Photo credit: David Yu (Flickr)
Super Bowl 50 has finished and another entertaining NFL season has come to an end. We had many memorable moments in this historic game, such as Lady Gaga singing the national anthem to start off the game. In addition, they showed all 50 Super Bowl MVPs together to celebrate their achievements throughout all of these years. Later on, Coldplay, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars hosted the halftime show, which made headlines all over the world. With all of the huge headlines making the papers and taking over the media, the game itself was interesting to watch.
The game was mostly a defensive battle that held the offense to little yardage and made it incredibly difficult to move the ball. On the offensive end, both teams struggled time and time again to score. The Broncos’ defense came to play, while the Panthers’ offense thought they could skate by like they did in the NFC championship game against the Arizona Cardinals.
The Panthers’ offense played their worst game of the season by putting up their least amount of points and yardage. Cam Newton, running back Jonathan Stewart and the offensive line had their worst performance of the season and it seemed they weren’t as driven as the Broncos to win this game.
The Panthers’ defense put up a strong showing and competed at a high level. The Broncos’ offense also struggled but they ran the ball efficiently, constantly fighting for first downs and extra yards.
The Broncos started the first quarter by marching downfield for a field goal. Newton felt the pressure from the first drive and rushed his passes. On a third-and-10, Newton was rushed by linebacker Von Miller, which forced a fumble. The ball was recovered by defensive end Malik Jackson for a touchdown to go up 10-0. Von Miller’s name was mentioned repeatedly, since he was such a major contributing factor in the game.
During the second quarter, the Panthers started moving the ball through their rushing game. Newton connected to tight end Greg Olsen for a big gain to put them in the red zone. Moments later, Stewart pounded it in for a big touchdown to make the score 10-7. The Broncos then regained possession and quarterback Peyton Manning threw an interception. Luckily for him, it didn’t affect that quarter and the Broncos regained possession once again.
The Panthers struggled yet again on their third down conversions which resulted in the Broncos kicking two more field goals by kicker Brandon McManus. Near the end of the third quarter, Newton threw another interception into the Broncos’ secondary, which helped the Broncos with time of possession and keeping the ball away from the dangerous Panthers’ offense.
Manning was finally passing well and moving the ball to the opposing end zone when defensive end Kony Ealy forced a fumble, which put the ball in Newton’s hands. Panthers kicker Graham Gano converted a field goal, which made the score 16-10.
The Panthers regained possession after a great defensive hold and Miller forced another fumble, which the defense recovered. On the ensuing drive, the Broncos’ running back C.J. Anderson had an amazing run up the middle to score a touchdown to make the score 22-10. Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak decided on going for a two-point conversion in order to take a two-possession lead with three minutes remaining. Manning threw his best pass of the game when he tossed one over the middle to go up 24-10.
With one final chance to score, Broncos defensive end Derek Wolfe pressured Newton and disrupted another pass. Miller forced a turnover on downs with the final tackle of the game. At the end of the game, the Broncos would hold up the Lombardi trophy and rejoice in the traditional Gatorade bath in a 24-10 victory. Miller won the Super Bowl MVP and the Denver Broncos are bringing back the Vince Lombardi Trophy back to Colorado.
