No.9 Von Miler and Peyton win the 50th Super Bowl

What a way to cap a career

Hey, all it's number 9 on my countdown, and it was a unique Super Bowl seeing as it was the 50th edition. The two teams were the 2-time champion Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers appearing in their second Super Bowl. It was in Santa Clara California, the new home to the San Francisco 49ers, and it was a battle between the number one offence and the number one defence.

Manning calling plays at the line

The Denver Broncos returned two years after the horror show at Super Bowl 48 when despite having the number one offence they were demolished 43-8 by the Seattle Seahawks. To help out that offence General Manager and former Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway spent the 2014 offseason spending money on defence. The result was bringing in 3 prominent name defenders in defensive end DeMarcus Ware from the Cowboys, cornerback Aquib Talib and Safety T.J Ward while giving quarterback Peyton Manning a new receiver in the form of Emmanuel Sanders from the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Broncos returned to the playoffs in 2014 but were eliminated by Manning's former team the Indianapolis Colts. This led Elway to replace then Head Coach John Fox to bring in former offensive coordinator, head coach of the Texans and Elway's old backup Gary Kubiak. Kubiak decided to install a run-orientated offence (more run plays than pass plays), to let the pressure off Peyton and give the Bronco's a running game to make opponents pick which poison to deal with either Manning's arm or their running backs.

However, Manning, aged 39 was starting to show wear and tear as he suffered an injury during the summer which was affecting him, despite winning the first seven games he had the most interceptions of all quarterbacks. In week 10, after breaking the record for all-time passing yards, he tore a muscle in his left foot which was his plant foot for whenever he threw. After throwing 4 interceptions, he was benched for Brock Osweiler. Osweiler got them into the playoffs, but as the Broncos were fighting for the home-field advantage, they put Peyton in the last game of the season and Manning led them to a 27-20 win over the San Diego Chargers which gave them home-field advantage in the playoffs.

Meanwhile, Carolina came back 12 years after their last appearance, and it had been all change since 2011. In 2011 the Panthers spent their first-round pick in getting Cam Newton with the number one pick overall. They did make a couple of playoffs since including winning the NFC South in 2014 despite being 7-8-1. In 2015 they had their best-ever regular season with a 15-1 record. They even had 10 players go to the Pro Bowl.

The Panthers' playoff run had 2 home games with a visit from the Seattle Seahawks, and they defeated the NFC representatives in the last 2 Super Bowls 31-24. In the NFC championship, they beat the Arizona Cardinals 49-15. Meanwhile, the Broncos took on the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first game and came back from 12-16 to 23-16 in the final 3 minutes. The next week in the AFC Championship the Broncos defeated the Patriots 20-18 in the final Peyton vs Brady match ever.

Greg Olson stiff-arming, his tackler

The Broncos came in with the number 1 ranked defence in yards allowed and 4th in points allowed. Derrick Wolfe and Malik Jackson had 5½ sacks each. The leader, however, was fellow linebacker Von Miller himself had 11 sacks forced 4 fumbles and recovered and 3 fumbles. Ware in his 9th Pro Bowl selection had 7 1/2 sacks himself. The leading tackler was Brandon Marshall with 107. Both cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Chris Harris had 5 interceptions between them as well. While the defence was excellent, the offence was average with Manning have his worst season since his rookie season throwing for 2,249 yards and 9 touchdowns with 17 interceptions. Receivers Demaryius Thomas and Sanders both had 1000, yard receiving seasons and 12 combined touchdowns. Both running backs C.J Anderson and Ronnie Hillman nearly had 1000 yard rushing seasons and had 12 combined touchdowns.

Cam was the 2015 MVP

The Panther came in with the number one offence. They had the highest-scoring attack with 500 points. Quarterback Cam Newton threw for 3,837 yards and rushed for 636 yards and scored 45 combined touchdowns (35 passing and 10 rushing) and only 10 interceptions. His leading receiver was Tight End, Greg Olson, with 1000 yard season from 77 catches followed by Ted Ginn Jr with 739 yards and 10 touchdowns from 44 catches. Their backfield had a combined 1000 yards rushing with Pro Bowl running back Jonathon Stewart and Pro Bowl fullback Mike Tolbert. 

Meanwhile, their defence was 6th in the league in points allowed with 308 points. They also led the league in interceptions with 24 and had 5 Pro Bowlers on defence. One of them Defensive End Kawann Short led the team in sacks with 11, the fellow lineman had 6 and a half sacks. They also had a future Hall of Famer in Jared Allen on the line with the most sacks as an active player at the time with 136. Behind the line, they had two linebackers that were going into the Pro Bowl in Luke Keuchley and Thomas Davies. Keuchley led the team in tackles with 118, 2 forced fumbles and intercepted 4 passes, while Davies had 5 and a half sacks 4 forced fumbles and 4 interceptions. The secondary had Pro Bowl safety Kurt Coleman with 7 interceptions and 88 tackles while Josh Norman became the top shutdown corner and intercepted 4 passes and returned two of them for touchdowns.

