Are Broncos risking future to win now?

The Denver Broncos own the NFL’s best regular-season record in the two seasons since quarterback Peyton Manning improbably hit the market and signed with them. However, they are only 2-2 in the playoffs over that span, compared to a combined 12-3-1 for the more defensively oriented Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens. And after enduring a Super Bowl humiliation last month, there was no way the Broncos could sit by idly and hope for a different result next time. They were going to address their defense in some fashion, but could anyone have expected this? 

One day into free agency, the Broncos slammed the accelerator to the floor in a clear push to win a championship before the nearly 38-year-old Manning's career is finished. While the money Denver allocated for cornerback Aqib Talib and safety T.J. Ward sent a clear message on its own, the Broncos’ immediate interest in the recently released DeMarcus Ware left little doubt. The question is whether the Broncos can have it both ways. Will their win-now mentality cause them to pay a steep price later? 

Every NFL general manager would tell you successful franchises ideally build through the draft and supplement with value buys in free agency.

Copyright : insider.espn.go.com

Super Bowl 2014: It Wasn't Cold, and It Wasn't Close

The Seahawks' Percy Harvin scoring a touchdown during Seattle's 43-8 rout of the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII on Sunday. Rich Schultz for The Wall Street Journal

East Rutherford, N.J.

Be wary of a big windy prediction! Let's start with the weather, shall we? For nearly four years, weather was all the anxious talk about this Great Northern Scary What's Going to Happen Outdoor Super Bowl. Weather consumed the conversation. It was going to be cold, frigid, frosty enough to numb well-heeled heels, in fancy cashmere socks. Then there was the threat—or was it a promise?—of snow. There had to be snow. This was the whole idea of this stunt. Would it be a light dusting or steady flurries—or an untamable, menacing blizzard? Maybe you found the snow talk romantic. Maybe you saw it as evidence that you can't have Games Like This in Towns Like This.

And then: It was warm! Warmer than Denver or Seattle even. Warm enough not just for football but for badminton on your lawn. Warm enough for frozen margaritas. OK, maybe not frozen margaritas. But still: warm.

At least the game would be great. How competitive it was expected to be! A tossup of tossups. The Broncos were the pregame favorite, acclaimed, but not overwhelming, even with the all-timer Peyton Manning at quarterback. Seattle, so fierce and fluid on defense, would be a serious challenge. The hedgers were hedging. It would be close. It would be thrilling. It was the best of scenarios: a Super Bowl, too close to call.

Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, who threw two interceptions. Associated Press

And then—like the snow—the Broncos didn't show.

Ugly? It was ugly immediately. On the game's first play from scrimmage, a snap sailed over Manning's shoulder and into the end zone. Denver recovered, but a safety was awarded to Seattle. A safety on the first play? Congratulations if you had that as a pregame prop bet, you can probably buy a Caribbean archipelago. And yet for Denver it somehow got worse. Seattle's shortchanged offense moved the ball with few problems, and Manning struggled terribly. He threw two interceptions in the first half, the second returned 69 yards by linebacker Malcolm Smith.

The halftime score was Seattle 22, Denver 0. There hadn't been a halftime score that ugly since 1990, when the Joe Montana Niners whomped…well, they whomped Denver, back when John Elway had yet to win the big one. Suddenly MetLife Stadium, poised for a thriller, felt like it was hosting a Turn Back the Clock Night. After a wave of close Super Bowls, it was an old-fashioned, send-the-guests-home-early blowout. Then Seattle's Percy Harvin ran the opening kick back in the second half. Nearly two full quarters left with a Hall of Famer under center, and it was time for Denver to call a cab.

Let's be clear about what happened here: The Seahawks handled the Broncos. They made the uneasy look easy. Heading into the game, there was generous respect for groovy head coach Pete Carroll and Seattle's obstinate, obsessive D, the way it swarmed and grabbed and played aggressively, right up along the edge of allowable. But the presence of Manning gave everyone pause: Couldn't Manning unlock what prior Seattle victims Colin Kaepernick and Drew Brees had not? Surely Denver would find something.

Nope. The final was 43-8. The offense, led by second-year quarterback Russell Wilson, played with the fever of men who felt underappreciated. Harvin, plagued by injuries, a question mark before the game, was electric. The MVP went to Malcolm Smith, a seventh-round pick. After the game, Carroll rhapsodized about Seattle's culture of underdogs. So did the wide receiver Doug Baldwin, one of a number of undrafted players on this Seahawk team.

The books will look weird on this one. Manning managed 34 completions, an empty Super Bowl record. After a brilliant career—let's stop the motor on the "legacy" talk, it's so tedious—he'll surely want to chuck this one in the can. The Broncos were never in it. The turnover ratio: 4 to 0. For Denver, it was still a cold night.

"It's not an easy pill to swallow," Manning said when it was over, "but eventually we'll have to."

This was a test: the first outdoor Super Bowl in a cold-weather city—or cities, if you give due diligence to both New York and under-loved New Jersey—and it didn't cooperate with the assignment. Even at 10 p.m., with confetti fluttering onto the Seahawk celebration, the temperature hovered in the mid-40s. The complimentary earmuffs that came with stadium seats would be unused keepsakes from a one-sided game.

The margin of victory may have been a surprise, but the champion was formidable and deserved. Seattle in a rout. You cannot always predict the weather. And you definitely can't always predict football.

Copyright : online.wsj.com

Pete Carroll, Seahawks win with style all their own

Nancy Armour, USA TODAY Sports

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Peyton Manning and his high-octane Denver Broncos offense had never seen a defense quite like the Seattle Seahawks.

Then again, nobody in the NFL has seen a team quite like the Seahawks.

