For the third time the city of Denver is celebrating a Super Bowl victory after the Denver Broncos shocked the NFL world to win the Lombardi Trophy 24-10 in Santa Clara.
The win, against all the odds and experts predictions, which will likely send legendary quarterback Peyton Manning into retirement on the back of his second Super Bowl victory, was largely delivered by the defence and MVP Von Miller, who’s two takeaways from Cam Newton resulted in Denver’s two 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 (& 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 will have to likewise and their extremely 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 no more than a bit part player in this one. And so it proved. A QB rating of under 10 and one of the worst playoffs ever by a starting quarterback is all forgotten as Manning rides off into the sunset with a 2nd 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 MVP’s 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, pre-season 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 comes around.
Australia needs to stop comparing the Super Bowl to the AFL/NRL 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/NRL to take note as “this is how it is done” need to stop.
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