Can the Seahawks’ defense shut down the Broncos’ historic offense?

This years Super Bowl features a treat for any fan of the NFL. Whether you have any feelings towards Denver or Seattle if you like football you have to be excited about the potential matchup between the league’s No. 1 offense against the league’s No. 1 defense. Could we be in store for an epic battle or a blowout? While Seattle’s defense did lead the league in every defensive statistic category this season, are they up to the challenge of handling a Denver offense that shattered the record books?

It hasn’t been since Super Bowl XXV when the Buffalo Bills took on the New York Giants that the top ranked defense met the top ranked offense, and in that contest with the help of a wide right field goal, the defense was victorious. This years’ Seattle Seahawks defense is impressive, but not historically impressive like the Broncos’ offense was.

Here are the stats in which Seattle led the league defensively this season:

• Points allowed per game: 14.4
• Yards allowed per game: 273.6
• Passer rating allowed: 63.4
• Yards allowed per play: 4.42
• Big plays (20+ yards) allowed: 36
• Takeaways: 39
• Passing yards allowed per game: 172

And here are the stats in which the Denver Broncos offense led the league this season:

• Passing yards per game: 340.2
• Points per game: 37.9
• Yards per game: 457.3
• Plays of 10+ yards per game: 275
• Times sacked: 20
• First downs per game: 27.2
• Red-zone touchdown %: 76.1

Those records include Peyton Manning breaking the single-season touchdown record with 55 touchdowns in addition to the single-season passing yards record of 5,477 yards. Also, the Broncos broke the NFL record for most points scored with 606 in 2013.

If Seattle’s top ranked defense wants to be mentioned alongside historically good defenses in the league, shutting down that potent offense would be an excellent way to do it.

If Denver is able to establish the run enough to set up their play-action and get a head a few scores early, we might be looking at a blowout in the Super Bowl. I’d be the first to admit that Seattle’s defense is sick and I’m enjoying the possible matchups with Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman versus Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, and Wes Welker but Peyton has a way of finding his receivers in spots where no defender can disrupt and they’ve scored a ridiculous amount of points this season. If the Broncos go up first by at least 2 touchdowns, it might just be over at that point because Seattle’s offense cannot keep up. The Seahawks can run the ball effectively but ranked 26^th in the league in passing this season. They’d be the first team in NFL history to be ranked that low in passing yards to win a Super Bowl.  As a fan of the NFL I’m excited to see what the outcome will be when Seattle’s defense clashes with Denver’s offense. I just hope it’s not a blowout.