Why Schlereth could see Seahawks pulling off repeat of Super Bowl 48

With the way the NFL playoffs have shaped up, it’s hard not to get flashbacks to 12 years ago.

Just like that 2013 season, the top seeds in the NFC and AFC are the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos, respectively. And the Seahawks are again led by a dominant defense and an offense that prioritizes running the ball.

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Should the Hawks and Broncos meet again in the Super Bowl next month, NFL on FOX broadcast analyst and former Broncos Pro Bowl offensive lineman Mark Schlereth wonders if the outcome could be a repeat of Seattle’s memorable 43-8 blowout of Denver in February 2014. That’s especially the case after what he saw out of the Seahawks in their 13-3 victory over the San Francisco 49ers last Saturday.

“Normally I fall asleep early on Saturday night – I get up early Sunday and I do some more work for my game or whatever. I was completely enthralled with that game and just blown away by how good Seattle looked,” Schlereth told Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Monday. “Like, I mean, dominant performance. And so I ended up staying up for that whole game, watching that thing and coming away exceptionally impressed with the Seahawks.”

So impressed that Schlereth has a hard time seeing the Seahawks having trouble with Denver should they meet for the championship.

“All my buddies that I went to the University of Idaho with live out there (in Seattle), and one of the one of my buddies was like, I could see a rematch of Super Bowl 48 between the Seahawks and the Broncos,” Schlereth said. “And I started thinking about that, I was like, yeah, that’d be great. And then I started thinking, gosh, the way that (Seahawks) team looked, it may be a repeat of Super Bowl 48, which would be painful for us here in Denver.”

The defense was clearly the highlight of Seattle’s win over the 49ers, keeping a dangerous San Francisco offense completely out of the end zone.

“It did remind me back to the Legion of Boom days where everything was kind of a zone match, and when you did complete a pass, as soon as the pass got to the receiver, he was getting cracked in the back of the head with a helmet,” Schlereth said. “The coverage was right there. There (was) going to be no leaky yardage anywhere. The tackling was exceptional. The space between receiver and defensive back or linebacker was minimal.”

Yet there’s something to be said about quarterback Sam Darnold, who didn’t light up the stat sheet with just 198 passing yards and no touchdowns, but was accurate and protected the ball (20 for 26 passing, no interceptions) while the defense and run game (180 rushing yards on 39 attempts) helped Seattle dominate the time of possession against San Francisco.

“Having the maturity to understand what you have on the other side of the ball… When you understand how you’re built, then don’t take a chance with the football, like, why would you? And the way you guys ran the ball, I mean, the whole thing was so impressive,” Schlereth said.

Hear the full Wyman and Bob conversation with NFL on FOX analyst Mark Schlereth in the podcast at this link or video at the top of this post. Catch Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 p.m. on Seattle Sports

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