Seahawks Quarterback Russell Wilson speaks to reporters after leading his team to Super Bowl 48 victory.

By Carmen Glover

The Seattle Seahawks dominated the Denver Broncos from the very first play of Super Bowl 48 in New Jersey on Sunday night to win its first Super Bowl in franchise history. The victory is especially sweet as it vindicates the mobile quarterback style of play, effortlessly displayed by Russell Wilson. At 26, Wilson becomes only the second African-American quarterback to lead his team to Super Bowl victory, after Doug Williams first did so in Super Bowl 22 with the Washington Redskins. Williams, in the 1987-88 NFL season, thrashed the John Elway-led Broncos 42-10. Elway is the current president of the Broncos.

Doug Williams is the first African-American quarterback to win the Super Bowl in 1988, also against the Broncos.

The Seahawks stifled the Broncos with their defense, leaving highly touted season MVP Peyton Manning looking bewildered, bemused, lost and totally out of his league. The precision, poise and spectacular plays that exemplified the major action by the Seahawks team serve as a strong statement to skeptics of the mobile quarterback play and the keen instincts exhibited by the overall Seahawks team.

Marshawn Lynch is a man of very few words, choosing to let his play speak for him.

The Seahawks earned a safety within the first minute of the game, ending the first quarter with eight points. On a mission to secure their rightful place as the team of destiny, they ended the first half 22-0. The only touchdown for the Broncos came in the last play of the third quarter, after the Seahawks shut them out in every single play up to that point. In what seemed like an unapologetic Super Bowl clinic, the Seahawks team read cues, manhandled the Broncos and outplayed, outclassed and embarrassed a team, which, boasting a drop back, pocket quarterback in Manning, was largely seen as the winner of the game even before the coin toss to start the game.

Richard Sherman declared that he is the “best cornerback in the game.”

Leading up to the game, Wilson was asked on Media Day how he planned to play come game day, “Just to have poise and fun,” he replied with a smile. That message appeared to have resonated with his teammates because it was evident throughout the game that they had a single-minded focus: Dominate the Broncos and win convincingly but have fun doing so. Wilson, in his second year in the NFL, soundly outplayed Manning, who in his sixteenth year, amassed the most impressive statistics of his career and was seemingly crowned as the winner by virtue of those numbers, while the reserved Wilson was overlooked and treated as an afterthought prior to the game.

Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll had the pulse of his team, making sure they had fun while playing to their diverse strengths.

The Seahawks were coached by Pete Carroll who appeared to tap into the players’ individual personalities, from the loquacious Richard Sherman to the media-shy Marshawn Lynch and the sophisticated, polished, effective leadership style of Wilson, who seemed content to fly under the radar. All season long the Seahawks have been a team on a mission, determined to make their statement with their style of play which deftly utilized both the running quarterback and the suffocating defense that mesmerized fans while confusing and frustrating their opponents.

Percy Harvin, who missed most of the season with hip surgery, scored a touchdown in the game.

The only thing that matters, however, is that the long drought is officially over and the Seahawks have taken their rightful place among the elite teams in the NFL by becoming the latest winners of the prized Super Bowl and the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Wilson, for his part, has expanded the number of African-American quarterbacks who won the Super Bowl to two, and he did it by dazzling with the running style that has excited fans while demonstrating that the game is versatile enough to accommodate more than one type of quarterback play to ultimately lead to Super Bowl victory. Lynch and Percy Harvin were among the touchdown scorers.

Malcolm Smith was named game MVP.

At the end of the game, Seahawks Linebacker Malcolm Smith walked away with game MVP honors. A jubilant Wilson thanked “God for leading” the team to victory and said he asked “the guys at the beginning of the season: ‘Why not us?'” Now he has his answer. —OnPointPress.net.

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