And here most thought coming into this one that it would be the Peyton Manning and Cam Newton show.
It turned out the Denver Broncos top-ranked defense stole both of their thunder this evening in Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA.
Quarterback Peyton Manning did became the oldest quarterback to win a Super Bowl title in what could be the final game of a storied NFL career. He was also the first player to do so with two different franchises.
But this one won’t be remembered as the game Peyton Manning won single-handily.
“It is very special,” Manning said. “This game was like this season has been. It tested our toughness, our resilience and our unselfishness. It’s only fitting it turned out that way. A great bunch of teammates, a great bunch of guys to play with. I feel very grateful.”
Manning finished the night just 13 of 23 for 141 yards and an interception.
It certainly wasn’t vintage Peyton by any stretch of the imagination.
But the Broncos didn’t need that today.
The defense completely took over and made the Most Valuable Player in the league look like just an ordinary quarterback.
The strong effort was led by Super Bowl MVP Von Miller, who finished the night with six tackles, 2.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, two hurries and a pass defended.
His first quarter sack-strip of Newton was scooped up in the end zone by Malik Jackson to put the Broncos up 10-0.
Denver wouldn’t look back for the rest of the night.
“We’ve just been the same group of guys that we’ve been all year long,” Miller said after the victory. “We haven’t really paid attention to the underdog talk, this talk or that talk. We know what type of team we are. We know what type of game we can play. We just focused around that. Enjoy the moment. I enjoyed being around my guys, spending hours and hours with those guys everyday this week. We really didn’t pay attention to [the outside] stuff. We just played our game.”
The defense forced three total turnovers and seven sacks (tying a Super Bowl record), not allowing the Panthers to ever truly get into a rhythm.
“You don’t have to say anything to [that defense],” Manning added. “Like I said, I had a chance, I was up there with Von (Miller) up on stage, I told him, ‘Just let me have a ride in that car every now and then,’ I’m so proud of him. I told the guys that I was, I had great thoughts about what was going to happen and I kind of thought Von and DeMarcus (Ware) and (Aqib) Talib and Chris (Harris Jr.) might split the MVP and also have to split a car. The four of them riding in an MVP car together is a great vision for me. But Von earned it; he’s been awesome. I’m just glad that I was on the same team as our defense and I don’t have to play against them.”
Newton, who was harassed by the strong Denver rush all evening, finished the day just 18 of 41 (43.9 percent) for 265 yards and an interception.
He didn’t throw a touchdown pass all game, and finished with a passer rating of 55.4.
“They just played better than us,” a frustrated Newton said after the game. “I don’t know what you want me to say. They made more plays than us, and that’s what it came down to. We had our opportunities. There wasn’t nothing special that they did. We dropped balls. We turned the ball over, gave up sacks, threw errant passes. That’s it. They scored more points than we did.”
“Well, obviously, Cam (Newton_ was the focus of our plan but we played our defense,” Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips said. “We played things and we played well. We knew we had to get some rush on the guy. We talked about containing him but you know when you’ve got DeMarcus (Ware) and Von (Miller), you’ve got to let those guys go and know other guys will make up for it. We tried to let them go and they did a great job.”
“You just have to give it to all the guys,” Ware said. “All the guys this whole season; they put in a lot. This was an opportunity for us, just to seize it. We really talked about it when we were in the locker room, saying it’s there for our taking. It’s the team that has the most faith going out there that’s going to win it.”
The Broncos got the ball first and quarterback Peyton Manning led what looked to be a promising opening drive, completing four of six passes for 47 yards.
The drive eventually stalled out in the red zone, with Brandon McMannus converting a 34-yard field goal to put the Broncos up first, 3-0.
The teams traded three and outs, before the game-changing defense of the Broncos showed up.
Von Miller broke through the line and hit Cam Newton hard as he stepped up to throw, forcing a fumble.
Malik Jackson scooped it up in the end zone for a Broncos touchdown, putting Denver up 10-0.
Carolina got back in it with their first drive of the second quarter.
Newton helped lead the Panthers on a nine-play, 73-yard drive that ended with a leaping one-yard touchdown from running back Jonathan Stewart.
The teams once again traded three-and-outs before Jordan Norwood took a punt return 61 yards to set the Broncos up inside the 15-yard line.
Denver cashed in with another McMannus field goal, this time from 33-yards out to push the lead to 13-7.
What looked like a promising drive to open up the second half for the Panthers was for naught, after kicker Graham Gano pushed a 44-yard field goal attempt wide right.
The Broncos took the momentum and on their next possession added another Brandon McManus field goal from 30 yards out to improve their lead to 16-7.
The Panthers started off the fourth quarter strong as well, forcing a Peyton Manning fumble on a Kony Ealy sack.
Once again, Carolina wasn’t able to truly take advantage, ending the drive with a 39-yard field goal by Gano to cut the lead to 16-10.
The teams took turns not doing much of anything before Miller broke free again, forcing another Newton fumble on a sack that was recovered by safety T.J. Ward on the Panther’s nine-yard line.
This is when the Broncos truly put the game away off of a two-yard touchdown run by C.J. Anderson.
Manning hit Bennie Fowler in the end zone on the two-point conversation to put Denver up for good, 24-10.
“I’m just so proud of our team,” head coach Gary Kubiak said. “That’s the kind of games we’ve been winning all year. It was tough offensively but defensively we were tremendous. On special teams, we played great. It was just another grind-it-out win.”
So after winning the Super Bowl trophy there was really just one question left to answer.
Is this indeed the end for future Hall of Famer Manning?
“You know, I’ll take some time to reflect. I have a couple of priorites first. I want to go kiss my wife and my kids, I want to go hug my family. I’m going to drink a lot of Budweiser tonight. I promise you that,”
“I’m going to take care of those things first, and say a little prayer to thank the man upstairs for this great opportunity. I’m just very grateful.”
