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By: Hank Gola
New York Daily News
Monday, February 3, 2014
Three guys who played on a couple of the best defenses of all time are ready to welcome the Seahawks to the club.
“An incredible performance,” said Rob Burnett of the 2000 Ravens, who dominated the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV. “I don’t think I’ve seen a defensive performance of that magnitude in a single game since our game. An absolute beatdown.”
Jim Burt of the ’86 Giants went one further. “I thought it was the most dominating performance I’ve seen in any Super Bowl,” he said on Monday. “I thought this was better because Kerry Collins (of the 2000 Giants) was not Peyton Manning. That Giants offense could never compare to this Denver offense. They had everything and they couldn’t do anything.”
“You’re not talking about a slouch,” said Carl Banks of the ’86 and ’90 Giants and the team’s current radio analyst. “When you can take what was the most prolific passer in modern times, whether he’s a playoff quarterback or not, with an offense that broke all kinds of records, if you can do that to that team and that quarterback you deserve to be in a very elite club.
“And then when you also add on the fact that they’re playing in a league that literally ties one hand behind your back defensively, I don’t think you can say anymore,” Banks added. “You have to ask yourself, ‘Could they have played in another era?’ One hundred percent. There’s no doubt that the Bears, the Ravens and even my teams could have played in this era and been dominant but also, could you have thrown the Seahawks back to the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s? I say 100%.”
A few things jumped out with what the Seahawks were able to do. Recently, after the rules changes tilted things toward the offense, the only real recourse a defense had was via the pass rush. A secondary was only as good as the time a quarterback had. But Seattle made up the difference with incredible closing speed and a four-man rush that consistently collapsed the pocket.
“I was looking at the game, thinking, ‘Oh my God. These guys are catching the ball at three yards and they’re not getting three and a half yards,’ ” Burt said. “They’re getting hit and they’re getting stoned.
“They get back in position really fast and they’re able to react with great speed,” Banks said. “I was talking to Terrell Owens and he said the one thing he noticed was that the Denver receivers were definitely affected because instead of going forward when they caught a ball, they were actually giving ground.”
No wonder, after the hit Kam Chancellor laid on Demaryius Thomas early.
“It was a game-changer. That set the whole tone,” Burt agreed. “When he knocked him five yards back, I’m like, ‘That’s like the Giants used to play.’ It was like, ‘OK, we’ll let you catch the ball across the middle but you’re going to get punched in the face.’ ”
Both Banks and Burt agreed that Manning was affected.
“Just the way they were getting to him, he was shook,” Banks said. “He didn’t have his progressions available to him and he didn’t want to wait it out at all.”
“When you saw Peyton, he was shaky in the pocket,” Burt said. “He actually had a scared look on his face. All the years I watched Peyton, I didn’t realize he was scared to get hit. His feet were moving all around.”
“He’s such a smart guy. He can scheme out of a lot of different stuff,” Banks observed. “But when you’re not giving him a lot of different looks, it baffles him. I talked to (Bill) Parcells yesterday morning before the game. He said he wouldn’t be shocked if they lined up just like they did every week and tell Manning, ‘Come get us because we’re not going to play nickel, we’re not afraid of you,’ and that’s exactly what they did.
“Everybody for the past four or five games was playing him in nickel. He’d run ‘check with me’ at the line,” Banks added. “And they said, ‘OK, here’s what we’ve got, let’s see you scheme out of it.’ The beauty of it is that when you have a team that can line up and say, ‘here we are,’ it’s tough because you can’t call a play for that. You’ve got to beat the guy in front of you.”
Burt said the only negative aspect to the Seattle defense was how much holding he thought it got away with.
“They’re holding on every play, not a lot, just a little bit. They’re tugging, just enough and every single one of them are doing it. Just before the guy goes in a break, they get a hold of the jersey and tug just a little bit.
“But look,” he went on. “After this one, I’ve got to say, these guys, take your hats off to them. They’ve flat-out got it going.”
Thanks for the post Seagal! I love what they say and totally agree with it. Seahawks play a old school brand of football, and showed the world that you can win and win big with it!