Von Miller was the star of the show, giving league MVP Cam Newton a night to forget, and forcing two massive game-changing turnovers
Denver pulled off a stunning upset to beat Carolina and win Super Bowl 50.
The
league-leading Panthers were heavy favourites coming in but were
strangled within an inch of their lives by a stifling Broncos defense in
a 24-10 loss.Von Miller was the star of the show, giving league MVP Cam Newton a night to forget, and forcing two massive game-changing turnovers on his way to the MVP award.
CJ Anderson rushed over for the gamebreaker late in the fourth as Peyton Manning sealed a second title in his final game of a Hall of Fame career.
Here are 5 things we learned:
Defenses win championships
This one was supposed to be a battle of quarterbacks. Young vs old. Veteran vs pretender. Legend vs league MVP.Instead it was a bruising and brutal affair where two league-leading defenses took over the game from minute one.
No team had ever won a Super Bowl without scoring an offensive TD. But it very nearly happened tonight, with CJ Anderson's late score denying history at the last.
It was old fashioned, smash you in the mouth football. No quarter was asked or given. Just the way it should be with all the marbles in play.
Denver safety Darian Stewart appeared to be all over the field making plays while Carolina star Luke
Kuechly brought his A-game to Santa Clara too posing a menacing threat down in, down out.
Von Miller’s lightning burst of speed to set up the first touchdown was what we have come to expect of the
Denver linebacker and typified why he's one of the best defenders in the game.
Speaking of which ...
Von Miller should get paid big time
If reports in the US are to be believed then Miller wants to eclipse JJ Watt as the NFL's highest-paid defensive player.And on the evidence of Super Bowl 50 then he definitely should. Period.
Miller took over the game and gave Newton no time whatsoever to go through his reads, something that has been the key behind his surge to the top of the game this season.
Miller is a game-wrecker, an exocet off the edge who never comes off the field. When Cam was taken #1 in 2011, Miller was taken #2.
Decent pair of picks, those. And now he's a Super Bowl champion and MVP.
Ball security is king
The Panthers' fundamentals brought them all the way to the dance but deserted them in the season's biggest game.Jonathan Stewart, Mike Tolbert and even Cam himself coughed up the football in very un-Carolina manner.
Perhaps the occasion got to them. Perhaps the Denver D is just that good. Either way it contributed to a sloppy offensive outing where Newton and his variety of weapons just never got going.
The regular season means nothing
They were the best team in football led by the best player in football and they were seemingly destined to win it all at a canter.
Except football doesn't work that way. The Panthers came in peacocking and left with their wings clipped.
History is written by the winners. And despite all their achievements in 2015/16, Carolina will likely be forgotten. Such is the game.
Peyton got his fairytale
While he refused to say so officially it's hard to envision a scenario where that wasn't the last time we see Peyton Manning on a football field.Just as the man who brought him to Denver, John Elway, did way back when Peyton can now ride off into the sunset a Super Bowl winner.
It doesn't get any sweeter than that.
After a season where his powers waned to such a degree he was benched for a back-up, to come back and win it all is truly remarkable.
The best regular season quarterback of all time goes out with a second title. A great story and only fitting for one of the greatest we've ever seen.
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