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:
Quality selection! Looking forward to an exciting match at the weekend.
@John Thomas: I might have put Stockdale at 11 myself but I’m just a sofa coach.
@John Thomas: yeah I was hoping he’d get a game too
@John Thomas: he was very poor in Ireland A game. Looks a shadow of his former self but hopefully that’s something he can turnaround with more game time at Ulster
@BMJF: agreed, I was at it and he was so far off the pace and seemed many off his former self. Hopefully it was just an off day and he will show his worth.
@BMJF: Form is temporary, class is permanent.
@John Thomas: Couch or Coach?
@John Thomas: bit surprised he didn’t get a chance myself, unless they don’t feel he is fit. He really looked off the pace in the A game last week.
@Collitov: couch coach works as well.
Belham has to start against Australia now. He made an impact last sat and it would be benefical to see him start a test now
@Justin Flynn: same could be said at scrum half, we all know what JGP can do. Would have had 2 fresh lads in as I can’t see too many changes come 6 nations.
@Mark Sheehan: JGP needs game time before Australia
@BMJF: Australia isn’t the be all and end all, would be good to get a result given the limited amount of games between here and next years World Cup. An injury to either JGP or Murray and you could have a third scrum half with little or no international exposure on the bench during the tournament. JGP showed against South Africa that he is well up to speed.
@Justin Flynn: I think Bealham was extremely lucky with the refs reading of the scrum in Saturday.
@Tipper Irie: I’d actually argue SA we’re foolish for not scrummaging legally they practically went sideways at scrum time driving in. In fairness to bealham the only team that trouble him from an interpro point of view is the Leinster front row. He’s held his own against all the others quite easily
A very nice balance there. Good for the new faces to get experience with quality players like Park, Henshaw and Doris around them.
I’m sure they are managing Doris workload but he is a horse of a man when it comes to effort and leaves everything he has on the pitch….hope we are comfortable enough after 40 mins to rest him. We need all our big guns the following week.
@Michael Murray: yeah starting Doris is a complete head scratcher.
He should be wrapped in cotton wool.
Really happy with that squad. Glad that they didn’t put Sexton on the bench, I feared they might. Also good to see O’Brien play after his performance last week. Delighted that McCloskey is fit, I was sure he’d broken his arm. Henshaw starting is also a big boost ahead of the Australian game. Overall I’m really happy with that match day squad.
Excellent squad, Farrell & Co. keep surpassing themselves.
@Daithí O’ Donnabhain: delighted for Crowley, who’s the future along with Frawley.
@Daithí O’ Donnabhain: agreed! I think both of them will move ahead of Carbery in the next season or two. Both very similar players too. In the past when Ireland have had two top out half’s in their squads they’ve usually been quite different style wise. But Frawley and Crowley are both cut from the same cloth.
I would have preferred to see someone else getting time at scrum half, and perhaps Deegan or Prendergast getting a start, but those are minor quibbles.
Great to see Crowley on the bench – hopefully Ireland will be far enough ahead with 20 minutes to go that he can come on to close the game out
@Lesidees: I like the 4 half backs. I might have started Casey with Carberry and held JGP to help Crowley when he came on.