EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The Denver Broncos never recovered from the botched snap that resulted in a safety and the quickest score is Super Bowl history Sunday.
Peyton Manning described the error as a "cadence issue," absolving center Manny Ramirez from blame.
"We were using a snap count on the play, but due to the noise, no one could hear me," Manning said. "So really I was walking up to the line of scrimmage to make a change and try get us on the same page. The ball was snapped. Really just an overall, nobody's fault."
To Ramirez's credit, he accepted "full responsibility" for the error.
"I was shocked because you never expect anything like that to happen," Ramirez said postgame in the locker room. "Of course I take full blame for that. They capitalized on it. We weren't able to get going for the whole rest of the game ... They capitalized on all our mistakes."
Ramirez took reporters through the moments leading up to the snap.
"It was real loud. We were trying to go on the cadence. I thought I heard him. I didn't," Ramirez explained. "He was actually walking up to me because he had already said the cadence, and I snapped it. But again, I take full responsibility for that. It's just something that we should have been able to overcome, and we weren't able to ... It's not an excuse. It shouldn't have happened."
Ramirez dismissed the notion that nerves played a part in the first offensive snap of the game.
"I went into the game focused," Ramirez said. "That wasn't the issue at all. We were backed up into the end zone and they were loud."
With a final score of 43-8, it's easy to forget that the Seahawks allowed the Broncos to hang around by failing to capitalize on red-zone opportunities. The errant snap might have set the wrong tone, but it didn't cost Denver its first Super Bowl title since John Elway was under center.
The "Around The League Podcast" taped our Super Bowl XLVIII recap from MetLife Stadium right after the game.