Super Bowl XLVIII: The main Manning could have been facing Broncos

Seahawks coach left ruing the one that got away
Kenneth Elliott31 January 2014

He may not admit to it but Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll must have lost sleep this week over quarterback Peyton Manning.

After all, not only is Manning the main threat to their Super Bowl hopes on Sunday but he could have been lining up for the Seahawks, rather than Denver Broncos.

At the end of the 2011 NFL season, there was a shadow over Manning’s American football future, the Indianapolis Colts passer having missed all 16 regular season games while he recovered from neck surgery, the result of wear and tear in a tough sport.

Two years down the road and Manning, coming off a year in which he shattered the single-season records for passing touchdowns and yards to steer the Broncos to the big game here in New Jersey, has recovered, bounced back and the shadow has lifted.

But could he have been wearing a Seahawks College Navy, Action Green and Wolf Grey jersey instead of Broncos’ orange and blue? The Colts released him in 2012 and a string of rivals, including Seattle, were keen to pick him up, with Carroll knowing he would need more at QB if he wanted to reach the Super Bowl. Manning met the Broncos, San Francisco 49ers, Washington Redskins, Tennessee Titans and Arizona Cardinals to decide his future and Carroll had to try to hijack the man he wanted.

Manning took a call informing him that Carroll had flown, unannounced, with Seattle general manager John Schneider, to meet with him, and Carroll was ready to talk business face to face in order to get his man. But Manning said ‘no thanks’ and the rest, as they say, could be history in MetLife Stadium, New Jersey on Sunday night if Manning completes this season with a win.

“Yeah, we tried to hook up with him and we couldn’t make it come together,” Carroll said. “We had to take a shot… we just couldn’t quite get together on it.”

Manning felt the Broncos were the best fit for him and they had an executive on the staff, in former Broncos QB John Elway, who could tell Manning what it felt like to come back from a rough ride in his mid-30s to win not one but two Super Bowls.

Great moments in Super Bowl history

1/14

At 37, four-time NFL Most Valuable Player Manning is set to earn a fifth accolade when this season’s MVP is announced on the eve of Super Bowl. As a Colt he collected a winners’ ring from the League’s big game and was denied a second but he doesn’t think Super Bowl XLVIII will be the final chapter in his story, win or lose.

Read More

“I certainly had a career change two years ago with my injury and with changing teams,” Manning said. “I’ve been truly on a one-year-at-a-time basis. So, I really have no plans beyond this game. I had no plans, coming into this season, beyond this year. It is the healthy way to approach your career at this stage. And I still enjoy playing football. I feel a little better than I thought I would at this point, coming off that surgery.”

But what of Manning’s prospects on Sunday with the threat of a ‘Snow Bowl’ in the open-air stadium waning? The Broncos have the No1 offense in the NFL, the Seahawks have the top-ranked defense. Denver have a 15-3 win-loss record this season… so do Seattle and it’s the first time since 1991 that the Super Bowl pits the team that scored the most points in the regular season against the team that allowed the fewest.

The sentimental vote goes to Manning. But that might not be enough against Carroll’s exciting young team, even without the man he sought so keenly.

Super Bowl live from New Jersey, Sunday (10.30pm), Channel 4 and 4oD. Ex-Super Bowl MVP, Broncos running back Terrell Davis, will join host Colin Murray and analyst Mike Carlson in New York for the game.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in