The Broncos’ quarterback hasn’t been sacked yet in the playoffs. He’s yet to face a defensive front seven like Seattle’s, either.
“The Seahawks are a totally different animal,” says Sporting News NFL analyst Ross Tucker. “Seattle, they’ve got six or seven guys there that are all very capable pass rushers.”
Manning took one crushing blow in the preseason against Seattle. He said there was just one reason why he could deal with it: “It never hurts quite as bad when you’re able to complete the pass. I think it went 30 yards to Julius Thomas, so you’re able to recover sooner,” Manning said.
Manning is the first to admit that his linemen, especially left tackle Chris Clark and left guard Zane Beadles, have their work cut out for them. Manning deals better with pressure up the middle, but Seattle has both the interior push and the rush from the edge to make things doubly difficult.
Chris Clemons, Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett, Brandon Mebane and Clinton McDonald are terrors. And from the second level, Bruce Irvin and Bobby Wagner bring heavy pressure.
“They present a myriad of problems for an offensive line,” Tucker said. “Anytime you have (an) all-star type of lineup, somebody has to have a one-on-one and they have to win that one-on-one. That’s by far the most important matchup.”
As much as the Seattle secondary — the Legion of Boom — is lauded, it can’t be overlooked that the DBs' jobs are made easier by the pressure the guys up front apply. Manning makes snap-of-the-finger decisions and he has multiple receiving targets. He can distribute the ball arguably better than any quarterback out there.
Only this time, he’s doing against a defense that’s in the quarterback’s face more than any other unit out there, with 44 sacks and a league-high 28 interceptions in the regular season.
“Our guys up front have got a good challenge,” Manning conceded.
CARROLL: IRVIN SPARKED CHANGE
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday that the suspension of linebacker Bruce Irvin last spring finally convinced the rest of the players that they needed to take their commitment to the team more seriously.
Seattle's past problems with suspensions — for performance-enhancing drugs and drugs of abuse — were brought up again, and Carroll was expansive, going back to Irvin's PED suspension last May as a turning point for the team.
"When that came to light, and the way Bruce addressed it and handled it with us and our football team, it set us in a new mode, in a new mentality," Carroll said. "I found that we were a very young team, with young minds, and guys that needed to formulate the plan, how it all fits together, and the best way we could do that is to gather the power that they represent us — everybody represents the Seahawks."
Born out of the Irvin situation was the motto "Seahawks 24/7" that became a team slogan and was plastered on T-shirts worn around the locker room all season. It was a nod to Carroll's young team realizing it had to be responsible and accountable off the field as much as it is in the confines of the locker room.
"We realized that we had a tremendous commitment to what we were doing on the field, and that we needed to embrace that, we needed that commitment to extend off the field as well, in all areas," Carroll said. "Like any team comes together on different issues, this was an issue, and I think Bruce was a great starter to the new mentality that we've developed, about taking care of business, about always representing, about having a conscious that never leaves us, whether we're on the field, off the field, in-season, or out of season."
Seattle received attention in recent seasons for those suspensions. In all, seven Seattle players have been suspended for PED or substance-abuse violations since 2011. That total does not include All-Pro Richard Sherman, who was suspended late in the 2012 season but had his suspension overturned on appeal.
Even with the new focus, the Seahawks still had problems this season. Cornerback Walter Thurmond was suspended for four games in late November for violating the substance-abuse policy and cornerback Brandon Browner was given a one-year suspension for a substance-abuse violation in December.
MORENO MAY WALK AFTER THIS SEASON
Broncos running back Knowshon Moreno is wrapping up the best season of his professional career.
It could be his last with the Broncos.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, Moreno is likely to be a salary cap casualty after this season. With rookie Montee Ball showing toughness and reliability behind Moreno, Denver could feel more comfortable letting Moreno walk.
This week he’s playing in the Super Bowl, only a few short miles from his hometown in New Jersey. If this is his last game in Denver, at least his tenure will end on the biggest stage and in the area where he grew up.
Moreno rushed for 1,038 yards on 241 carries this season, to go along with 548 receiving yards and 60 catches. He scored 13 touchdowns overall.
