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Broncos Win Super Bowl, Manning Mum On Future Plans

Broncos Win Super Bowl, Manning Mum On Future Plans

By Steve Keating

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (Reuters) – The Denver Broncos upset the top-seeded Carolina Panthers to win Super Bowl 50 on Sunday, giving quarterback Peyton Manning the chance to call a fairytale ending to his storied career.

The 24-10 win over the Panthers marked the third Super Bowl triumph for Denver and second for 39-year-old Manning, who was playing in what many expect to be his final game.

Manning, a five-time league most valuable player, added yet another line in the record books as he became the NFL’s oldest quarterback to play in a Super Bowl and first to reach 200 career wins.

It was the top ranked Denver defense, however, that can claim credit for the victory after holding the league’s highest-scoring offence to a single touchdown and 10 points.

The Denver defense was led by a rampaging Von Miller who forced Panthers quarterback Cam Newton into two fumbles that led to touchdowns and ultimately earned the outside linebacker Super Bowl Most Valuable Player honors.

“It just shows the type of team we have. It’s not just about offense, defense or special teams,” said Miller. “We came together as a whole.”

Manning, who has kept fans guessing about his playing future, refused to reveal his hand after the game as a shower of golden confetti fell on a capacity crowd of 71,000 at Levi’s Stadium.

“I got some good advice from (former Indianapolis coach) Tony Dungy. He said don’t make an emotional decision,” said Manning, who joins younger brother Eli Manning as a two-time Super Bowl champion. “It’s certainly been an emotional week for everybody.

“This has been a very emotional week, an emotional night, and I’ve got a couple of priorities. I’ll take some time to reflect. I’m going to drink a lot of beer tonight. Von Miller’s buying.”

Manning, who holds the record for most career touchdown passes, did not add to his total in what was his fourth Super Bowl, completing just 13 of 23 attempts for 141 yards.

Instead the Broncos leaned on a relentless defense that kept regular season MVP Newton in check, sacking the quarterback six times, intercepting him once and forcing two fumbles.

PARTY WEATHER

As if it had been specially ordered by the NFL just for the Super Bowl’s golden anniversary, Mother Nature delivered perfect party weather with blue skies and unseasonably warm temperatures hovering around 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 Celsius).

While the Panthers entered the game almost a touchdown favorite the majority of the fans filing into Levi’s Stadium were decked out in Broncos orange.

The Broncos scored on their opening drive and never trailed, Brandon McManus connecting on a 34-yard field goal to leave the Carolina trailing for the first time this post-season.

Newton, as he does every game, began by saying a prayer then blowing a kiss to his mom, but it was the only thing that was routine as he was kept under constant pressure.

The Panthers quickly found themselves in an even deeper hole when Newton was stripped of the ball by Miller and Malik Jackson scooped it up in the end zone for a touchdown and 10-0 lead.

With the exception of 73-yard drive to start the second quarter that was capped by Jonathan Stewart’s massive leap from the one-yard line into the end zone, Newton was unable to get the Carolina offense in gear.

Manning was also unable to fire up a sputtering Denver attack, managing four first downs in a bone-jarring first half.

After Jordan Norwood’s electrifying 61-yard punt return, the longest in Super Bowl history, set up Denver on the Carolina 14 Manning could not get the ball into the end zone, settling again for a McManus field goal and 13-7 lead.

Carolina’s problems continued when Graham Gano’s 44-yard field goal attempt bounced the upright on the opening possession of the second half. Denver would not make the same mistake as McManus connected from the 30 shortly after.

Trailing 16-7, Carolina started the fourth quarter by forcing Manning to fumble and turning it into a 39-yard Gano field goal.

But Miller would end any hope of a Carolina comeback when he knocked the ball out of Newton’s hand on the Panthers four-yard line where the Denver offence took over, C.J. Anderson powering his way over from the two for 24-10 lead.

(Editing by Frank Pingue)

Photo: Denver Broncos’ quarterback Peyton Manning hands off to C.J. Anderson (22) in the fourth quarter of the NFL’s Super Bowl 50 football game against the Carolina Panthers in Santa Clara, California February 7, 2016. REUTERS/Stephen Lam

Broncos Owner Pat Bowlen Steps Down To Deal With Alzheimer’s Disease

Broncos Owner Pat Bowlen Steps Down To Deal With Alzheimer’s Disease

By Ryan Parker, Los Angeles Times

Longtime Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen is relinquishing control of his team due to health conditions related to Alzheimer’s disease, a team spokesman confirmed to the Los Angeles Times.

Joe Ellis, the Broncos’ team president since 2011, will take over operations for Bowlen, a spokesman confirmed to the Times.

Under Bowlen, the Broncos won back-to-back Super Bowls and became one of the most recognizable franchises in sports. He purchased the team in 1984.

According to the most recent Forbes report, the Broncos team is worth $1.05 billion.

