Written by Jeff Legwold at ESPN.com
Don’t say quarterback Peyton Manning didn’t tell you exactly how the Denver Broncos would win Super Bowl 50.
Manning said, over and over throughout Super Bowl week, that no matter his right arm felt, no matter how his left foot felt, it has been the Broncos’ bruise-inflicting, quarterback-rattling defense “that got us here, let’s just make that clear.’’
And much like the rest of their season, Manning had just enough left in his 39-year-old body to keep things in order on offense and give the Broncos’ defense room to stomp, flex and rumble to a 24-10 win over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 in Levi’s Stadium.
The win the is the Broncos’ third Super Bowl win — it was the team’s record-tying eighth trip — and ultimately fulfilled a promise Broncos executive vice president of football operations/general manager John Elway made to Peyton Manning in 2012.
Elway told Manning he would do “everything in my power,’’ to help him close out his career with a championship. That everything included giving the Broncos the kind of defense Manning has never had in tow.
Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips has said the Broncos cornerbacks are the best he’s had in his almost four decades worth of work in the NFL, the kind pass rushers love because they give them those rushers the time they need to get home and he has consistently described Von Miller as “special.’’
From the moment Miller arrived in Denver with the second pick of the 2011 draft, his coveted ability to turn speed to power, power to speed has been on display. But when DeMarcus Ware arrived in free agency in 2014 it transitioned Miller from gifted athlete to full-blown football hell raiser with the drive, the moves and down-to-down determination to lead a defense to a Super Bowl win.
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