FROM HARDWOOD TO RED ZONE
Broncos tight end Julius Thomas was dubbed “Mr. Red Zone” by local media in 2011 when he was just a raw, rookie receiver. Now, as a breakout third-year Pro Bowler who scored 12 touchdowns for Denver in 2013, you could say he has grown into the nickname.
“We pride ourselves in finishing drives, and it feels good to be recognized as a guy who can put up points,” Thomas said.
The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Thomas, who was a basketball star at Portland State, is just the latest NFL tight end whose talents on the hardwood has translated into even greater success on the field. Thomas has studied the best –- future Hall of Famers Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates -- to keep up the tradition.
“I’ve studied a lot of tape of those guys. I’m trying to get better trying to see the different things they do. Everybody has their own ability to make big plays, but I’ve seen how Gates and Gonzalez, how they move, how they worked to find a way to get open,” Thomas said.
Like those prolific pass-catchers, Thomas said the move to full-time professional football has been natural.
“In basketball, you’re always putting yourself in position to receive the ball. Whether you’re coming off a screen or trying to find the paint, you’re always trying to slip there a little bit. That’s definitely helped guys who have played it,” he said.
Gonzalez is retiring after another big season with the Falcons, and Gates may be heading there soon after a successful run with the Chargers. In Thomas and the Saints’ Jimmy Graham, the proud hoops-to-gridiron tradition has two worthy successors.
SUPER BOWL’S UNTOLD STORY
Mitch Unrein is trying to help the Broncos win Super Bowl XLVIII on Sunday. He’s also trying to catch up to his fiancee, who has already medaled for the United States at the Olympics.
Unrein will soon be married to Corey Cogdell, who won a bronze for trapshooting at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing and represented the U.S. again in London in 2012.
“She knows all about the pressure of sports,” Unrein said of Cogdell. “She just told me to go out there and play the best game of my life. That will be easy to do with the hype around the game. It’s one of those things you’ve wanted to do since you were a little kid.
“If we go out and do our business and get that ring, I’ll certainly have the bragging rights.”
Although Unrein wasn’t engaged to Cogdell during the last Summer Olympics, he’s looking forward to cheering her on in Rio De Janeiro in 2016, as she will do for him in New Jersey this week.
Cogdell also gave her future husband some advice on being part of a global sports spectacle.
“It’s unbelievable with everything going on,” Unrein said. “She said to soak it all in and take it a day at a time, and that’s what I’m trying to do. “
Unrein has already caught a touchdown pass in his career. On Dec. 2, 2012, he found the end zone on a 1-yard scoring strike from Peyton Manning against the Buccaneers. Just like every young defensive lineman, he hopes to channel former Chicago Bear William “Refrigerator” Perry from Super Bowl XX and plow into the end zone against the Seahawks on Sunday.
“The Fridge was the guy back in the day,” Unrein said. “He was a stud; hand the ball off to him and he rumbled, tumbled in there. It’s pretty cool to be on the same level as him.
“It’s every lineman’s dream to get into the end zone. Hopefully I’ll get another chance. Really, anything I do to help the team win is enough for me.”
WILLIAMS HIRED BY RAMS
Gregg Williams, the disgraced former Saints defensive coordinator, is pressing the restart button on his coaching career.
The Rams are expected to name Williams their new defensive coordinator. Williams will be rejoining coach Jeff Fisher, for whom he worked as a coordinator with the Titans.
Williams spent the past year as a Titans defensive assistant. In St. Louis, he will replace Tim Walton, who was let go Wednesday after just one season with the Rams.
This is a move that was first set in motion in 2012, but was quickly derailed in the wake of Bountygate. Williams and head coach Sean Payton were both suspended by the NFL for their roles in the activity.
Williams was hired then by the Rams, but was let go once his suspension was made official.
Williams will get to work with one of the most talented young defensive groups in the NFL, and one of its best players overall in end Robert Quinn. He is an aggressive coach who’ll bring a clear edge to the Rams.
Fisher has said that he believes the Rams are close to contending for the NFC West title, which would mean getting by Seattle, San Francisco and Arizona. This hire could be a step in that direction.
Contributors: Rana L. Cash, Vinnie Iyer
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