Random Post Super Bowl Thoughts

Periodically, throughout the offseason I will post some random thoughts regarding the Super Bowl and the Broncos season in general. Here are some of my thoughts as we are now two weeks removed from the Broncos Super Bowl 50 win.....

-The Broncos defense really just dominated and frustrated the Panthers and Cam Newton. I've watched the game four times, and the more you look at it the more you see how the Broncos had a read on everything the Panthers were doing. They frustrated the Panthers like no other defense did the entire season, and it just completely rattled Newton and the entire Panthers offense.

-The Wade Phillips vs. Mike Shula chess match was a complete mismatch. It was advantage Phillips by a wide-margin. How many times did the Panthers try to run on first down? How many times did it not work? Over and over again Phillips dialed up the right call and the Broncos defensive players just did what they did all year- execute and dominate.

-Peyton Manning missed some open receivers on some key downs. For some reason he missed some open guys and it really could have blown this game open. On a key third down in the 4th quarter, he tried to throw a go route to Demaryius Thomas, who wasn't open at all and Josh Norman almost picked it off. He had Owen Daniels wide open on a slant route after Daniels completely beat Thomas Davis. If he looks that way, Daniels gets a big first down and gets the ball into Carolina territory. Also, in the second quarter coming out of his own end, Manning throw a seam that was almost picked off intended for Jordan Norwood. He had Emmanuel Sanders wide open on a dig route that would have picked up a first down and got them out of their own end.

-The Broncos special teams were so good, and they really affected the outcome of the game. The Norwood punt return was a key play, but how about the punting by Britton Colquitt. Watching the game a few times, you notice how often he directionally kicked it and gave Ted Ginn no chance for a return. Plus, Brandon McManus was really good in kicking three field goals in his first ever Super Bowl. Kayvon Webster was also so good at tracking down punt returns and making big tackles all game long.

-In the postseason, the Broncos defense faced Ben Roethlisberger, Tom Brady, and Cam Newton. They allowed 2-12 third down conversions to the Steelers, 2-15 on third down conversions to the Patriots, and 3-15 third down conversions to the Panthers in the Super Bowl. That is a combined 7-42 on third down conversions in the playoffs against three of the best offenses in the NFL. That is just unreal.

-Conversely, how many offensive touchdowns do you think the Broncos scored in the three playoff wins? The Broncos only had four offensive touchdowns. One by C.J. Anderson in the Pittsburgh game, two by Owen Daniels in the AFC Championship, and one by Anderson in the Super Bowl. That is pretty remarkable for a Super Bowl winning offense.

-Troy Aikman said after the NFC Championship Game that after Denver beat New England, he thought the Carolina-Arizona game was the Super Bowl. He felt that Denver wouldn't beat either team from the NFC. He was dead wrong. In fact, the AFC Championship was the real Super Bowl because Denver would have beaten Arizona handily. Also, the Patriots would have beaten Carolina in the Super Bowl too.

-How ironic is it that the Broncos only won 4 games by more than a touchdown all year long, and one of those games was the Super Bowl over the 15-1 Panthers and a game that they were six point underdogs.

-NFL Films captured John Elway and Gary Kubiak hugging on the podium after the game waiting for the presentation of the Lombardi Trophy. Elway and Kubiak were just laughing about how this team can win any game in any way. It is so cool to see Elway bring a Super Bowl back to Denver as the General Manager, and it is so cool to see him hire Kubiak as his head coach and to see Kubes win the Super Bowl as the head coach. Just surreal.