Pioneer Square and Capitol Hill neighborhoods. Seattle police planned an increased presence throughout the city Sunday night.
Back in New Jersey, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said, “We’re not sleeping. We’re staying up all night. The party’s just starting.”
The last time a major Seattle sports franchise won a championship was in 1979 when the old SuperSonics took the NBA title. The WNBA’s Seattle Storm have won two championships, in 2004 and 2010.
Mayor Ed Murray said a Seahawks victory parade would happen Wednesday.
SUPER BOWL-SHERMAN
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Richard Sherman waited, and waited and the throws never floated his direction.
Led by its All-Pro cornerback, Seattle’s “Legion of Boom” secondary and the nastiest defense in the NFL proved the strength of the Seahawks was greater than the record-setting arm of Peyton Manning in their stunning 43-8 rout in Super Bowl 48.
Manning carefully tried to avoid throwing at Sherman, leaving the rest of his mates in the secondary to make the plays.
Sherman suffered an injury in the fourth quarter but returned to the sideline in time for the celebration in sweats and on crutches.
“Everybody played their behinds off,” Sherman said, calling the victory “incredibly satisfying.”