For the third time, the city of Denver is celebrating a Super Bowl victory after the Broncos shocked the NFL world to win the Lombardi Trophy 24-10 in Santa Clara.
The win, against the odds and experts’ predictions, will likely send legendary quarterback Peyton Manning into retirement on the back of his second Super Bowl victory.
Yet it was largely delivered by the defence and MVP Von Miller, whose two takeaways from Cam Newton resulted in both of Denver’s touchdowns.
In the spirit of takeaways, mine from the day were:
Defence wins titles
Never before has there been a bigger illustration of the old adage that defence wins championships. From the pass rush led by Miller and DeMarcus Ware, to the secondary and the defensive line, the Broncos’ D thoroughly dominated this game.
In a copycat league, teams will no doubt now follow this formula. Look for linebackers to be snapped up in the upcoming free agency and draft periods.
Carolina and Newton will be better for this
Just two years ago, Denver went into the Super Bowl with the best offence and were smacked by the best defence, from Seattle. Adjustments were made and the result came.
Carolina need to likewise, and their intelligent front office and coaching staff will do just that.
Newton will come back better for the experience, with motivation to prove the doubters wrong.
Manning goes out a deserved winner
I wrote in my preview that if Denver won, an unescapable irony would be that after being the man almost all his career, Manning would be a bit-part player in this one.
And so it proved.
A quarterback rating of under ten and one of the worst playoffs ever by a starting quarterback is all forgotten, as Manning rides off into the sunset with a second Super Bowl, a 2-2 record in Super Bowls, a 200th win as a starter (breaking Brett Favre’s record) and a winning playoff record.
Surely this is the last we have seen of this great player?
Pre-game MVP parade was fantastic
Pre-game doesn’t need to be complicated. The parade of winners from all 50 MVPs was a great trip down memory lane, particularly for someone who grew up in a place where the Super Bowl was mostly the only live game available all year.
It’s seven long months until next season
Yes, we have free agency, the draft, training camps, preseason games and fantasy drafts to come, but nothing beats the real thing. It will be a long time until Week 1 of the 2016 season.
Australia needs to stop comparing the Super Bowl to our grand finals
The NFL is the biggest sporting league in the world, with almost endless resources at its disposal. Entertainment and razzmatazz is American culture.
People telling the AFL and NRL to take note, as ‘this is how it is done’ need to stop.
Chris Meister
Roar Guru
Thanks Paddy been a busy few months for me but should be writing more now. Going to be interesting to see how the Panthers react. Its not easy to get back there, for instance Dan Marino got there in his 2nd year, lost and never made it back.
Patrick Effeney
Editor
Good to see you back Chris, and enjoyed your piece in the lead-up to the big one too. I'm always curious about Super Bowl losers... Newton's young, but that was a tough one to lose.