At East Rutherford, New Jersey:
Quarterback Russell Wilson completed 18 of 25 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns (23 yards to Jermaine Kearse and 10 yards to Doug Baldwin) while Marshawn Lynch ran one yard for another score, outside linebacker (and game Most Valuable Player) Malcolm Smith intercepted a Peyton Manning pass and ran it back 69 yards for still another score, and Percy Harvin ran back the opening kickoff of the second half 58 yards for still another TD as the Seattle Seahawks blindsided the Denver Broncos 43-8 on Sunday for the first Super Bowl championship in their 38-year history.
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll became the third man (after Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer) to win both an NCAA national football championship and a Super Bowl crown as a head coach.
Here, we see Seattle defensive backs Richard Sherman (who left the game in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury) and Kam Chancellor (who picked off a pass in the second quarter) tackling Denver's Julius Thomas.
Sports Illustrated photo by Damian Strohmeyer
Today's Super Bowl is not the first postseason meeting between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos.
From 1977 through 2001, the Seahawks were in the American Football Conference's Western Divsion and, beginning in 1978, they played the Broncos twice each season. In 2002, the Seahawks returned to the National Football Conference's Western Division.
Seattle's first-ever playoff game came following the 1983 season, as they hosted Denver in an AFC Wild-Card game and the Seahawks dominated the Broncos, who used a rookie quarterback, 31-7 at the Kingdome.
The Seahawks went on to knock off the Miami Dolphins at the Orange Bowl 27-20. The Dolphins had recently switched quarterbacks and ended up with a rookie as starter.
Seattle's playoff adventure ended in the AFC title game in Los Angeles, falling to the Raiders, who two weeks later, routed the defending champions Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII.
You'd probably be right if you guessed that the rookie quarterbacks who started against the Seahawks in Seattle first two playoff games were, respectively, Hall of Famers John Elway and Dan Marino.
