Bad Snap on Broncos' First Play of Super Bowl XLVIII Results in Safety

Feb 2, 2014

Super Bowl XLVIII has gotten off to one of the craziest starts in NFL history.

Not only was the coin toss a disaster, but Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning didn't even get a chance to run a play on the first drive of the game.

After the opening kickoff was only returned to the 14-yard line, the Broncos made a critical mistake.

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*Update: Monday, Feb. 3 at 12:03 a.m. ET

After the game, the Broncos addressed the bad snap, via NFL.com's Around the League's Chris Wesseling.

Quarterback Peyton Manning called it a "cadence issue," which took the blame away from the center.

However, center Manny Ramirez accepted "full responsibility" for the snap:

"
It was real loud. We were trying to go on the cadence. I thought I heard him. I didn't. 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.
I went into the game focused. That wasn't the issue at all. We were backed up into the end zone and they were loud.
"

--End of Update--

Broncos center Manny Ramirez's first snap went over the head of a surprised Manning, but running back Knowshon Moreno managed to chase the ball down to limit the damage to just a safety:

Bleacher Report

The blunder also made Super Bowl history:

"
Fastest score in Super Bowl history — 12 seconds
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) February 2, 2014"

It beats Devin Hester's opening-kickoff score in Super Bowl XLI by about a second.

Here's an interesting stat about safeties in recent Super Bowl history:

"
That was the 9th safety in Super Bowl history. It's the 3rd straight Super Bowl with a safety.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 2, 2014"

In case you were wondering, these were the odds of that happening: