“Besides the Ravens I can’t think of another AFC team that could compete vs. a good NFC team. “
How about the Colts. Indy won against SF, Seattle and Denver during the regular season.
The physical defense of the seahawks involves bringing the pass defenders up into press coverage which takes away the running game and short passing game. It dares the offense to go deep. Going deep is a challenge because the qb must throw a great pass and the blocking must hold up.
Luck throws a great deep ball and can usually extend the play with his feet when the blocking breaks down. He is the worst nightmare for the Hawks defense. When Luck plays, you are looking at Colin Kapernick only with a more accurate deep ball and better game management skills.
Manning does not extend plays and likes the short and intermediate routes and rarely goes deep. For him the seahawk defense was his worst nightmare.
Indianapolis is the team of the future.
In the AFC that is.
But to be honest, I think that ANY AFC team would have lost against the Seahawks today.
The Hawks brought their A-game defense, and it shut down a VERY good team.
As stated above, the Seahawks are beatable. The ONLY exception at home was the Cardinals.
Even then, it was a good game.
For the near future, the NFC will rule IMHO.
Take a 10-6 Cardinals vs. Broncos today, and the Cardinals would have won.
Same goes for the 12-4 49'ers.
They too would have beaten Denver.
Insane defenses.
The Cardinals don't get much credit, but going into Century Link and coming out with a win against the Seahawks was most impressive.
Heck, even the Rams gave the Seahawks a great game. And they were a 7-9 team.
The NFC West is the very best conference in football. Bar none.
You are right. Denver is a great team, but they just did not match up well against Seattle, and the game showed it.