Kickoff finally arrives

Super Bowl XLVIIISeahawks vs. Broncos WHEN Today WHERE MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.

TIME/TV 5:30 p.m. Central/Fox LINE Broncos by 2½

JERSEY CITY, N.J. - Max Unger, the Seattle Seahawks’ starting center, hails from Hawaii, excelled as a rebounder for his high school basketball team and, about 100 pounds ago, loved to skateboard. None of thatwould be relevant to the outcome of today’s Super Bowl except thatUnger’s chief adversary for the game, Denver’s 335-pound defensive tackle Terrance Knighton, probably knew all those facts last week.

As part of his preparation, Knighton vowed toresearch Unger’s personal life, compiling a dossier from which he will goad and taunt him when they line up inches apart today.

“I want to know everything about him,” Knighton said.

Unger’s success at neutralizing Knighton will influence the production of Marshawn Lynch, who with every punishing rush could fulfill the Seahawks’ twin goals of sustaining long drives while limiting the Broncos’ possessions. The matchup of Denver’s premier run-stopping defender and a two-time Pro Bowler entrusted with clearing space at the fulcrum of Seattle’s offense is one of several that will help decide what should be one of the more compelling Super Bowls of recent vintage.

For the first time in 23 years, and the fifth time overall, the game will feature the league’s top-ranked offense against its top-ranked defense. And the 23.5-point disparity between the Broncos’ average scoring output (37.9) and the Seahawks’ average points allowed (14.4) is the largest in Super Bowl history, according to FootballPerspective.com. No team was more efficient inside the red zone than Denver. No team was stingier inside the red zone than Seattle.

“I don’t think they’ve played a defense like us,” Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner said.

Nor, though, have the Seahawks played an offense like that of the Broncos, whose quarterback, Peyton Manning, at 37, set the NFL single-season record for passing yards and touchdowns. Manning has a unique capacity to decipher defenses and upload information before the snap, then adjust by calling a play that exploits a weakness.

With diminished but adequate arm strength - “I’ve thrown a lot of yards and touchdown ducks, so I’m actually quite proud of it,” hesaid last week - Manning relies even more on timing and precision, on maximizing the short routes by receivers who excel at running after the catch.

Denver’s fast-developing plays, coupled with his quick release and a solid offensive line, create a comfortable pocket that has rarely been breached. Manning, hardly known for his mobility, has been hit only once during the postseason, and through 18 games including the playoffs, he has been sacked only 18 times.

“The ball’s just not in his hands long enough to get there, for the most part,” Seattle Coach Pete Carroll said, adding, “We’re going to have to get him to hold the football some and at least make him go to his second or third decision.If we can do that, it gives us a chance.”

Affect is the word that Carroll and defensive coordinator Dan Quinn use most when describing their mission. As in, the Seahawks must affect Manning today by sacking him, hitting him, moving him off his spot. It varies with the coverage, but Quinn said a quarterback can usually avoid being hit if he can get rid of the ball in 2.7 seconds or less. This season the ball has been in Manning’s hands for anNFL-low average of 2.36 seconds, according to ProFootballFocus.com.

To harass Manning, the Seahawks will probably adhere to their principles. Unlike many teams, they generate pressure without blitzing and lean on their physical defensive backs to maintain coverage as a four-man rush pressures the quarterback. Their two primary defensive ends, Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril, have combined for 19 1/2 sacks and 10 forced fumbles, and their aptitude for stripping the ball could be a factor against Manning, who had 10 fumbles during the regular season.

Even so, the Seahawks recognize that the ball will usually be leaving Manning’s hand through more traditional means, one being a type of crossing route that has emerged as perhaps the Broncos’ signature play. It is called the pick, or a rub, and it succeeds when a receiver runs his defender into a third party, usually another teammate, to gain separation.

The play tends to succeed most against man-to-man coverage, although the Seahawks play a fair amount of zone. From reviewing film, several of their defenders could see that teams that were shredded by the pick play, like the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, had failed to disrupt the receiver’s release off the line of scrimmage. Delaying him by even a fraction of a second could affect the entire play, giving the pass rush added time toreach Manning.

“They just take the pick play,” Seattle linebacker Wagner said. “We’re very aware of the pick plays. When they show up, we’re going to hit them.”

That, too, is the approach of Lynch, who so embraces contact that when asked last week for his impression of Seattle assistant Tom Cable, he said: “All I knew about him was that he punched people. That’s my type of person.”