Santa Clara, Calif. – Defense. Wins. Championships.
The Denver Broncos are bringing the Lombardi trophy back to the Mile High City after defeating the Carolina Panthers 24-10 in Super Bowl 50.
As is tradition for this edition of the Denver Broncos, it wasn’t pretty, the offense didn’t score a touchdown until the 3:08 mark of the fourth quarter, but Super Bowl MVP Von Miller and the vaunted defense led the way. Cam Newton might as well have been Issac Newton on the field, rendered completely ineffective by the Broncos pass rush.
Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware, Derek Wolfe, Malik Jackson, Shane Ray, Shaq Barret, you name ’em, they were in Newton’s face. The Broncos sacked Newton seven times in what may have been the most dominant defensive Super Bowl performance of all-time.
The Broncos opened up the scoring with a field goal on their first drive, then after both teams exchanged punts the true headliners of the show took the stage. On third-and-10 from the 15-yard line, Newton took the snap — in the blink of an eye Von Miller tore around the outside smashing the NFL MVP and ripping the ball out of his hands, after skipping around for a second Malik Jackson dove on the ball in the end zone giving the Broncos a 10-0 lead.
It was only the beginning of the turnover party for the Broncos. A Mike Tolbert fumble forced by Darian Stewart, A T.J. Ward interception, another Von Miller strip sack, any time the Panthers got something going, got some momentum, the Broncos defense took the ball out of their hands.
Despite the dominance, the offense wasn’t able to pull away — unable to sustain drives, generate first downs or do anything really. It was the only thing that kept the game interesting and it got much more interesting than anybody in orange and blue would have ever hoped. With a field goal early in the fourth quarter, the Panthers brought the game within six points and the Broncos went into the full-on prevent offense, handing the ball off consistently, drawing time off of the clock and putting the game into the hands of their historically legendary defense.
They came through.
With just over four minutes on the clock, the ball went back to Newton, with a chance to orchestrate a game-winning drive. Once again, the man who Newton will see in his nightmares for years to come took things into his own hands. Miller ripped around the edge once again and as Newton loaded up to launch, the Broncos ace pass-rusher stuck his paw out and stripped the ball. T.J. Ward scooped it up and three plays later the Broncos were in the end zone effectively putting the game away.
DeMarcus ware added another sack of Newton for good measure and the Black & Blue decided to ice their bruises, waving the white flag and punting the ball away deep in their own territory with two minutes left.
The Gatorade was poured on head coach Gary Kubiak, the clock struck zeroes and orange confetti covered the sky like a mile high blizzard. The Denver Broncos, Super Bowl Champions.
“This one’s for Pat!” Exclaimed John Elway of Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, Lombardi trophy in hand.
This one’s for Pat.
"This one's for Pat!" pic.twitter.com/3GLJi8GNwa
— DNVR Broncos (@DNVR_Broncos) February 8, 2016
