QB Wilson savors victory
On Sunday youth was served big time in Super Bowl Super Bowl XLVIII with Seattle’s emphatic and resounding victory over Denver.
It was Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson who seemed more calm and collected than Denver’s veteran Peyton Manning. Wilson passed for 206 yards and connected on two touchdowns.
The rest of Wilson’s teammates played with similar poise and the defense set the tone and demonstrated early in the game that it came to play making Denver earn every yard, or rather, every inch.
When Wilson wasn’t running for a critical first down he was moving to his left and shifting the pocket to throw with pinpoint accuracy downfield. It was young Wilson who played like the Peyton Manning millions of people from all over the country and around the world had tuned in and expected to see.
Youth was served as Wilson and his teammates were just much faster on every play on both ends of the field — attacking the ball to deny the Broncos a first down or fighting ferociously for positive yards as Denver players groped air and failed to make what at times appeared like basic tackles.
By halftime the score was already 22 to 0; few people could have believed this had they somehow missed the opening two quarters and just randomly switched on their TV at the intermission.
Wilson becomes the second African American quarterback since Doug Williams led the Washington Red Skins in Super bowl XXII on January 31, 1988, to a 42-10 crushing of John Elway’s Denver Broncos.
Wilson’s achievement comes during the beginning of Black History Month. “It’s something I think about, to be the second African American to win the Super Bowl,” the young Wilson noted.
In addition to Wilson, there were seven other Black quarterbacks in the league last year: Robert Griffin III in Washington; Terrelle Pryor, Oakland Raiders; Colin Kaepernick, San Francisco 49ers; Erick James “EJ” Manuel, Buffalo Bills; Geno Smith, New York Jets; Josh Freeman, Minnesota Vikings; and Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers.
One or more of them could also win Super Bowl rings before their playing days are over.
Indeed it also shows how far the nation has come in NFL history when the quarterback’s race is no longer a major part of the storyline. Instead the question was whether a 25-year old player who is under 6 feet tall (he’s 5′ 11″) would be able to see the entire field and make long throws when needed.
The Seahawks’ coach Pete Carroll also deserved big credit as it seems his entire team has adopted his personality traits; feisty and determined.
Bravo Seattle for playing a great game and making it clear by halftime that Denver would need a miracle to comeback. Instead the game was pretty much decided in the beginning of the second half when Seattle returned a kick for a touchdown.
Denver never recovered after its first snap; in the game’s very first play the ball sailed over Manning into the end zone for a safety.
Manning already has a ring from 2007 when he led the Indianapolis Colts to Super Bowl XLI victory with Coach Tony Dungy. Elway, who has two rings as quarterback for the Broncos was hoping for his first as an executive.
The much better team won Sunday at MetLife stadium in New Jersey.
