When the Seattle Seahawks step onto the field for Super Bowl XLVIII, it will be a first-time experience … for all of them.
Super Bowl XLVIII: Broncos have edge in title game experience
When Denver and Seattle take the field on Feb. 2, only four players will have played in a Super Bowl before. All four will be wearing Broncos jerseys.
Jamie Squire
Not a single Seahawks players has played in the NFL title game before, the first team with that distinction since the 1990 Buffalo Bills, according to ESPN. How much impact that lack of experience will have on the game itself — sure to be a favorite discussion topic among talking heads and call-in shows — is up for debate.
After all, only four Denver Broncos have been to the big game before: Peyton Manning, Wes Welker, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Jacob Tamme. This Super Bowl has the fewest number of players with championship experience since 1982.
Manning is the only one in the bunch who already has a ring, having won the title with the Indianapolis Colts after the 2006 season. He failed to nab another in his second trip three years later, a game he played alongside Tamme. Welker went twice as a member of the Patriots but lost both times to Peyton's brother, Eli, and the Giants. Rodgers-Cromartie lost as a rookie with the Cardinals.
Denver also holds the advantage of having a head coach who's made the trip. John Fox has been to the Super Bowl twice — once as the head coach of the Panthers to close out the 2003 season and another as the defensive coordinator of the Giants at the end of the 2000 slate. John Elway, the current vice president of football operations, led the Broncos to five Super Bowl appearances as a quarterback, winning two of them.
Earlier this week, Fox had his championship-game veterans lend advice to the rest of the roster.
“Just relating the experience,” Fox told Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com. “It’s a unique game, a unique stage, just share those experiences for the younger players.”
Manning said the advice was beneficial.
“Coach Fox has had some guys that have some experience share some of those thoughts with other players. And he’s encouraged guys to ask questions or guys who have some experience to share any thoughts, tips. We have had opportunity to do that whether it was coaches or players or John Elway. So I think that’s a good thing.”
We’ll find out how much that experience matters on Feb. 2.
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