You've always felt Peyton Manning is at least one more Super Bowl win shy of achieving that OK-this-guy-is-just-plain-untouchable greatness. Come Sunday night in New Jersey, Manning will have an opportunity to put that record right, by guiding the Denver Broncos to Super Bowl XLVIII glory against the Seattle Seahawks.
Where to Watch Live
The game is scheduled for a 6.30 pm ET (5 am IST Monday morning) start with live coverage on Fox in the USA. The game can also be watched courtesy live streaming online in the US HERE. Live coverage in the UK is on Sky Sports 1 with the live streaming option available HERE. Live stream the Super Bowl in Africa HERE. The marquee game can also be watched via the official NFL website HERE.
"I've been asked about my legacy since I was 25 years old, which I'm not sure you can have a legacy when you are 25 years old, or even 37," said Manning, who can join his little brother Eli on two Super Bowl rings with victory on Sunday. "I thought you had to be 70 to have a legacy.
"I'm not 100 percent sure what the word even means."
While Manning's legacy, to a certain extent, might be on the line, Sunday's game will also be about that good-old Offense vs Defense.
The Broncos have been scoring points for fun all season, with Manning, obviously, leading the way, while the Seahawks pride themselves on building that impenetrable wall, which, more often than not, has proved too be a tad too intimidating for the opposition.
"It's obvious that there's an attraction to the defense and the offense is a logical matchup to look for, but this game is going to be involving so many different aspects of it," Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. "It will be interesting to see if that is the story.
"Is it our defense versus their offense? I really don't believe that's what it's going to be. There're so many phases that will contribute. It will be wonderful to see what the storyline is afterwards."
The Broncos saw off the challenge Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game a couple of weeks back, and coach John Fox believes the Super Bowl XLVIII will most probably be decided by Oh-my-god-I-cannot-believe-that-just-happened play.
"Most of us have grown up with a Super Bowl memory moment," Fox said.
"My experience has been, whether it's been one of these or any game or in any big spot ... obviously your star players have to be great in championship games, and not very many championships are won in any sport where your big players didn't play big, but there always seems to be an unknown guy who makes a critical play.
"Whether it's in the kicking game, Lord knows where it's going to come from, but my experience has been that there's been one of those events."
While all the attention in the quarterback position has been on Manning, the Seahawks, who beat the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game to book their place in the Super Bowl, have their own scary good QB in Russell Wilson, and the Seattle man's opportunity to fly under the radar might just work in his side's favour.
"Russell is exactly where he's always pictured he'd be in life," Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. "He prepares impeccably, and he has prepared like that this week. I think he is ready to play a very good game."
There has been so much talk about this Super Bowl - inevitable, when you consider there has been a two-week build up. Will it be that ridiculous Denver offense that wins, or the pesky Seattle defense? Can Wilson outshine his more illustrious compatriot Manning? And, will the cold affect the players?
At the end of the day, as it always is in the big games - and this is the biggest of them all -- the better team will win, and Carroll is more than happy to end all pre-game talk and start doing the business on the field.
"Don't think you could ever get a team ready if you started talking about it a week before, two weeks before," Carroll said. "They do understand that this is a rare opportunity and that we have to handle this very well and find the humility so we can deal with it properly and play like we're capable. ... I'm really anxious to see how they handle game day when it comes around."