The new Super Bowl champions are feisty, led by a defense that embarrassed Manning and the Broncos. They're fearless, smart enough to know they lacked the experience and pedigrees to pull this off and too young to care.

Mostly, though, they're a whole lot of fun, something the NFL sorely needs after years of dour teams that treat games like negotiations over the debt ceiling. Yes, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots, that was directed at you.

"We tried to do a little bit of everything, but mostly we tried to play the football that we know how to play," coach Pete Carroll said.

SEAHAWKS: Super Bowl result follows their plan

BRONCOS: Early mistakes doom Peyton and Co.

While the NFC West teams are all too familiar with the havoc the Seahawks can wreak, most of America got a crash course over the last two weeks. But nothing could have prepared anyone for the abuse they inflicted on Manning and the Broncos early and often on their way to a 43-8 victorySunday night that gave Seattle its first Super Bowl title.

Blame Manning and the Broncos for their botched snap on the first play from scrimmage, which gave the Seahawks a safety. After that, however, it was all Seahawks.

They were so disruptive they looked as if they really did have a 12th man on the field. The big guys up front clogged up the running lanes, and the "Legion of Boom" made sure Manning couldn't reach any of his favorite toys.

Instead of stacking touchdowns as they did in the regular season, the Broncos struggled to get first downs. Their first six drives went like this:

Three-and-out.

An interception, which set up Seattle's first touchdown.

Another interception, this one taken 69 yards to the end zone by Malcolm Smith.

A drive stalled on downs in the red zone.

A punt.

A fumble.

Finally, at the end of the third quarter, the Broncos got their first – and only – score. By that point, though, the Seahawks had a 28-point lead and NFL officials were already loading the confetti canons with blue and green paper.

BELL: Peyton far from Super on this night

SEAHAWKS: Sherman all smiles after win

Manning had a fumble to go with his two interceptions, and finished with a passer rating of just 73.5. That's a number Denver hasn't seen since Tim Tebow was quarterback.

"We liked this matchup," Smith said. "We know Peyton's a great quarterback, and he likes to get the ball out fast. But we play with an amount of speed they haven't seen, and we executed well."

And unlike the Broncos, they didn't overthink things.

So much of the attention on this game was focused on Manning, and what it would mean to his legacy. Win, and he would have to be considered one of, if not the best, quarterbacks the game has ever seen. Lose, and it adds more fuel to the argument that he can't win the big one.

The Seahawks just had to play and enjoy themselves, something Carroll has turned into an art form.

Carroll was the football version of the Pied Piper when he was at Southern California, livin' the dream and taking everyone he could along with him on the ride. He saw no reason to change when he returned to the NFL four years ago and everyone in Seattle, from his players to the fans to owner Paul Allen, has responded to his infectious enthusiasm.

They may seem like a bunch of carefree hipsters, but don't be fooled. Carroll demands discipline, hard work and maximum effort. So long as his players give him that, he gives them the freedom to be themselves.

"He just tells you every week is a championship opportunity, every week is a championship game," Richard Sherman said of his coach, who joined Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer as the only coaches to win titles at the college and professional levels. "So when you make it to a championship game, the moment isn't any different. He doesn't give a 'rah-rah' speech for a Super Bowl. He doesn't give a 'rah-rah' speech for the NFC Championship."

BLOWOUT: Five other Super Bowl snoozers

MVP: Smith leads Seahawks' 'bunch of misfits'

In fact, the closest the Seahawks got to a rah-rah speech is when quarterback Russell Wilson got up at a players-only meeting last summer and told his teammates how his father used to ask "Why not you?" when he was younger.

"Why not us?" Wilson asked the Seahawks.

It was a simple philosophy, but it fit the Seahawks perfectly. Many of them have been underdogs their entire careers, and there's nothing they like better than doing what everyone tells them they can't.

As long as they have the support of each other and their 12th Man fans – think it's a coincidence they scored 12 seconds into each half? – that's all they need.

"We're a part of history," linebacker Bobby Wagner said. "That's something we've been dreaming about the whole season. One hundred years from now, y'all are going to remember this team."

After the show they put on Sunday night, no one will ever forget them.

Super Bowl odds and spread 2014: Broncos remain favored, line moving in both directions

James Brady, SBNation

The Denver Broncos are still favorites over the Seattle Seahawks with an official line of -2.5, but the trends have spiked in both directions of late.

SB Nation 2014 NFL Playoff Coverage

The Denver Broncos still have not been an underdog all season and it's unknown if that's going to change at this point. Earlier in the week, the lines dipped to have the Seattle Seahawks at +2.5 underdogs, at which time a lot of action came in on them to push it back down to +2. But the line has once again started trending in the other direction.

According to OddsShark, the current line has the Seahawks at +2.5, meaning the Broncos are -2.5. It's been right around there for much of the past week, and it sounds like the consistent money on Denver is not changing aside from the aforementioned spike.

The Broncos have been favored in 18 games this season, obviously counting the playoffs. They've fielded the most productive offense in NFL history; it just doesn't make sense to have them as the underdog. While the recent trends did show a spike toward Seattle that could drive the lines further, it seems unlikely to happen.

Bovada has the Broncos favored by three points, which is significant. Other sites sit at 2.5, while others still have a narrow -1 line for Denver, though that is a rarity at this point. At the time of writing, 62 percent of money is coming in on Denver, while 55 percent of the money is on the under for the total, which currently sits at 48.5.

Copyright : philly.com

Super Bowl sex traffic crackdown in US

Denver Broncos will face Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl this Sunday, the National Football League's yearly championship and one of the most watched sporting events in America.

New York and New Jersey are hosting the game for the first time and hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected to travel to the region.

But officials say there is a dark side to the event - sex traffickers who want to exploit the occasion for profit.

Nada Tawfik reports from New York

Copyright : bbc.co.uk