This story was first reported by The Denver Post.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Super Bowl 48 Sets Record For TV Viewers

Super Bowl 48 Sets Record For TV Viewers

Los Angeles (AFP) – Seattle’s 43-8 blowout of Denver in Super Bowl 48 offered little in the way of suspense, but 111.5 million viewers made it the most-watched television event in U.S. history.

Ratings released by the Fox network on Monday showed Sunday’s game also set a record for the most-streamed online sports event, while a whopping 25.3 million related tweets composed by 5.6 million authors were logged before, during and after the contest.

The viewership for the Seahawks’ lopsided victory eclipsed the previous record 111.3 million viewers who watched the 2012 Super Bowl between the New York Giants and New England Patriots, according to the Nielsen tracking service.

The NFL’s championship spectacular is always a big TV draw and, until ratings for last year’s game showed a slight decline, the Super Bowl had set viewership records for three straight years.

The half-time show headlined by hit singer Bruno Mars, with guests the Red Hot Chili Peppers, was also a record breaker with an estimated TV audience of 115.3 million.

That eclipsed the 110.8 million who watched Beyonce last year, as well as the previous record of 114.0 million set by Madonna two years ago.

In its statement regarding the ratings, Fox concluded that interest in the game was piqued by the fact that it was the first Super Bowl to be played in an outdoor stadium in a cold-weather location — and that it was played in the New York metropolitan area, a massive media market.

Even though the Broncos didn’t manage to score until the end of the third quarter, viewership climbed through the first half.

“Viewership remained impressively high through the fourth quarter despite the fact that Seattle had the game well in hand,” a Fox statement said.

Fox said the most active moments on social media during the game were when Seattle’s Percy Harvin returned the second half kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown (429,000 tweets), the conclusion of the half-time show (424,000 tweets) and Most Valuable Player Malcolm Smith’s second-quarter interception return for a touchdown (300,000 tweets).

Photo: Timothy A. Clary via AFP

Mix A Big Apple With The Super Bowl For A Big Bust

Mix A Big Apple With The Super Bowl For A Big Bust

Eight years ago, or thereabouts, New York Jets owner Woody Johnson had a vision. He shared this vision with John Mara, co-owner of the New York Giants, and together they made history: A Super Bowl in New York! Or New Jersey. (Close enough.)

“It will be a great experience for our fans and a great experience for the NFL,” Commissioner Roger Goodell promised in 2010, when the site was chosen for this year’s Super Bowl.

It has been neither. In fact, the game may still be a few days away but it’s time to call the NFL’s cold-weather Super Bowl what it is: A big fat failure.

As of Tuesday, there were still 18,000 tickets available to the game. Hotel rates in New York City — and East Rutherford and Secaucus, for that matter — are plummeting. Weird. Who could have predicted that paying $2,000 to stand in the freezing cold and watch a football game might not be everyone’s idea of a great winter getaway?

Like all major sporting events, this one started with plenty of hooey about all of the money that it would generate for its host city (or cities). Random, obviously overstated estimates were thrown around. An economic-benefits study commissioned by the host committee — what major sporting event would be complete without an economic-benefits study? — reportedly put the number at $600 million. I say “reportedly” because the host committee has refused to release the study to the public, which tells you everything you need to know about the oil gusher of cash currently showering heretofore unimaginable prosperity on the New York metropolitan area.

There are surely some football fans who have come to New York for the Big Game. Many of them seem to be gathering at Super Bowl Boulevard, the giant NFL theme park that has taken over Times Square, making midtown Manhattan even more of a nightmare to navigate than usual. Ride the Super Bowl Toboggan! Buy a picture of your face Photoshopped onto the cover of Madden! (Pro tip to tourists who intend to visit the Intrepid on their stay in New York: It’s closed Friday for a Bud Light-sponsored Super Bowl event.) Of course, these amusements seem to have been organized less for the sake of local businesses than for the league and its marketing partners.

It would be inaccurate to say that no New Yorkers are seeing economic benefits from having the Super Bowl in their backyard: Giants quarterback Eli Manning, freed from the obligations of having to play football in the postseason, is hosting a DirectTV party with Jay-Z. Both are surely being well compensated for their labor.

Why did the NFL agree to play the Super Bowl in New York in the first place? Because this is how the league always rewards teams that refurbish or rebuild their stadiums. The new Meadowlands Stadium was completed in 2010, even though taxpayers were — indeed, still are — servicing $110 million in debt on the old one.

You can argue — however unconvincingly — that even if the economics don’t add up, cities enjoy ancillary benefits from hosting big sporting events, such as the opportunity to raise their profiles. But you can’t make that argument when the city is New York. You can’t even say — though I suspect Goodell has at some point — that locating the game in the U.S. media capital would be good for football’s exposure. The Super Bowl is the most hyped sporting event in the world, no matter where it’s played. New York didn’t need it, and it didn’t need New York.

Super Bowl, get back to Tampa or Phoenix, where you belong.

Photo: marsmettn tallahassee via Flickr