You guys, Kubiak has disappeared off stage and Super Bowl week is officially in the rear view. The circus is leaving town. Thanks again for following along with us all week and remember: Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.
One or two more questions. Kubiak is asked about this tweet from defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, a not-to-thinly-veiled poke at Newton and the Panthers.
A little Dab with do you but too much Dab will undo you!
— Wade Phillips (@sonofbum) February 8, 2016
“He gets carried away on the Twitter sometimes,” he says with a nervous laugh.
Kubiak asked about Cam Newton’s comments, or lack thereof, after the Super Bowl. “I didn’t see them,” he says, then discusses how well his team handled the media glut during Super Bowl week.
Kubiak asked about Von Miller. “I’ve known Von since he was a very young man at Texas A&M,” he says. “I’m so proud of his path and how he’s got to where he’s at.
“People don’t see the work he get in to get there. Von did not miss a football practice this year. Unless I sat him down and made him take a rest day, he wouldn’t miss one. He loves to play.vHis future is so bright, but I’m proud of him as a man.”
Kubiak now paying tribute to everything Manning had to do to recover to return from injury in time for the playoffs. When asked what he plans to do if Manning retires, he kicks the can: “We’ll take it a day at a time. Right now it’s about reflecting on what we’ve done this year.”
Kubiak is asked how they cracked the Carolina code. “I don’t know if it was something that we found, we just stayed true to who were are as a football team,” he says. “I think our football team, we knew what we were and what our identity was. We won a lot of close football games. We got into another game like that yesterday and we were able to finish it off.”
He’s not lying about the close games. The Broncos set an NFL record (for an extended season) with 11 wins by seven or fewer points. Their 14-point winning margin in Super Bowl 50 equaled their second largest of the season (v Green Bay +19, at San Diego +14).
That’s it for Miller, now here’s Gary Kubiak. Last night he became the first coach to win a Super Bowl for the same team for which he was rostered as a player in the Super Bowl. He joins Tom Flores (Raiders) and Mike Ditka (Bears) as the third coach to win the Super Bowl as a head coach for a team he played for.
The 54-year old is the the fourth coach to win a Super Bowl in his first year as the head coach of that team, joining Jon Gruden of the Buccaneers (Super Bowl XXXVIII), George Seifert (XXIV) and Don McCaffrey (V).
Miller has some glowing remarks for DeMarcus Ware, who finally earned a championship after 11 NFL seasons. “He’s everything,” Miller says. “He’s an All-American person and an All-Pro player. He’s a leader. He’s a big brother for me. A coach, a mentor. It’s something I hold very close to my heart. I remember when I first got into the game, watching DeMarcus and the passion he played with. I wanted to mimic that.”
Miller is asked about defensive coordinator Wade Phillips and what he’s meant to the Denver defense. “We had already had a talented team, so there really wasn’t a magicial call he could make,” he says. “He just had a magical personality. He’s a 68-year-old guy who’s hip to everyday dance moves.”
Miller is asked whether he feels better that defense carried the day yesterday, but the linebacker dispels the notion. “We carried each other,” he says. “That’s another well-played campaign by the media again. It was truly a team effort.”
Miller thanks God, his team-mates. his mom, his dad and his little brother, in that order. “Who would have ever thought?” he says of winning Super Bowl MVP. “Like Coach Kubiak always says: ‘Life is 90% fair and the other 10%, you’ve got to roll with it.’”
Enter Von Miller, stage left. Last night the No2 pick in the 2011 NFL draft became the 10th defensive player in history to be named Super Bowl MVP by tormenting Carolina quarterback Cam Newton, who was the No1 pick that year. The 26-year-old recorded 2.5 sacks, six total tackles, two forced fumbles, two quarterback hurries and a pass defensed. Miller is only the fourth linebacker to be named Super Bowl MVP after Chuck Howley of the Cowboys (Super Bowl V), Ray Lewis of the Ravens (XXXV) and Malcolm Smith of the Seahawks (XLVIII).
Goodell calls Von Miller’s Super Bowl “one of the greatest defensive performances in the history of the game.” At least we’re not getting melodramatic.
Goodell congratulates John Elway, general manager of the Broncos. Elway is now the first Super Bowl-winning QB to also win a Super Bowl ring as a GM. He’s fingerprints are all over each of Denver’s three Lombardi Trophies.
Goodell back to the dais to introduce ... and he’s on about the ratings again. “Clearly this will be the most watched Super Bowl in history,” he says. The lady doth protest too much!
They’ve brought out the Vince Lombardi Trophy and placed it on a table near the dais and now a gaggle of media have surrounded it to take photos. For Instagram or something. Here’s a fun fact while we wait for last night’s Super Bowl heroes: there are two Lombardi trophies at every Super Bowl in case one is accidentally destroyed in celebration.
Houston mayor Sylvester Turner just stole the show during the host committee’s remarks. “I know Bay Area has set the bar high but wait ‘till you come to Houston!” he says. “We dream big, we make big things happen ... we are ready to welcome you!”
Now Roger Goodell is as the dais. First he talks about the early ratings, which he says augur record viewership: “We anticipate it be one of the most watched shows in television history, if not the most watched show in television history.”
Now he turns to next year’s Super Bowl LI in Houston, saying it will be – wait for it – “Out of this world!” Cue a promotional video filmed by astronauts at the International Space Station that draws laughs from the 60 or so press members who made it out of bed.
“It’s hard for me on Monday to think about the next Super Bowl but that’s what happens.”
Good morning and welcome to the Super Bowl morning-after press conference. We’re about 15 minutes from the introduction of Super Bowl MVP Von Miller and Denver Broncos coach Gary Kubiak, who last night became the fourth first-year head coach in history to win football’s biggest game. Right now a gaggle of NFL and host committee officials are trading places at the dais talking about how great this week went before a backdrop advertising Super Bowl XLI in Houston – which is only 363 days away! Plenty more to come.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime, read why Cam Newton sulked – but why that’s OK:
It was a half hour after the final gun had sounded on Super Bowl 50 and the mood in the Carolina Panthers’ locker room was predictably subdued, a muted procession of beaten men with 1,000-yard stares wandering about a carpet littered with the detritus of combat: shreds of tape, crusty gloves, stray pads. The Panthers, who had danced and rollicked and celebrated so loudly throughout a charmed one-loss season, had finally been silenced.
The quarterback eventually emerged sporting only red shower slippers and the silver football pants he’d worn on the field, now filthy with grass stains recalling the beatdown he’d just endured. For over three hours Cam Newton had been harried, hit and harassed by Denver’s ravenous defense, from the opening series until Carolina’s final meaningful drive when he was chased down by DeMarcus Ware and thrown to the turf for the Broncos’ seventh sack of the night, which matched a Super Bowl record. He overthrew open receivers and rarely looked comfortable for more than a few plays at a time, completing just 18 of 41 passes for 265 yards with an interception and two lost fumbles. The Broncos’ front seven had saved their greatest trick for last: they managed to make Superman look like Clark Kent.