Going into the game, the main worry for the Panther was that Davies left the NFC Championship with a broken arm, but he said he would find a way and luckily with a two-week break he actually had time to let it recover. The main question on the lips about the Broncos were is it Manning's last game in his career. The Broncos also said that despite being the home team and allowing the choice to wear their home kit they went with their away kit because their orange home kit in Super Bowls record is 0-4. This forced the Panthers to wear their home kit which caught some of the media off-guard.

Miller sacking Newton

Before kickoff, seeing as it was the 50th Super Bowl, they brought out the MVPs from the previous 49 Super Bowls. The first quarter set the tone for the match. As the Broncos drove down the field to kick a 34-yard field goal from Brandon McManus with the highlights being Manning throwing two passes of 18 and 22 yards to Owen Daniels and Andre Caldwell along with a pair of carries from Anderson to take the Broncos to Carolina's 14-yard line. On Carolina's second drive they thought they had a 24 yard completed pass however on review it was overturned, controversially as the broadcasters rules expert said it should have stood. Two plays later Von Miller while sacking Newton knocked the ball loose, and Malik Jackson recovered it and ran in for the touchdown and gave them a 10-0 lead.

RB Jonathon Stewart leaping in for Carolina's touchdown

Carolina started the second quarter with a touchdown drive of their own going 73 yards in 9 plays. The highlights of the drive were Newton showing off his MVP form with 4 completions for 51 yards and 2 runs for 25 yards. This put the game back to 10-7. However later on in the quarter in an error of judgement by the Panthers special teams Broncos Punt Returner Jordan Norwood with no resistance ran 61 yards before being tackled on Carolina's 14-yard line. The reason why they didn't was that they believed Norwood had signalled for a fair catch which means catching a punt without tackling him. However, Carolina's defence held firm and forced the Broncos to kick a field goal to make it 13-7. The rest of the quarter was defence play as Mike Tolbert fumbled the football giving it to the Broncos then Manning had a pass intercepted by Kony Ealy then to end the half, Demarcus Ware sacked Newton.

Coldplay, Bruno Mars and Beyonce perform halftime Show.

Carolina thought they had the lead sorted at the start of the third quarter as Newton threw a 45-yard pass to Ginn. However, the Broncos held them to a field goal on the 26-yard line, and their kicker missed the attempt hitting the upright. Manning then drove the Broco's to another field goal after throwing two passes to Demaryius Thomas for 25 and 22 yards, McManus then kicked it to make 16-7. Carolina then decided to go for it being 9 points down with little time left on the clock, however, after throwing a 42-yard pass to Corey Brown Newton threw a pass to Ginn which .bounced off his hands into TJ Wards.  After that, it was a quiet third quarter.

LB Danny Trevathan recovering a fumble

In the 4th quarter as the Broncos were going down the pitch Manning was sack-fumbled, and the Panthers recovered and made the Broncos pay after Devin Funchess, and Jonathon Stewart got the Panthers in kicking range for Graham Gano to make it 16-10.  After 3 consecutive punts, Newton had 5 minutes to go and win the game. However, on third down and 9 Miller fumbled Newton again and TJ ward recovered it. After Josh Norman made a penalty which gave Denver a fresh set of downs and Denver made them pay with a touchdown by Anderson and converting a 2-point play to make it 24-10. That essentially ended the game. Von Miller was named MVP of the game with 6 tackles, 2 and a half sacks and 2 fumbles. 2 of the sports legends Manning and Jared Allen retired in the weeks after.

Manning himself completed 13 passes but had 1 interception 1 fumble and was sacked 5 times. Sanders was his top receiver with 6 catches for 83 yards, and Anderson was the leading rusher with 100 total yards and a touchdown. On defence, Demarcus Ware finished with 5 tackles and 2 sacks. TJ Ward had 7 tackles and a fumble recovery and an interception.

If you thought Manning had a bad day Cam Newton had a worse day. 18 completions from 41 attempts for 265 yards 1 interception 2 fumbles and 6 sacks. However, he led the team in rushing with 80 yards. Corey Brown was leading receiver with 80 yards from 4 catches. Kony Ealy was the leading defender with 4 tackles 3 sacks a fumble and an interception.

Even though it wasn't the most entertaining match, the Super Bowl is up there as it was a game that you couldn't keep your eye off at the time because of how close the score was. That's all, for now, I'll be back with another Super Bowl on this countdown back soon.

KRO Mark.