Seahawks 2013 squad beats out 2007 Patriots as best NFL team of last 25 years

The first 25 seasons of this century for the NFL is in the books. The staff at The Ringer did its due diligence. “After a lengthy nomination process, five rounds of voting, and 31 head-to-head matchups, we—and you—have crowned a champion. The 2013 Seahawks are the greatest team of the NFL’s quarter century.”

Pete Carroll’s club owned a 13-3 record that season, and finished the regular season with a plus-186 scoring differential. They knocked off the Saints and 49ers in the NFC playoffs on the way to their Super Sunday showdown with the Denver Broncos. The rest is history.

Seahawks made it look easy in Super Bowl XLVIII

“There are a million things I could write about the peak era of the Seahawks Legion of Boom defense,” explained Danny Kelly, “but perhaps the easiest explanation for just how ludicrously good that unit really was is this: On the biggest stage, in Seattle’s 43-8 blowout victory over the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII, the Seahawks made league-MVP Peyton Manning and the NFL’s all-time highest-scoring offense look like a bumbling JV squad.”

snap XLVII — Feb 2, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning (18) reacts as the snap flies over his head for a safety in the first quarter against the Seattle Seahawks during Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

“The much-anticipated heavyweight bout quickly turned into a lopsided rout,” said Kelly. “The Broncos, who had racked up an NFL-record 606 points (37.9 points per game) on the back of Manning’s league-record 55 touchdown throws, were left completely disoriented by the LOB’s extraordinarily disciplined, hard-hitting style. The Seahawks forced a failed-snap safety on the Broncos’ first play from scrimmage before picking Manning off on his team’s first and third possessions following the safety—the second, a 69-yard pick-six (via game MVP Malcolm Smith), made it 22-0 and more or less put the game away before the first half even ended."

2013 Seahawks lowered the boom on the Broncos

“The trio of Richard Sherman,” added Kelly, “Earl Thomas, and Kam Chancellor held things down in the back end, bolstered up front by the likes of Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, and a host of others. That outcome came as no surprise to the uniquely brash, trash-talking Seahawks defense, which had allowed the fewest points (14.4 per game) and fewest yards (273.6 per game) of any team in the NFL that season while generating a league-best 39 takeaways…”

“Add in the team’s highly efficient special teams group (which ranked fifth in DVOA that year), and it’s clear that the team general manager John Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll built that year will go down as one of the most complete, most fun, and most dominant we’ll ever see.”

Seahawks made it look easy in Super Bowl XLVIII

2013 Seahawks lowered the boom on the Broncos

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