SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Von Miller leaned through the mass of reporters and photographers, angling his body to his cubicle in the back of the locker room. It was his most difficult path of resistance here Sunday night.
Miller and the Orange Rush attacked the Carolina Panthers with breathtaking ferocity, tired of hearing about their quarterback, Cam Newton, tired of seeing their dancing moves, exhausted by a perceived lack of respect.
When Miller reached the corner, a call came out, “Von, turn the music on. It’s time to celebrate!”
The Broncos smothered the Panthers, 24-10, in Super Bowl 50, gold confetti cascading onto Levi’s Stadium at the end of one of the most dominant defensive performances in the game’s history. For all the importance of Peyton Manning’s likely final game — he will take time to make up his mind — Miller and the Orange Rush broke the Panthers’ will and their hearts.
“This is magical,” Miller said. “It’s something you dream about.”
It’s time to party like it’s 1999, Broncos fans. Denver owns its third championship, and its most unlikely since John Elway guided the Broncos to a 31-24 upset of Green Bay. That snapshot exists forever as owner Pat Bowlen stood on the podium and gave credit to Elway. Eighteen years later, Elway returned the favor.
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“This one’s for Pat,” the general manager said of the team’s longtime owner who is at home resting and fighting the effects of Alzheimer’s.
Irony dripped throughout the victory. On a team constructed by a quarterback, coached by a quarterback and known for a quarterback, the Broncos defense delivered a breathtaking performance.
Miller was a lightning bolt, racing around Carolina’s tackles. He finished with 2.5 sacks and most valuable player honors, catapulting him into an offseason where he’s in line to become the league’s highest-paid defensive player.
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Miller’s rage symbolizes a Denver team that had grown weary of praise for league MVP Cam Newton. The Broncos held the Panthers to a season-low 10 points. Newton spent the evening fleeing, taunted by the Broncos.
“We let them talk all week. We talk with our helmets and shoulder pads. We are not about that flashy life. We about putting that grind in, putting in that work,” said safety T.J. Ward, whose fourth-quarter fumble recovery set up the Broncos’ lone offensive touchdown. “They wanted to be famous. They want be rappers and backup dancers.. We want to play football. We wanted to be champions.”
The Broncos’ unit ranks among the all-time greats after delivering seven sacks, producing four turnovers and a touchdown. Newton completed 18 of 41 passes and left after brief comments on the podium.
“Cam, Cam, Cam. It got old listening to all the talk about him all week,” defensive Malik Jackson said. “We dominated them. We should be talked about now among the all-time greats.”
Miller punctuated the argument with an endless assault on Carolina’s overmatched tackles. It was as if the AFC championship game never ended. Newton, named the league’s MVP Saturday night, spent Sunday fleeing for his security and shaking his head in disgust.
“They just played better than us,” Newton said. “I don’t know what else to say.”
One play said everything about the bare-knuckle Broncos march to their third title.
With the Broncos’ offense nothing more than a water break for the defense, Denver stared down Newton with 4:16 remaining in the fourth quarter. A 16-10 cushion felt, if only briefly, vulnerable.
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The Panthers faced a third-and-9, Newton dropped back to pass. Carolina had to make a difficult choice.Double Miller or peel off to chip a blitzing Ward. They miscalculated. Before Newton could sling his arm forward, Miller swatted the football out of his hand. Ward pounced on it, setting up the Broncos’ only offensive touchdown, a 2-yard run by C.J. Anderson.
“This means the world to me, to be able to coach this group,” said defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, tears in his eyes. “What an effort by these guys. I love coaching them.”
The past two performances by the Broncos in the playoffs, stifling Newton and battering New England’s Tom Brady, leaves their defense favorably mentioned with the 2000 Baltimore Ravens and 1985 Chicago Bears among the all-time best.
When repeatedly asked last week how the Broncos would stop Newton, the league MVP, Broncos strong safety Ward blurted, “Shouldn’t the question be the other way around?”
