12-PAGE NFL PULLOUT What’s next for Broncos? In defense of Cam Newton
Panthers no match for dominant, Miller-led defense
In the closing minutes, Von Miller, who would soon become the Super Bowl MVP, came charging toward the MVP of the league, Cam Newton, and grabbed his arm with his left hand as Newton tried to pass. The ball flew loose, the Denver Broncos recovered, the 2015 NFL championship was all but decided and the only notable dancing of the night was being done by Denver’s defense.
Von Doom. An orange army just won Super Bowl 50. It swallowed Newton, the superstar Carolina Panthers quarterback, along with his running backs, receivers, linemen and pretty much anything else in sight. For all we know, it was chewing on the Levi’s Stadium grass the following morning. It was that voracious.
And for Broncos fans, that was satisfying.
Two years ago, Denver was in the Super Bowl and got throttled by the Seattle Seahawks 43-8. The Seahawks defense swallowed the then-mighty Broncos offense that night, a lesson not wasted on general manager John Elway, who immediately began building a defensive wall of his own.
Sunday, Denver returned to the Super Bowl with an offense that was like an old, respected car — and a defense that was a racing engine.
And in a championship game that is so often about quarterbacks, that reconstructed defense outshined Newton and Peyton Manning — the new and old faces of the NFL. Denver won the Super Bowl 24-10, with seven times as many sacks (seven) as third-down conversions (one). And Miller, the second pick of the 2011 draft (right after Newton), was just a runaway train, one who might make GMs think twice about how to select players.
And that’s because the highlights of this game were all defen- sive. Two sacks that resulted in fumbles. A thundering hit that caused another fumble. A tipped pass for an interception. An endless series of wrapping up Newton, the most powerful quarterback in the league, and putting him on his back.
How good was the Denver defense? There were numerous times when the Broncos offense, on third down, simply handed the ball off rather than try for big gains, trusting the defense would be a better bet. And it was. “We call ourselves the grinders,” Denver coach Gary Kubiak said on the victory stand.
Newton knows that word too well now. Used to having lots of time to throw, run or do both, he was under duress all night.
There was no dabbing because there was precious little scoring. He didn’t pass for a touchdown. He didn’t run for one.
His final worst memory would be looking at a ball that had been stripped out of his hands and not even diving for it. He completed less than half of his passes.
The big names of this game were not the ones you see in commercials. Instead they were Miller, T.J. Ward, DeMarcus Ware, Bradley Roby.
Orange crushed.
Albom writes for the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK.