The term 'defense wins championships' is thrown around a lot, but in Super Bowl 50 between the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers, that was very prevalent.
The Panthers were favored, but the Broncos defense stepped up in a big way at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Denver Defense Steps Up
The biggest storyline coming in was Peyton Manning, but the biggest part of this game was the Denver defense. They forced four turnovers and were swarming Cam Newton and the Panthers all night long.
Carolina did have over 300 yards and 21 first downs, but the four takeaways and the defensive touchdown by the Broncos was the difference when it came down to it in the end.
Von Miller played one of the best games of his career with five tackles, 2.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles. Those numbers were good enough to earn him Super Bowl MVP.
The Broncos defense forced four fumbles and sacked Cam Newton six times. DeMarcus Ware collected two sacks and it seemed like was making a major impact throughout.
How It Played Out
The beginning of this game was dominated by Denver as they went down on the first drive of the game and turned it into points with a Brandon McManus 34-yard field goal. It was a solid drive to start the game as the Broncos gave the Panthers their first deficit of the playoffs.
The two teams traded punts before the Broncos came up with a big defensive play that set the tone for the rest of the game.
Cam Newton dropped back to pass and was rocked by a hit by Von Miller, which jarred the ball loose and Malik Jackson recovered it in the endzone for a Denver touchdown. This was a major turning point in the game and the Panthers were now the ones who were going to have to have a big comeback.
At the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second quarter, Carolina finally put together a nice drive which resulted in points after three failed drives to start the game. A Jonathan Stewart one-yard touchdown got Carolina on the board and capped off a nine play, 73-yard drive and just like that, we had a ball game.
Denver did however go down and get a field goal midway through the second quarter to extend their lead to 13-7 and that was the lead that they took into the half.
Missed Opportunities On Both Sides
This was not the cleanest game played by any means and that was evident with the six combined turnovers between the two teams; four by Carolina and two by Denver.
When up 13-7 in the first half, Mike Tolbert put it on the ground and would have been a great opportunity for Denver to grab more points before halftime, but Manning then threw a pick to Kony Ealy. The Panthers had a chance going into halftime, but because of bad clock management, another chance to put points on the board slipped away.
To open the second half, the Panthers put together a nice drive, but a 44-yard field goal by Graham Gano clanged off the right upright and Carolina let another opportunity for points slip away. After the miss, McManus capped off a Broncos drive with a 33-yard field goal.
With the Panthers driving down the field down just six, Newton did one of the worst things he could have done by throwing an interception and another chance slipped out of their hands once again.
Gano did come back and get the Panthers back to within six at 16-10 at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Panthers offense was shut down from there on out.
After one final fumble inside the 10-yard line by Newton and the Panthers, CJ Anderson ran it in from two yards out and that was basically the icing on the cake for Denver.
Players of Note
Peyton Manning finished the game with just 141 yards on 13-of-23 passing with one interception. CJ Anderson had 90 yards on 23 carries with one touchdown on the ground while Emmanuel Sanders had six catches for 83 through the air. In total, the Denver offense only had 194 yards.
As for Carolina, Cam Newton was 18-for-41 for 265 yards and one interception. Newton was also the leading rusher with 45 yards on six carries. Through the air, Corey Brown had four receptions for 80 yards. The Panthers totaled 314 yards in this game.