ALL THE PRE-GAME speculation, hype and build-up was finally over and it was time to play some football.
The Denver Broncos’ high-flying offence took on the mean Seattle Seahawks defence. At quarterback, future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning came up against the young upstart Russell Wilson.
Our open thread was a little different this year. We still wanted to hear your thoughts on the game in the comments, but we were also updating the article with videos, gifs and the odd piece of commentary from Super Bowl XLVIII.
If you spotted anything you think we should include, or you have any questions, let us know in the comments below, email me at steven@thescore.ie or tweet us @thescore_ie.
Seattle Seahawks 43 – 8 Denver Broncos
Hello fellow night owls and welcome to our Super Bowl XLVIII open thread!
First thing you should know tonight is that the beer in your hand is a lot cheaper than what they’re paying in the stadium:
Image: Darren Rovell
Secondly, and most importantly, how do you think this one is going to go?
My money’s on Seattle but it has been from the start of the year so it;s very difficult to change even with the weather not affecting Denver as much as we all expected.
The big question 50 minutes from kick off is where is Nat Coombs on Channel 4?
With that in mind, will you be watching on Sky, Channel 4 or, eh, elsewhere?
I don’t know about you, but I’m with Andy:
Until Channel 4 bring Nat back, we’ve switched over to Sky. They have Jeff, Jeff’s great:
#FREENAT
Unless you’ve been applying to live on Mars for the last week you’ve probably seen this but one betting company is offering 200/1 on this particular result:
Would you take it?
Lots of boos for Seattle as they come out to The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony.
Denver, on the other hand, seem to have the advantage with the crowd but their choice of scaring a horse to death in the pre-game build up means it’s advantage Seahawks.
The over/under on the US national anthem is 2’22″.
I’m going with over. She’s an opera singer, they like to showboat.
JOE NAMATH’S COAT!
SAFETY! – And we’ve the quickest score in Super Bowl history with the Seahawks taking advantage of a horrible Denver snap to make it 2-0 with a safety:
Image: SB Nation
And the Broncos have gone Safety, three and out in their first two drives. Not the start Denver fans would have wanted.
You just knew this was going to be a thing, didn’t you?
INTERCEPTION – Peyton Manning gets fooled again by the Seattle defence and it’s the game’s first turnover thanks to Kam Chancellor’s pick.
This is how bad it was for Denver in the first quarter:
TOUCHDOWN – And the Seahawks have finally found the endzone with Marshawn Lynch scrambling home from a yard.
PICK SIX – After a long drive, on which the Broncos converted four times on third down, Peyton Manning throws his second interception — this time by Malcolm Smith — and this one is returned for a touchdown:
This is the greatest meeting of cultures since we brought hurling to the States:
It’s half time and I don’t think anyone would have predicted this scoreline.
Is there anyway back for Denver?
KICKOFF RETURN – Denver try to limit the impact of Percy Harvin on the kick return by kicking it short…and he returns it for a touchdown. That is surely the game?
FUMBLE – Just when the Broncos make a big passing play, Thomas gives the ball up and it’s another turnover.
TOUCHDOWN – Seattle have scored again and Denver’s defence are worse than the Raiders’:
Captain Picard is happy:
TOUCHDOWN – Broncos are finally on the board as Demaryius Thomas makes a pretty good grab in the endzone to make it 36-8 after the two-point conversion:
TOUCHDOWN – Any hope of a comeback is put in it’s place as Russell Wilson throws his second touchdown of the game, this one to Doug Baldwin. Denver’s tackling is awful again:
What do a Waterford hurler and the Super Bowl have in common?
And that’s the game. Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks have won their first ever Super Bowl.
Hard to argue the best team won.
This is what it looks like to win a Super Bowl:
Congratulations Seattle Seahawks, Super Bowl champions:
Think it’s worth mentioning that Spain are currently European champions U21, U19, U17 and now the senior champions.
Holyyyyyyyyyy shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh………………..
Speaks of the state of other countries football…massive disaster and fail.
Glad they don’t play hurling
The beautiful game , played beautifully.
Well Done Spain.
Congrats Miguel, a well deserved win for Spain,.
