There is no David vs. Goliath storyline in Super Bowl XLVIII. It is instead, the best versus the best.

The two biggest juggernauts from the NFL regular season, the Seattle Seahawks’ No. 1 ranked defense and the Denver Broncos No. 1 ranked offense, will meet at the NFL’s apex, Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, to decide the World Champion.

Seattle safety Earl Thomas, one of seven All-Pro selections to play Sunday relishes the opportunity to lead his top-ranked defense against Denver’s high-octane offense.

“This is what we want. We want to face this kind of offense,” Earl said. “We don’t want to take the easy way. If it’s easy, you shouldn’t do it. We’re going to have fun, whether it’s the Super Bowl or practice. It’s the same to us.”

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All eyes will be on Denver quarterback Peyton Manning and the Broncos’ air attack against the Seahawks’ critically acclaimed Legion of Boom secondary.

Passes from Manning, the 2013 NFL MVP and Offensive Player of the Year, will be venturing into a defensive backfield that features three All-Pro players. Strong safety Kam Chancellor draws attention from the bone-jarring hits he delivers every game without fail, while cornerback Richard Sherman is regarded as the league’s best cover man.

However, as ESPN.com’s Jeffri Chadiha wrote this week, the LOB is led by ET back in center field:

“The 24-year-old Thomas is so essential to the Seahawks defense for one simple reason: He can do all the things that make life easier for players like Sherman. Thomas is fast enough to break up passes all over the field. He is tough enough — despite being the smallest member of the Seattle secondary at 5-foot-10 and 202 pounds — to bang with bigger running backs around the line of scrimmage (as his 105 tackles this season suggest).”

Sherman, the most famous member of the group, would agree. The Stanford product praised Earl’s work ethic, which allows him to act as the brains of the operation.

“I think Earl Thomas might have one of the highest football IQs I’ve ever heard of, and he studies the game to a T,” Sherman said. “He studies it day, night, night and day. In the morning, at night – he’s probably studying it right now.”

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Seattle defensive coordinator Dan Quinn also spoke of Earl’s work ethic this week as the driving force behind the fourth-year safety’s success:

“One of the things that I regard in quarterbacks, a lot, is that mental quickness,” Quinn said. “They know where to go with the ball or they know what to do in a certain situation. I think as a defensive player, he’s totally put the time in to put himself into that position, based on a formation, a split or an alert. I’ve said it before, when he was first here in the offseason, I would walk down the hall and there would be a light in the DB meeting room. I generally had a sense of who was in there, probably watching tape. It was Earl. You can feel that drive from him, the constant film study, that he really wants to attack it and be as good as he can be. That’s one of the things I admire most about him. He’s fast, he has a great skill set, but really, there’s this other side of him from off the field that he wants to be great. He really works at it hard.”

The onus will be heavily on No. 29, as he’ll look to halt another known student of the game. Denver’s Manning, fresh off earning his fifth MVP award, is famous for his preparation, as well as his in-game adjustments. However, Earl made it clear this week that he won’t be worried about Manning’s pre-snap checks. Instead, he’ll trust his own preparation and just play.

“First, I don’t think we’re everybody else. We just need to be normal, be ourselves. We play fearless and confident, and when you play in the absence of fear, I think you’re going to play your best ball,” ET III said. “That’s why practice is so important and walk-throughs are so important because that’s really when you get your muscle memory down and stuff like that and your game plan together. When you get out there, and it’s game time, let it rip.”

The statistical averages posted by Denver’s offense and Seattle’s defense are staggering. The Seahawks allowed just 273.6 total yards per game, while no other defense allowed less than 300 on average. Meanwhile, the Broncos tallied 457.3 total yards—making a difference of 183.7 yards.

Seattle allowed just 172 of those yards through the air, while 340.2 yards of Denver’s average offense came by pass. Manning threw just 10 interceptions in the regular season, one of the league’s lowest totals, while the LOB brought in a league-high 28 picks.

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ET admitted earlier this week that he has dreamt of hauling in a game-winning pick-six on Sunday—but he also was adamant that he can’t be caught overextending to make that kind of play.

“A pick-six, obviously. That’s a defensive back’s dream,” Earl said. “But honestly, just doing everything right in your job, just owning your role because everybody has a role, no matter if you’re an impact player or a practice squad or the cafeteria people.

“Everyone has a role, and we know that. We’re just going to own it, be normal, be us, attention to the details, and that’s how we separate from everybody else.”

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Seattle has already separated itself from 30 other teams in the league, and only one remains. The Seahawks will enter the game as slight underdogs, but Earl said this week that his team is built to succeed on the sport’s biggest stage.

“Football is always football at the end of the day. We’re just excited to show who we are. This is a great stage; this is a great setting. It’s just us. Everybody’s gets to watch us. And I always like our chances, especially on this type of stage.”

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