Legion of Boom’s NFL Aftermath – TD Sports Debate p1
By Dan Salem
Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
The Legion of Boom destroyed the pass happy NFL. We debate the aftermath, nicknames, and what’s left of the Broncos. Sports debate hits the offseason as Dan Salem and Todd Salem tackle things in part one of this week’s TD Sports Debate. Two brothers from New York yell, scream and debate sports.
DAN:
Long live the Legion of Boom. I’m not sure whether to take gratification in the outcome of the Super Bowl, or embrace the disappointment of a completely uncompetitive game. In all honesty, I enjoyed watching it a lot. The one Denver Broncos fan at my party left just before halftime. Everyone else was cheering on the continuous onslaught of wild plays and loud blustery defense of the Seattle Seahawks. I’ve had a day to digest and I’m leaning towards gratification for two reasons.
First, we debated for two weeks about the Legion of Boom, Richard Sherman, and the power of the Seahawks. This went along with how much we respected Denver’s offense, but we both agreed that the Legion of Boom was basically unknown outside of Seattle and that such a great marketing injustice should not stand. That unit was/is special, their nickname is amazing, and the NFL pissed the bed on not labeling them sooner to a national audience. Justice has now been served and everyone will know the Legion of Boom.
I’d also like to mention that I predicted a safety for the Seahawks in the Super Bowl, mostly because it makes me feel good about myself. No, I didn’t call it for the first play from scrimmage. But in making a prediction for our colleague’s NFL Spin Zone article I picked Seattle to win, including a safety in my score. Small victory for me! Next time I’ll make sure money is involved.
In the aftermath of the destruction left behind by the Legion of Boom, did we learn anything new about the league? Has order been restored to the NFL, with arguably one of the top two teams heading into the start of this season having won the championship? Am I asking an obvious question that no one really cares out?
I think I just like saying Legion of Boom. If this is a moot point, lets move on to judging our favorite teams performances this past season very harshly.
TODD:
It is hard for a joint nickname to catch on. That must be the problem here because fans and media are so quick to latch on to any individual nickname these days. Kevin Durant has been in the news for two weeks now, not for his scoring barrage and the run OKC has made, but for a new nickname suggested for him online: Slim Reaper.
It is obviously awesome, but Durant isn’t a fan, citing his preference for KD, or some such nonsense. Either way, Slim Reaper was a story for multiple days and continues to be. On the other hand, a perfectly played pun such as Legion of Boom is just as good of a name but because it isn’t attached to one player or a star it gets swept under the rug.
That’s the biggest takeaway from the Super Bowl this season. Group nicknames are a hard sell in this country.
As for the game itself, defense does in fact still win championships. Who knew. I think the result was semi-fluky, but Seattle being better wasn’t. They had a better overall team all season long. I wasn’t sold on Russell Wilson being able to win a game. In the end, he still didn’t need to. He didn’t have to play well at any point throughout the postseason. Not to say that he’s a bad QB, but the jury is still out on his ceiling as a franchise guy just because the rest of his team saved him from needing to reach that ceiling this year.
This Seahawks squad would have won that particular Super Bowl with literally anybody at quarterback. If Denver’s first snap doesn’t result in a safety or if Percy Harvin gets touched on his kickoff return and Seattle needed a few plays down the stretch from Wilson, then who knows. But in this game, there was no lasting takeaway as far as Russell Wilson…or Peyton Manning for that matter.
Manning got walloped early and often. The safety was (most likely) not his fault. The pick six was not his fault. He had pressure around him all game. The first interception was a bad throw but overall, there wasn’t anything Manning could have done to win this game.
I think the only thing we truly learned from this experience is that defense isn’t totally gone forever just yet. Some fans and analysts grew worried about the rule changes and whether anyone would be allowed to make plays on defense anymore. That can be moved to the back burner for now.
As can the theory that the hot December/January team always rolls through the playoffs. This season, Seattle was the best NFC team all season long, from start to finish. There was no “getting hot” this season. It was kind of refreshing in that regard.