Confessions of a 49ers fan

He scares me

From devastation to predictions

Article: Brady Lang – Sports Writer

[dropcaps round=”no”]I[/dropcaps]’m writing this article with a very heavy heart this evening.

It’s hard to come to terms with the fact that my Niners are now out of the playoffs. After last year’s disappointing loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl, the 49ers were given an opportunity to redeem themselves in this year’s playoffs, but did fall short against the Seattle Seahawks.

Speaking of those very same Seattle Seahawks, they breezed through the regular season as the NFC’s top seed and finished the campaign with a record of 13-3. The Seahawks boast the best defence in the NFL and after a 23-17 win at home against San Francisco; they will be headed to New York to play Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos in the big show.

The terrifying defence that the Seahawks possess will try to stop the best offense in NFL history in Manning’s Broncos who are highlighted by star receivers Wes Welker, Demaryius Thomas, and Eric Decker along with tailback Knowshon Moreno. The team has thrown for over 5500 passing yards – Manning’s 5477 yards set the NFL single-season passing record.

Those same Broncos defeated Tom Brady and his New England Patriots last Sunday by a score of 26-16 to book their tickets to the Super Bowl as champions of the AFC. After a 13-3 season, Denver came into the postseason as the AFC’s top seed yet one could argue that the Broncos were not the definitive favourites to take home the Lombardi trophy at the end of this season.

The uncertainty came from the critics of Manning and his inability to win in the playoffs. Manning’s career playoff record is now 10-11 after the win against New England on Sunday and he will look to improve his record to 11-11 in two weeks time against Seattle.

Brady’s Patriots came within just 10 points of doing the unthinkable, clinching a birth in the Super Bowl. After the roughest offseason in team history, everyone wrote the Patriots off. The Pats lost Welker, tight end Rob Gronkowski was injured much of the season, and fellow tight end Aaron Hernandez was convicted of murder. In spite of all the losses, the Patriots managed to sign former St. Louis Rams receiver Danny Admendola to somewhat fill the void of Welker’s absence. The receiver ended up 633-yards receiving while Welker finished with just 648.

The turn around that the Patriots have made is actually extremely impressive. Losing three of their top offensive players and still making the playoffs this year is something owner Robert Kraft should be extremely proud of.

With all that aside, it is the Seahawks – lead by quarterback Russell Wilson – and the Broncos – led by quarterback Peyton Manning – who will be against one another on Feb. 2 in East Rutherford for the Super Bowl.

With uncertainty about Manning’s future in the NFL swirling, we could very well see the final chapter in his historic career on Super Bowl Sunday. If this is his final game, we know that he is definitely going out on top regardless of the result in Super Bowl XLVII.

I think that it is a given that this Super Bowl will definitely be entertaining. You have the high power offense of the Denver Broncos attacking the stingy defence of the Seattle Seahawks, and it promises to be a wild game from start to finish.

If I was to predict the outcome – like I have in the past with the World Series – I’d have to go with the Denver Broncos as my pick to raise the Lombardi trophy on Super Bowl Sunday.

Peyton Manning, a champion again.

[button style=”e.g. solid, border” size=”e.g. small, medium, big” link=”” target=””]Image: stateofthebay.wordpress.com[/button]