New Orleans, LA – East Rutherford, NJ (SportsNetwork.com) - The Seattle Seahawks rode the NFL's best defense to the franchise's first Super Bowl title. Peyton Manning? He never came close to winning his second. Seattle scored 12 seconds into each half and racked up 21 points off turnovers on the way to a 43-8 rout of the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII on Sunday. Percy Harvin's 87-yard kickoff return touchdown to start the second half came after Seattle also scored 12 seconds into the game on a snap that sailed over Manning's head and into the end zone. The safety counted as the Super Bowl's fastest-ever points. Manning might have set passing and touchdown records in a dream regular season for the highest-scoring offense of all-time, but his third Super Bowl was a nightmare from start to finish. On the field his brother Eli calls home as quarterback of the New York Giants, Manning threw two interceptions in the first half and both were turned into touchdowns by the Seahawks. Marshawn Lynch scored on a 1-yard run after the first pick and Malcolm Smith returned the second 69 yards for a 22-0 halftime lead. Cliff Avril hit Manning on the throw and Smith, the game's MVP, stepped in front of the floating pass. It was a red-hot start for Seattle in the first Super Bowl played outdoors in a cold-weather city. The climate wasn't a factor for either team. After months of speculation that the game would be marred by bad weather, especially during a winter that has seen so much of it, the temperature at kickoff inside MetLife Stadium was 49 degrees. Demaryius Thomas, who had a fumble that led to a Seattle touchdown, caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Manning at the end of the third quarter and the Broncos got the two-point conversion on Wes Welker's catch, their only points of the game. Russell Wilson -- the former third-round pick -- was 18- of-25 for 206 yards for Seattle and Lynch rushed for 39 yards on 15 carries, never breaking off one of his "Beast Mode" runs. Seattle didn't need one in its second Super Bowl apperance. The Broncos fell to 2-5 in seven Super Bowls. The two wins came in consecutive seasons in 1998-99 behind quarterback John Elway, now the team's executive VP of football operations. They have another all-time quarterback in Manning, who has led the Broncos to the AFC's No. 1 seed in both of his seasons as their quarterback after missing his last year with the Indianapolis Colts following several neck surgeries. Manning, 37, was trying to become the first quarterback to lead two franchises to a Super Bowl win and was attempting to match brother Eli's two NFL titles. He threw for 280 yards, completing 34-of-49 passes, and is now 1-2 in three Super Bowls after going 1-1 with Indianapolis. Manning won his record fifth NFL MVP award after throwing for 5,477 yards and 55 touchdowns in the regular season, both league records.
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