Super Bowl 50 recovery in the end zone. The Broncos' seven sacks tied a Super Bowl record set by the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XX. Manning was sacked five times by the Panthers, giving this game highest total (12) of combined sacks in Super Bowl history. Kony Ealy tied a Super Bowl record with three sacks, and is the only such player to do so and record an interception. Jordan Norwood's 61-yard punt return set a new record, surpassing the old record of 45 yards set by John Taylor in Super Bowl XXIII. Denver was just 1-of-14 on third down, while Carolina
Super Bowl XLII game as 12-point favorites after becoming the first team to complete a perfect regular season since the 1972 Miami Dolphins, and the only one since the league expanded to a 16-game regular season schedule in 1978. The Giants, who finished the regular season with a 10–6 record, were seeking to become the first NFC wild card team to win a Super Bowl, and were also looking for their third Super Bowl victory and first since they won Super Bowl XXV seventeen years earlier. This Super Bowl was also a rematch of the final game of the regular season, in which