Comscore Beacon

© Getty Images

Super Bowl 50 Stats

Trending News: The Craziest Stats From Super Bowl 50

Why Is This Important?

Because what was likely Peyton's last Super Bowl was a memorable one.

Long Story Short

Super Bowl 50 was a tense defensive battle, pitting Carolina's high-octane offense and very good defense against Denver's middling offense and historic defense. En route to the win, Denver set some impressive records.

Long Story

Last night's Super Bowl was more or less what everyone expected it to be, with a key difference being the result: As good as Denver's defense was, few thought they could completely contain Cam Newton's buzzsaw offense, and certainly no one thought their anemic offense could get past Carolina's also-good defense. But the mummified husk of Peyton Manning managed to get it done, with ample help from MVP Von Miller and the stellar defense. It was perhaps the strangest win in Super Bowl history, yet denver managed to set several important records en route to victory. Here are some of the most surprising:

At 39, Peyton Manning became the oldest starting quarterback to play in (let alone win) a Super Bowl

His age certainly showed, though, and all indicators point to his retirement following the win, which tied him with his brother Eli. Eli looked like he would very much not like for Peyton to have a chance for a third ring, however unlikely that may be.

Eli Manning Meme

Tag a rival sibling!

Posted by AskMen on Monday, February 8, 2016

The Super Bowl was Peyton Manning's 200th Career win

The W puts him at the top of the list ahead of Brett Favre, who has 199. Given the way Favre constantly waffles with his retirement, who's to say he won't try to come back?

Denver notched the longest punt return in Super Bowl history

In the 2nd quarter, Denver's Jordan Norwood set up to receive Carolina's punt. Things got weird when he caught it — it wasn't clear if the Carolina defenders were worried about interference, or thought he'd called for a fair catch. Either way, Norwood had enough space to return the punt 61 yards, nearly making it into the endzone.

Denver coach Gary Kubiak became the first person to win a Super Bowl as the coach of the same team he played for in the Super Bowl

Tom Flores and Mike Ditka have both won Super Bowls coaching the teams they used to play for, but Kubiak is the only man to have a Super Bowl win as both a player and a coach of the same team (he was John Elway's backup in Denver).

Similarly, Peyton Manning became the first quarterback to start and win Super Bowls with two different teams

Montana couldn't do it. Favre couldn't do it. Peyton did it.

Denver had the fewest yards of offense of a Super Bowl winning team in history

It bears repeating that Denver's offense was never very good this season, and wasn't much better in the playoffs. The Broncos won with just 194 net yards, 50 fewer than the previous record held by the 2001 Baltimore Ravens.

This was only the second time the league's no. 1 offense met the no. 1 defense in the Super Bowl.

Carolina averaged 31.3 ppg this season, while the Broncos defense allowed a paltry 283.1 ypg. The only other time that happened? 2014, when a not-as-decrepit Peyton Manning marched into the Super Bowl with Denver's red-hot no. 1 offense, only to get slaughtered by Seattle's air-tight no. 1 defense.

This was the first Super Bowl to feature two no. 1 overall draft picks at quarterback

Peyton Manning was the no. 1 overall pick in 1998, Cam Newton in 2011. 

Last night was largely a defensive battle. Though there wasn't much offensive action, you'd be hard pressed to call the game boring, at least until the fourth quarter when Denver sealed the game with a fumble recovery. But for such a nondescript game, there were a shocking amount of firsts.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

Will anyone ever beat Peyton Manning's win record?

Disrupt Your Feed

You had to be a real football fan to enjoy last night's game.

Drop This Fact

The Broncos defense didn't allow a rushing TD by a quarterback all season.

Show comments