Oh, there was Dabbing, (not from Cam Newton) dancing, crying, confetti, Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Beyoncé, yes, Beyoncé and a super bowl champion. Super Bowl 50 was all we beloved fans had wished for.
Lady Gaga, kicked things off by serenading us with the National Anthem. Then, show time–two of the best teams in the NFL playing for all of the marbles.
On one side, you had Peyton Manning, an aging guru as his position playing to end his stellar career on a great note. On the other side, a young Cam Newton, who took the NFL by surprise by scoring a whopping 50 touchdowns and taking the panthers to their second super bowl…ever. The last time they were in the bowl was 2003 and they lost. “It was hard to decide what team you wanted to win, you had Newton who essentially put the panthers back on the map since 2003, and you had Peyton, a beloved athlete who wanted one last horr-ah,” said Kyle Sanders, MC student.
Unfortunately, both QB’s couldn’t have it their way. Both teams entered the super bowl with the top defense in the league. This was going to be a great defensive game. In the end, the “defense wins the championship.”
Denver had the upper hand due to the fact that they were the number one rated defense in the league. “It was all about the defense! Which was rather different from years prior. It made total sense why the scores were left at 10 and 24, the defense was preventing most touchdowns,” said Renzo Farfan, another MC student. In a defensive affair, both offenses struggled to put points on the board.
Von Miller, who was the game MVP, put his team on his back and carried them to victory. Miller, had two sacks, 6 tackles, and 2 force fumbles. The last sack really put the nail in the coffin.
With roughly 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter, Miller made the play of his game by stripping the ball from Newton, which ultimately caused Carolina the game.
However, what really stood out during that play is: why didn’t Newton attempt to recover the ball when he was the closest to it? Could the game have been rigged? or did Newton get stage fright?
Nevertheless, Peyton Manning, who said, “This might be my last rodeo,” gets to ride into the sun with another win under his belt. As for Cam Newton and the Panthers, there’a always tape to review and the upcoming draft to look forward to that could possibly help get his team back into the promise land.