Sounding more like a school kid hoping for a snow day rather than a Super Bowl quarterback about to do battle with the great Peyton Manning, Russell Wilson mentioned what almost everyone associated with Super Bowl XLVIII has been obsessed with for weeks and weeks.
He talked about the weather.
“Hopefully it snows, that would be kind of fun to play Super Bowl 48 in the snow,’’ he said cheerfully after the Seahawks arrived at their Jersey City hotel on Sunday night.
It’s doubtful Manning shares that sentiment, but it is clear these Seahawks are a far different team led by a far different quarterback than the Broncos. The top team in the NFC, after a hero’s send-off in Seattle, touched down at the site of the first-ever outdoor, cold-weather Super Bowl after a long flight that did nothing to damper the players’ spirit or their confidence they can the Lombardi Trophy.
“It reminds me of the major bowl games and the things I’ve been through,’’ Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said, scanning the media crowd during the first of his six scheduled full-blown press conferences leading up to the game. “It’s extraordinarily fun to be here, it’s so much fun for our guys to be part of this. We’ll learn as we go through this week what this is all about, but we’re well aware we just crossed the country to go play the biggest football game we can play in.’’
This is all new to almost all of them. Only one player on the Seahawks roster — seldom-used receiver Ricardo Lockette was with the 49ers a year ago — has ever been on a Super Bowl team and Carroll has never been here before, either.
“This team, even though we’re young, I think we have a mature perspective,’’ Carroll said. “We’ve never talked about getting the ring, getting to the Super Bowl. We just talk about playing really well.’’
Wilson got the jump on his preparation when he made sure he was in New Orleans for last year’s Super Bowl, fulfilling some media duties but really on the scene on a scouting mission. “Just to observe and watch,’’ he said.
Wilson said this past week he made sure to check in with his friend Drew Brees to get the Saints quarterback’s take on what this experience will be like for the Seahawks.
Before leaving Seattle, the Seahawks were saluted by their adoring fans, which was to be expected of the fan base that calls itself “the 12s,’’ as in, the 12th man.
“The little trip we take to the airport, when we got down to the last stretch there were thousands of people lining the streets, as a matter of fact the bus was going two miles an hour, they kind of swarmed into the streets,’’ Carroll said. “They weren’t just waving, they were jumping up and down, pounding on the bus and everything. Everybody had a blast. It was very collegiate-like in a sense, it was really cool.’’
Wilson said he figures he studied “a good, solid three hours’’ of the 4 ¹/₂-hour flight, “just preparing my mind.’’ The 25-year old, in only his second NFL season, will be the sixth-youngest quarterback to start in a Super Bowl.
“I’m not going to shy away from this moment,’’ he said. “It’s a great thing.’’
Wilson seems perfectly at ease in the spotlight. His teammate, cornerback Richard Sherman, was mostly subdued and thoughtful as he spoke of his wild postgame reactions after beating the 49ers in the NFC title game, and the ensuing aftermath. Sherman was surrounded by perhaps five times as many media than Wilson.
Carroll, reminded the Broncos have the league’s top offense going against his top-ranked defense, called that challenge, “Historically as hard as it gets.
“It can’t get any tougher. We’re up against it. It’s an extraordinary challenge. Let’s see how this matchup goes. They have to play us too, we’ll see how that works out.’’
The Seahawks have returned to the same Westin Hotel where they stayed in mid-December when they played and beat the Giants.
“We were looking forward to being in New York/New Jersey, again, we were hoping this would come true and sure enough it has,’’ Wilson said. “In terms of coach Carroll talking to us, we’ve had the talk in terms of there’s going to be a lot of distractions, a lot of media, things going on, you have to do those things, we’re looking forward to those things but our main focus, really our only focus is to win this football game.’’