I knew the Broncos could do it. I didn’t think they actually would, but I knew they could. I smelled an upset for 2 weeks because of the hype and the instant crowing of everything Cam does. I didn’t have the guts to actually call the upset because I smelled upset a lot during the year on the Panthers and it never happened when I smelled it, so I was afraid to go with my gut. At least I got the low scoring turnover fest part of my prediction right.

The game itself was am amazing defensive struggle. I’d wager casual fans and lame people probably hated it because it didn’t involve a lot of scoring and things got sloppy (6 turnovers!) but I saw a game where two tight defenses wouldn’t let up and you spent the entire game tensely waiting for the moment something would break. Denver got that early strip sack but Carolina constantly felt just one big play away from breaking out and going ahead. But they never did. Eventually the Broncos managed to put the game away with 4 minutes left, and the Panthers seemed to give up. Punting? Down 2 touchdowns with 3 minutes left in the Super Bowl? I know they were backed up on the endzone, but it’s the Super Bowl. You go for that. What do you have to lose at that point? For a coach with a gambling nickname, that was incredibly weak. It was giving up.

Overall it just felt like the Broncos came out with the better plan, and Carolina got swept up in the moment. Carolina looked really flustered early, the Broncos marched down the field for a field goal and the Panthers didn’t do anything offensively until a few drives in when they did their only worthwhile offensive thing and scored a TD. The Broncos came to play. Peyton and the offense got a lead and went full Kubiak “Shut It Down” mode, doing everything as safely as possible and sitting on the smallest of leads. I can’t believe it worked. Denver seemed to give up even trying on offense halfway through the second quarter. They got away with it because the Panthers did nothing creative themselves. I feel like Rivera’s plan for the game was to treat it like any other game. Keep the players comfortable, keep their rhythms the same. No adjustments, and it bit them in the ass. They were predicable, they didn’t seem to change anything at halftime. The only play that seemed fresh and new was the lateral to Ted Ginn that was immediately blown up anyway. The Panthers couldn’t play Panther football, and they couldn’t adjust. All that hype for nothing. Well, at least that bandwagon took a nice gutpunch to keep them honest for a now.

There was some complaining about the officiating but it’s just salty Panther supporters. The only call I had any issue with was the Cotchery “drop” right at the start, that was totally a catch.

Our champion ends up being a team no one really took seriously all year. Peyton sucked, so everyone just kind of ignored how good that defense was. As a number 1 seed, they still got no respect. I can’t remember a #1 seed getting less respect than this Broncos team. I certainly didn’t pay them mind. But they did it. Good for them. Broncos fans, you have earned the right to be insufferable for a while.

Congratulations to the Denver Broncos, to Von Miller (who had one of the best defensive performances I’ve ever seen), and to Peyton Manning. I never thought I’d see the day Peyton Manning would Trent Dilfer his way to a Super Bowl, but here we are. And he still won’t officially announce his retirement so my retirement comic has to stay waiting again. Peyton you’ve given it all you’ve got to give and got a storybook ending. Walk away. Just walk away.

I’m very happy for DeMarcus Ware, for Vernon Davis (and Kyle Williams lol) winning a championship in the 49ers stadium. I’m happy for Wade Phillips. For Evan Mathis. Mostly for Von Miller. Von Miller is cool as shit and he deserves all the love. Screw John Elway though. Just because.

As for the Panthers, they need receivers. The lack of a good wideout finally came back to bite them because Denver could just man cover everyone and stack the box and jam Olson. But this is a good team that should stay good, and Cam could honestly use that dose of humility. I’m a big Cam defender, but he’s never really experienced a loss like this in his football career, and I hope it makes him a better QB. I’m fine with his antics and he shouldn’t get shamed for wearing his emotions on his sleeve. I didn’t like him walking out on the press conference, you gotta stick with it good or bad, but I understand why someone would. You just lost the biggest game of your life, you get shuffled in front of a bunch of rabid mongrels who just want to badger you with questions like “HOW BAD DO YOU FEEL RIGHT NOW” and want to corner you into saying something they can twist for a headline. They really should let the losing team have some time and space to recover before sicking the dogs on them. The responses are always the same anyway. Players who don’t want to be there at all just giving canned “they outplayed us” soundbites. It’s a joke, so I understand why Cam walked out. But, it’s part of the job to give those canned responses, so he should have pulled a Marshawn Lynch and sat there taunting the media. He was going to be called a sore loser no matter what he did because at this point you either love him or love to hate him.

Lastly, Coldplay sucked and the commercials now are just companies throwing celebrities at you hoping you laugh. Seriously an entire 30 second ad was based around a Christopher Walken pun. Ugh.