Super Bowl XLVIII gave a pretty big hint about the way it was going to play out on the opening snap of the game for the Broncos.
Center Manny Ramirez airmailed a snap to quarterback Peyton Manning, who was neither expecting it nor able to corral it before it skittered into the end zone. Running back Knowshon Moreno fell on it, the Seahawks had a safety and the rout was on.
Ramirez said after the game that no one on the team heard the snap count on the play, but he thought he did and he thought it was late so he let the ball fly as Manning was moving toward the line of scrimmage. Manning said the same thing, calling it a “cadence issue” caused by the noise from the crowd. That difficulty and the resulting mistake called to mind a decision coach John Fox made during the week.
The Broncos turned down the volume on the speakers they use to simulate crowd noise at practice this week because Fox said that his experience has been that Super Bowl crowds were quieter than usual crowds. The Seahawks fans at MetLife Stadium definitely made their voices heard on Sunday, though, and it may have helped lead to the first big play in a night filled with them for Seattle.
