The NFL’s 50th Super Bowl between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers is memorable for a lot of reasons. If things go as we think they will, this game is the final one in the brilliant career of Peyton Manning, who will go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks who ever played the game and was able to go out on top in a 24-10 Broncos win.
It may also be remembered for the epic meltdown of the quarterback who played on the other side of the field in Cam Newton. After the season that he and his teammates put together, to go out the way they did was incredibly unfortunate.
But more than any of those things, the Denver Broncos defense put their stamp on this game; they showed the world that even in this era of high-scoring, run-and-gun, spread offenses, the old notion remains: defense still wins championships.
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In a game that featured the highest-ranked scoring offense in the NFL (Carolina) against the highest-ranked overall defense (Denver), it was the top defense that prevailed.
The Broncos’ defensive front, which led the regular season in sacks with 52, was at it again. They absolutely terrorized Newton and his offensive line by getting to the fourth-year quarterback seven times and knocking him down a total of 13 times (if it wasn’t for Newton’s strength and elusiveness that sack total would have been in double-digits).
Von Miller, taken second overall in the 2011 draft behind Newton, led the way. He registered 2.5 sacks on six tackles, and he also recorded two forced fumbles that set up Denver’s only touchdowns of the game (one defensively and the other set up the game-sealing touchdown by the offense). For his efforts, Miller became just the third defensive Super Bowl MVP in the last 15 seasons.
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Miller certainly was not alone; Denver sacked Newton seven times and the Carolina offense gave the ball away four times. On top of that, the number one scoring defense held Carolina to just one touchdown. This was the same Carolina team that averaged 39 points per game in the postseason and just over 30 a game during their sixteen regular season games.
What we saw was a tremendous team effort by this group of individuals, but it was nothing new. The defense has been Denver’s strength all season long and the Super Bowl was just the icing on the cake.
The Broncos endured so much turmoil on the offensive side of the ball in 2015 that what their defense was able to carry out was even more impressive.
Arguments will be made that this year’s Super Bowl-winning team boasted the worst offense since the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, if not ever. Peyton Manning missed six games due to injury but even in the games he played in, it was clear that Father Time had finally caught up to him.
He threw 17 interceptions and a career-low nine touchdowns, and he struggled with accuracy on an unprecedented level. It was no secret we were witnessing an era come to an end before our eyes, especially in Week 10 when Manning was benched in favor of Brock Osweiler, the fifth-year backup many believe is the heir to his football throne.
Osweiler’s play was not any more convincing than that of Peyton’s, and at one point in the season it looked as if the sky was falling and Denver wouldn’t even make the playoffs. But despite all this trouble on the offensive side of the ball, the Broncos started the year 7-0 and finished the season as the AFC’s top seed, securing home-field advantage.
How in this pass-happy era did they accomplish this? A dominant defense.
The defense was good from top to bottom. They were built like the Seattle Seahawks in the way they had so much depth; they could rotate a ton of bodies in at almost every position.
Denver did not give up many points (only 18 a game), and there were even two games this season where Denver won without scoring an offensive touchdown (they nearly did that again in the Super Bowl). The defense scored several times this year and when they weren’t putting points on the board, they stopped offenses from doing much of anything.
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It started up front with Miller and Ware, but on the back end, All-Pro corners Aqib Talib and Chris Harris, as well as safety TJ Ward, were all enforcers and have played incredible ball since they’ve arrived in Denver.
But role guys like defensive tackle Derek Wolfe and defensive backs Bradley Roby and David Bruton more than picked up the slack and made things even easier for the star players. The whole defense really worked as one unit and jelled well under defensive coordinator and 2015 Assistant Coach of the Year Wade Phillips and it was a beautiful sight to see (unless you were any of their opponents).
They made a conscious effort to not allow the offense’s struggles stop them from achieving greatness, and in the Super Bowl it wasn’t any different. As was the case all year, the offense could not get anything done. They turned the ball over twice and Manning was himself sacked three times and fumbled away the ball once.
Had the Panthers won, it’s highly likely that defensive end Kony Ealy would have been Super Bowl MVP as his performance was just as good as Miller’s, if not better. He registered three sacks, an interception and a forced fumble that helped set up a Panthers field goal.
However, the Broncos’ defense more than made up for Manning’s struggles by scoring another defensive touchdown and continually forcing opportune turnovers every time it looked as if Carolina was getting into a rhythm. The defense’s impact was felt beyond the box score, as well; they got into Carolina’s heads so badly that they forced a barrage of pre-snap penalties (false starts and the like) as well. They physically and psychologically owned their opponent Sunday night, and because of it they were able to send Manning off into the sunset with some shiny new hardware.
I guess it is true what they say. Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships. In 2015, defense definitely won Denver a championship and just maybe, they might have sold a few tickets too.
