Thanks to Super Bowl MVP Von Miller and the Orange Rush, Peyton Manning can go out on top. That’s more than Pro Bowl tight end Greg Olsen could say after the Broncos’ defense made Newton’s season-long security blanket all but invisible.
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Actually, Rivera ordered a punt.
He said after the game that he would “take some time to reflect”, which basically means he’ll say it when he’s ready and not before.
Denver was the 12th team to bring the NFL’s top-ranked defense to the Super Bowl, and 10 times the top-ranked defense has won. Carolina recovered a fumble on Kony Ealy’s strip sack of Peyton Manning, possibly playing the final game of a Hall of Fame career, gave the Panthers a short field and set up Graham Gano’s 39-yard field goal to cut Denver’s lead to 16-10. It would be hard to watch No. 18 take the field again after a performance that exposed him as an aging quarterback hanging on for one final moment of glory.
Not that it mattered.
He wasn’t the star – game MVP Miller seemingly was everywhere on every Carolina play – but Manning really hasn’t been the headliner in this injury-shortened season.
They scored when Manning couldn’t.
Newton was sacked six times – receiver Ted Ginn Jr., went down once on an aborted trick play – and if Miller wasn’t torturing him, DeMarcus Ware was. They kept getting the ball back, even if Manning and the offense didn’t seem to know what to do when they got it.
Carolina’s potent offence that led the league with 500 points was held to their fewest points of the year, and Denver set an ignominious mark with 194 yards gained, the fewest for a Super Bowl victor.
“This game was much like this season has been, testing our toughness, our resiliency, our unselfishness”, Manning said.
“It’s only fitting that it turned out that way”. A great bunch of teammates, a great bunch of guys to play with.
“I feel very, very grateful….”
Manning was 13 of 23 for 141 yards and one interception. The loose ball was recovered by his team-mate, Malik Johnson, to score a defensive touchdown and put the Broncos out to a 10-0 lead.
With less than three minutes remaining, Newton was knocked down in the end zone and screamed at an official looking for a late hit but didn’t get one. Ware had two of the seven sacks, equaling the most ever by one team in the Super Bowl.
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Elway told Manning he would do “everything in my power”, to help him close out his career with a championship.
