Why Seattle’s defensive acumen will win them the Super Bowl

Never before in Super Bowl history has the regular season’s best offense had to battle the  top-rated defence in the game’s showpiece, season-ending event.

Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos top scored the most points while travelling further in yards than any other offense this season.

On the other side of the ball, divisive cornerback Richard Sherman led a Seahawks D that allowed the fewest points and yards over the course of the campaign.

That certainly doesn’t mean the game will be trendless, though, with previous similar duels pointing to the Seahawks’ defensive superiority reigning supreme at 11/10.

Although this match is a first, the closest to it was in 2002, when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the league’s then best defence, faced the Oakland Raiders, the regular season’s second leading points scorers.

An easy 48-21 victory for the defensively proficient Bucs followed in Super Bowl XXXVII and the trends only get worse for Peyton Manning and the Broncos ahead of the MetLife Stadium match.

Manning ‘s troops scored 606 points in 2013, an NFL record for a single season tally, but of the next eight teams on the all-time list, not a single one went on to win the Super Bowl – a stat that includes the downfall of the 2011 Green Bay Packers and 2012 New England Patriots.

For Seattle’s already cock-sure number, the fact that in the last five meetings between the top-scoring offense and top-scoring defence the QB only came out on top once, will only add to their swollen chests come game time.

With that in mind, a punt on the Seahawks’ running back Marshawn Lynch to score a touchdown in a Seattle win looks excellent value at 9/4.

Lynch led the NFL in rushing touchdowns during the regular season with 12 and is Seattle’s number one offensive weapon, something that is highlighted by the fact that no other member of the side managed more than five TD’s.