Manning walked away a winner, and into history’s embrace. At 39 he became the oldest quarterback to claim a Super Bowl title and the first to start and win for two different franchises.
“It’s very special,” Manning explained, saying he would take time before deciding if he will retire. “It’s important to take this all in. I am just glad we didn’t have to play against our defense.”
While the Panthers’ near spotless record and mauling defense convinced many the Broncos would be easy prey, Denver entered with confidence gleaned from the game plan and Saturday night speeches from Ware and Manning that defensive end Antonio Smith called “inspiring, emotional and spiritual.” Manning stepped into the huddle with his chest puffed out. He enjoyed his best week of practice and built on it early.
He opened with an 18-yard completion to Owen Daniels. He connected with Andre Caldwell for 22 yards. Manning went four-for-six for 47 yards, leading to Brandon McManus’ 34-yard field goal. It marked only the fourth time a team has scored on Carolina on the opening possession, but represented an aberration. The Broncos managed only one additional first half first down, finishing with 117 yards, 56 coming on two plays. The Broncos finished with only 194 yards, again turning the game over to its defense in the second half.
“We did just enough,” Anderson said. “I love it. I love it.”
What happened early made the Broncos’ role reversal from two years ago feel complete. Remember when one team had a defense playing on high speed and the other was on dial-up? The Broncos became the Seahawks. On third-and-10 from Carolina’s 15-yard line in the first quarter, Miller burst into the backfield and Newton’s face. Miller grabbed the football as he shoved Newton down. It sprang loose and Jackson scooped it up for the first Super Bowl fumble recovery touchdown in 22 years. He fired the football into the stands to orange-splashed fans in section 124. The noise of Broncos fans created issues for the Panthers throughout.
“I was going to do a dead fish soccer celebration like in a video game,” Jackson said. “But maybe a kid got a souvenir instead.”
Carolina, as expected, surged back behind Newton. He established the ground game with Jonathan Stewart hurting and punished the Broncos’ man coverage. Stewart plunged in from 1-yard out to shave the Broncos’ lead to 10-7 with 11:25 remaining in the second.
The Panthers’ defense began to play more aggressively at the line, leaving special teams as Denver’s primary weapon. Jordan Norwood fooled Carolina, walking into fair catch position. He raised no hand and took off, galloping 61 yards for the longest punt return in Super Bowl history. But a reserve lineman ran him down, and Denver fizzled on fourth-and-1 as officials flagged right guard Louis Vasquez for holding. Out trotted McManus for a 23-yard kick to inflate Denver’s cushion to 13-7.
The Broncos never will complain about leading in a Super Bowl given their previous five losses in the big game, but missed a chance for more points. With the Broncos in field-goal range midway through the second quarter, Manning misread a zone drop by defensive end Kony Ealy. Manning threw his first interception in 11 quarters and snapped his streak of 164 postseason passes without an interception.
A failure to convert on second-and-third and short undermined the the Broncos in the first half. Denver let its hair down after halftime, with Manning looking downfield. With Carolina conerback Josh Norman shadowing Demaryius Thomas, Manning turned to Emmanuel Sanders. He shoved the Broncos into the red zone for a third time. And yet it produced a third field goal, McManus’ 30-yarder widening the lead to 16-7.
In the days leading up to the game, Denver displayed bravado, not panic.
The Broncos humbled Newton, who struggled on zone reads, and couldn’t trust his tackles. Ward thwarted a third-quarter drive with an interception. The Broncos caught a break — luck figures into every special season — when Carolina kicker Graham Gano ricocheted a 43-yard field-goal attempt off the right upright. Denver entered the fourth quarter with five sacks and three takeaways, allowing it to lead despite an offense with 140 yards and one third-down conversion.
The onus was on the defense. Exactly what the Broncos wanted.
“You can forget the dab (dance). There ain’t no dabbing going on,” Ward bellowed as players passed around the Vince Lombardi Trophy. “They can go dab their eyes.”
