Super Bowl 50 marked the end to the 2015-16 football season, but it ended on a very high note, as the Denver Broncos managed to beat the Carolina Panthers in a big upset. The Panthers were the big favorites for this match, having a 6-point spread in their favor, but that didn’t stop the Broncos from winning 24-10; totally stomping on that spread. There are many reasons as to why this occurred, but these main reasons should cover most of it.
Broncos Run Defense
The run defense did an amazing job, as they held the Panthers stellar running to a 3.3-yard rushing average when the ball was carried from first-and-10; their fifth worst on first down all season. They only managed to get 53 yards from 16 carries. Overall, they only managed to rush an average of 4.4 yards, which they got from 27 carries, totaling 118 yards that game. They managed to get more than 100 rushing yards, but they were not very effective, exactly what the Broncos wanted. This forced Cam Newton to throw the ball more often, which they have a duo that was unstoppable just for that scenario.
Broncos Special Teams
To start off, kicker Brandon McManus did an amazing job, getting all three of the field goals he was set out to get. Punter Britton Colquitt had a great performance as well, having seven punts of 48 yards or more. On top of that fact, special teams also returned a punt for 61 yards, a huge advantage over the Panthers; who only managed to return three punts for 2 yards.
Fumbles
With the way the Bronco defense was playing, it was bound to happen. They managed to force four fumbles from the Panthers, who ended up losing three of those. One of the fumbles was caused by Von Miller, allowing defensive end Malik Jackson to recover the ball and run it in for a touchdown. The fumbles really hurt the Panthers, as well as the interception Newton got.
DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller
These two players were considered to be invaluable to their defense, and their victory. In fact, Miller got the MVP award for that game, which is a big deal. Miller did an amazing job, as he got 2.5 sacks, 5 tackles, and 2 forced fumbles; one of which led to a touchdown. Ware was right there beside him, getting another 2.0 sacks on Newton. These do not include all of the times that they hurried the quarterback into bad throws.
You can see that it took the entire football team to win the Super Bowl, but the defense truly stood out.