It turns out Super Bowl XLVIII was more of a revenge game between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos than anyone knew about at the time.
To understand why, you have to go back two years to the offseason of 2012. Peyton Manning had just been cut by the Indianapolis Colts to make way for Andrew Luck, and there were no shortage of teams ready to bring The Sheriff to town.
Among them were the Seahawks. As Manning was staying in Denver preparing to make his decision, Seattle head coach Pete Carroll, only a few years removed from running the USC Trojans, decided to try out some of his old recruiting tricks.