Super Bowl 50: Grading The Weekend Festivities
Defense
This photo explains it all. Defense was the story all game for Super Bowl 50, and it turned out being one of the most dominant defensive performances in Super Bowl history. The 1985 Chicago Bears and 2001 Baltimore Ravens defenses remain two of the best of all time, but the Wade Phillips coached defense might have slipped their name into the history books, as his star linebacker put on a show. Miller went on taking the Super Bowl MVP trophy honors and becoming the second defensive player in the last three years to win the award.
With six tackles, 2.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and embarrassing the right tackle Remmers, Miller’s speed and moves opened up the rest of the defense to make plays as well. Malik Jackson and Derek Wolfe also created pressure on Newton to get the ball out — in which he only completed under 50% of his passes on 41 attempts.
Taking Greg Olsen out of the game — he registered just four catches for 41 yards — was a key for the Broncos defense as they shut Rob Gronkowski down as well in the AFC title game. Taking away an option for Newton allowed the defense to overtake the game and essentially pushed them into the win column.
The Broncos season relied heavily on a dominant defense from the line all the way to the secondary.
Do not discredit the Panthers as their defense put up a heck of a fight, allowing just one offensive touchdown. Their defense came up with big turnovers and sacked Manning five times. Ealy had a MVP-worthy performance as well, and would have earned the honors had the Panthers won. Ealy carried the defense with three sacks, an interception, and a forced fumble.
Luke Keuchly, the All-Pro linebacker, put on one of the best hits in the Super Bowl as he laid out Demariyus Thomas on a cross route on a clean hit. The rest of the game, Thomas appeared shaken up and had a quiet performance overall.
The most important story not covered enough was the play of Thomas Davis Sr. Two weeks ago in the NFC title game, he was hobbling off the field with an arm fracture. Immediately over the next couple days, he had surgery as he anticipated that he did not want to miss playing in the Super Bowl.
Sure enough, he was out there with arm all wrapped up.
There has been toughness demonstrated this year in the NFL — Eric Berry returning from his bout with cancer and Davis playing with a fractured arm in the Super Bowl. While he was not as effective as he had been all year, Davis’ presence alone still gave the defense the identity they’ve had the last couple seasons. Missed tackles were evident, but Davis was involved in multiple plays, much like fellow linebacker Keuchly.
Battling three previous ACL surgeries in his career and then the broken arm, it was bittersweet for Davis.
Super Bowl 50 was a monumental moment in NFL history, and the defense showed up, providing for how it would be remembered.
Grade: A+
Next: Halftime Show