National Football League

Did Sherman, Seahawks crack Peyton's code in blowout?

Published Feb. 4, 2014 1:40 p.m. ET

foxsports

Did it look like the Seattle Seahawks knew what was coming when Denver and future Hall of Fame QB Peyton Manning had the ball in Sunday night's Super Bowl?

Well, if it did, we might now know why.

Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman claims he and the rest of the defense figured out Manning's hand signals early on and were able to exploit it throughout the game, according to Peter King's MMQB.

"All we did was play situational football. We knew what route concepts they liked on different downs, so we jumped all the routes. Then we figured out the hand signals for a few of the route audibles in the first half," he said.

One might think it comes off as more boasting from a player who took so much heat for his postgame comments about Michael Crabtree after the Seahawks beat the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.