Where are the detractors now? Feel privileged you have seen just one of the greatest teams of all time if not the greatest. .As for the Liverpool team of 88 a good side but not in Spain’s class.
Agree Tom the reds were far higher ☺
What a great game of football, and the refs were good too
The liverpool team of ’88 would have beaten them.
Jesus people really do love Liverpool.
only team i would put with them is Brazil 1970.
delighted the Italians were crazy/brave enough to play that way as it afforded us all the opportunity to see an all time great team with some all time greats do the absolute business. magnificent, all of it, 4 goals in the euro final. we may never see the likes of it again. these guys are why i love football, and it is a beautiful game once more. viva espana!!!
It’s actually worrying there is 1 team in Europe that is so much above anybody else.
I very much like in football spirit of competition and head to head rivalry. This final was just one team show and brutal execution on Italians. No matter how much I can admire Spanish football master class this game was IMHO boring, boring because of lack of real connection between teams, bit of spark, the competition, emotions..
Also 4:0 in the final where two equal teams should meet is a lot, that should make all of them think what they’re doing playing football, England, France, Germany, Italy… those teams look like last decade amateurs next to today’s Spain. Hopefully this can change as I have no problem watching one team winning spree, but really can’t enjoy watching one team outclassing everyone else.
But in the long run it is a good thing. It forces other F.A to look at the way they run themselves, their methods and ways in which they nuture their young players.Therefore in the end football wins.
We can only dream our FA will implement a proper player and management development system
It’s a Barcelona thing , they might be the best ever if they had Messi.
I really expected a closer match, switched off after Italy went to 10 men
Very disappointing final contest to an overall excellent tournament
Not a football fan obviously…
It’s not even midnight yet and this already happened last night? Did I lost a day? ;)
I’m going to guess that he was at the game and with the time difference, he made the mistake.
I was indeed at the game, aye! To really stretch my defence it is intended for people reading after 12am… I suppose, ha! It’s 3am here. Spanish team just all left stadium. Sergio Ramos came through with the trophy at the end.
Thanks for the updates Miguel, I’d say you will have a sore ceann in the morning
last night history was made, great team, hopefully they can continue from last night, have I stressed enough yet that it was last night.
Without doubt da best team ever, even without their captain and their first choice striker they still walked it, world class players on bench didn’t even get a game
Why can’t TV pundits not admit that sometimes, just sometimes, teams come alone that are better than the past greats. It’s as if they feel admitting it, results in driving Pele and company a kick in the rox. Personally, this is the best all round team I have had the pleasure of witnessing past/present. New things CAN be better……..well except hangovers and monster munch!
That headline is way off the mark if you’ve been watching it on bbc or ITV.
He’s a bad writer is Mr. Miguel.
Had the privilege of watching almost every tournament match this Spanish team have played since Euro 2008 in the actual stadiums, including tonight. As such, wasn’t watching BBC or ITV and they’re way off the mark for me!
You can only argue that they are the greatest European team of all time. They have after all only won one World Cup. Only beating the best that South America has to offer only the once is not nearly enough to justify your claim as best of all time.
Also, the European Championship only started in 1960, so previous European teams that won the World Cup never had the opportunity to win something else in between them.
In short, it’s a ridiculous claim.
By all measurable criteria, they’re the greatest. That’s certainly fair to say.
I wouldn’t call it a ridiculous claim Anthony,
take a look back at their results from 2008 to today, what’s ridiculous is their record in competitive games:
33 wins
3 draws
1 defeat
http://www.soccerway.com/teams/spain/spain
And if you still want to filter that down to the bigger occasion competitive games, well that’s 3 tournaments in a row (10 matches) where they’ve not even conceded a goal in the knock-out stages.
As for the Euro Championships only starting in 1960, well the only European team to win the World Cup in the previous two decades to that was West Germany in 1954, a shock result against the best team in Europe at the time, Puskas’ Hungary.
