Super Bowls rarely play out as expected. On paper, this is a very intriguing, tight matchup. If it goes per usual, however, only one team will show true to form. It's hard to imagine leaders like Wilson and Manning allowing that to happen, but this game has a way of bringing out the best and worst things we've never seen from either team.

If that doesn't happen, and both teams do what they've done all year, the biggest factor, in my opinion, will be the Seahawks pass rush (or lack thereof). If you give Manning time to process what's going on after the snap (takes 3 or 4 seconds, tops), you're going to get hurt somewhere. If the LOB can cover well enough to take away the first couple reads on most plays, that should give the pass rush time to get to him and keep him off rhythm. If he's getting 5 seconds in the pocket more often than not, he'll be tough to beat. He's just SO good at exploiting the weak spot in a defense.

Even if Manning has a lot of success, the Hawks SHOULD be able to make enough plays on offense to keep pace, especially if Harvin plays a significant number of downs. His presence causes problems for defenses, even when the play doesn't involve him. He's too dangerous to ignore, and that opens things up for everyone else. We've also kind of forgotten about Russell Wilson over the past few weeks. The conservative play-calling has been designed to prevent making costly mistakes against defenses that likely wouldn't allow multi-score comebacks. I don't think the Broncos have that caliber of defense, and it seems to me they would do well to be on alert for a heavier dose of zone read plays and play action passes than we've seen so far in the playoffs. After the linebackers are thoroughly confused and out of sorts, unleash The Beast!

I sure hope this isn't one of those Super Bowls where one team forgets to show up (unless, of course, that team is Denver).

GO HAWKS!!!