Superbowl 50

[Mustermark]

When my son came to visit about 4 years ago, i took him to see the Panthers play. The Panthers has been his adopted team since then. Mine too i suppose. He came to visit at Thanksgiving and Christmas so the Panthers' fortunes have been somewhat forced on my apathetic attentions.

We were in the bar watching when their winning streak ended and my son keeps me up to date with their progress on the phone. Suddenly I find myself actually wanting to watch the Superbowl for the football. Last year we tuned in for the half-time show and the famous ads (which were both disappointing). For some unknown reason I am now actually excited about a football game. Go Panthers.

[red_death]

Well that was quite a let down.  Cam had a shocker and the Broncos defence choked the life out of the game.

Are the Broncos the NFL's equivalent of watching Chelsea when Mourinho was in charge - ruthlessly efficient but boring as anything!?!

Ah well, now a wait to September for it all to start again!

Cheers, Mike

[Jon898]

Any game where the Defense dominates can be boring.  Combine that with Newton being largely shut down (7 sacks), Manning not passing as much as in his younger days ( I spent 8 years in Indianapolis watching his best performances) and the Panthers making way too many mistakes and it's not going to be a scintillating game.

The one high spot to me is Manning likely going out of the game on a high point (assuming he retires as the pundits are suggesting).

[Lawrence]

Well I for one was happy with the result.  A very strong and dominant defensive performance from the Broncos.  Manning would be a fool to carry on though he was the 2nd best QB out there and they need to pick up a good replacement in the draft.  Thought Talib was going to blow the game for the Broncos early on though really poor discipline.
Nice to be able to celebrate another Superbowl victory though 

[Jon898]

You're right about Talib...no discipline, which is a shame as he's a really talented player otherwise.  I'd like to see the NFL borrow the "cynical foul" approach from rugby and have the offender punished by making his team play the next 4 downs one man down...that would stop it really fast!  Unfortunately, that would never happen.

Speaking of rugby, on the same day the USA team played to a draw against Argentina 35-35, so that game is getting better here (Trivia piece - the US won the last two Olympic gold medals in rugby).

[Webbo]

I thought it was a good game even if not scintillating. And the better side won.

In my opinion, the key to the Broncos success lay in the first quarter where they came out firing and the Panthers looked shell-shocked. Perhaps a benefit of the Broncos having been in the Super Bowl a couple of years ago? From then on, the Panthers had to play catch-up and the Broncos could play a more staid defensive game.

On the rugby, of which I am a fan, the following comment by Jon898 is correct. However, the games referred to took place in 1920 and 1924! In this day and age, playing to a draw against Argentina is an accomplishment that should not be sneezed at.

Speaking of rugby, on the same day the USA team played to a draw against Argentina 35-35, so that game is getting better here (Trivia piece - the US won the last two Olympic gold medals in rugby).

Webbo

[EtchedPixels]

A sport so interesting that even the US newspapers give more column inches to the adverts that were shown and the mid game entertainment

[red_death]

A sport so interesting that even the US newspapers give more column inches to the adverts that were shown and the mid game entertainment

Haha - I used to think the same, but I've really started to enjoy it the more I understand of it.  I always used to think of it as a poor man's rugby, but some of the plays (and players) are fantastic.

When you see it live it is much less obvious about the stop/start nature as although play stops there is always something going on in the stadium.