I think the only valid debate would be the Brazil team of 1970 but they didn’t do much in any of the years either side of that tournament. This Spanish team certainly have either side of their World Cup in 2010
If there was no such thing as time there would be ppl out there who’d say Ronnie Delaney was the greatest miler or Carl Lewis the greatest 100mtrs of all time. The greatest is the one who holds the present record. When it comes to football the Brazil of ’70 wouldn’t be in the same class as that Spanish team we’ve witnessed today. At that pace they’d be lucky to last 60 mins, and comparing the’88 Liverpool, they would be mid table Spanish premier, and I follow the Pool. How many times a country won the W/C is irrelevant as to who is the greatest team to walk on a football pitch. Barca are going to dominate Europe for at least the next 5years.
Great performance from Spain this afternoon now for a walk before dinner.
Undeniably accurate headline miguel. The greatest team of all time. This victory proves that reaching the top like Brazil In 1970 is one thing sustaining it like Spain have shows that they are the greatest VAMOS TOTAL FOOTBALL!!
Rodger your dead right Vamos Las Rojas
I actually agree that this makes football that bit more boring. Although its unbelievable to watch, one teams utter dominance takes away the attraction of football. The Scottish league next year will not be worth watching, they should give Celtic the trophy now. And F1 ratings a few years back struggled because schumacher was unbeatable. I’d prefer to see a tight, end to end game between two very good teams, than see one outstanding team dominate their opponents. Eg Man United 4:3 Man City, or Liverpool 4:3 Newcastle, unbelievable football games because they were so tight. 4:0 win against the second best team in Europe makes a bit of a mockery of the competition, even though it was good overall. The only sport were outright dominance is enjoyable is horse racing.
If Spain played hurling they would be Kilkenny in a class of their own if Irish team played hurling they would be ..think better leave that blank.
They have beaten Germany, holland and Italy in last 3 finals, do they not count as great footballing teams/countries. Who are these great south American teams? Brazil and Argentina are no world beaters these days.
The whole ‘of all time’ tag is bit sensationalist and simplistic. There’s no way to verify it, so why even put it on the table? Okay, for the sake of the debate maybe, but then sticking ‘undeniably’ in there is just dictatorial.
Football has evolved, like anything else, over time. Things improve. Undoubtedly, most international teams’ fitness, mentality, strategy, youth development, technical application etc, have improved since the 70s, because of the resources invested into improving these elements, so naturally, the reliance on natural talent and physicality has lessened.
To compare Spain 2012 and Brazil 1970 is to compare Messi and Richard Dunne. Different environments, different methods, different level of hype.
Niall, you can’t compare teams across different eras. But the key point I’ve always made in this debate is that you can compare the extent of dominance a team enjoyed across their cycle.
For example, Hungary had an 85% win record between 1951 and 1955. They didn’t however win every trophy they came across. They lost when it mattered. That is a mark against them.
Over four years, Spain have produced the longest winning run in international history, the longest unbeaten run in international history, have won 90% of all games, have produced the best defence in any tournament and, in two of three tournaments, been the most prolific scorers.
Most importantly of all, they’ve won all three major trophies they’ve entered.
No team has ever matched that level of utter domination.
I just think too much emphasis is placed on their domination of Europe. They’re kicking major European butt and it’s teams like ourselves that make up the vast majority of their stats. How many times have they played the other great nations of the world?
Honestly, how can a team be called the best after only beating the best of South America once? They’ve demolished everyone in Europe for 3 tournaments, so they’re arguably the best ever here. But, for me, they have to win the next World Cup to “undeniably” claim best ever.
Italy and Brazil have both won the World Cup twice in a row. Surely that’s a better achievement than one World Cup and two continental cups?
Probably because the (usual) best of South America wasn’t good enough to reach as far as Spain did in the last World Cup:
- Germany beat Argentina 4-0 in the quarters (who then got beaten by Spain in the semis)
- Holland beat Germany 2-1 in the quarters ( who then got beaten by Spain in the final)
Italy 34-38 isn’t even worth considering when only a small number of nations competed in the qualifiers to the finals
Huh? Please re-read my comment. You’ve obviously misunderstood it. All I’m saying is that you can’t say they’re undeniably the best, when they’ve only won one World Cup.
The South Americans have only had one crack at them (even if they didn’t meet) . Hardly enough to run around claiming to be the best ever.
No Ireland team 88-94 the Jackie chartlon years