GROGHEADS RUNNING SUPER BOWL THREAD

[bayonetbrant]

but I don't think any of them really would have changed the outcome of the game.

The incomplete pass on Cotchery at the very beginning, when every replay showed he caught it, controlled it, kept a hand under it, and landed with it for a first down, led to the 3rd-and-long with the strip-sack fumble recovery for a TD.  That made a HUGE difference. 
The BS defensive holding call at the end on Norman was crap too.  That pass was into row Q and there's not a receiver in the NFL that would've caught it with Inspector Gadget legs.
The big Broncos punt return was a great play by the punter, after lulling the Panthers into complacency with all those fair catches, but the punter also got completely wiped out by the rush, and we never even saw a replay, but with the DVR, it looked like the defense shoved the guard into the punter, which usually results in a running-into-the-kicker penalty.

So there's 3 calls that could've all made serious swings in the game, and they all went for the Broncos.

[bayonetbrant]

Wade Phillips should be MVP. What a helluva job!

totally agree.  perfect game plan.

[Airborne Rifles]

John Elway's post game talk was awkward. Trying to relive past glory I guess.

[Bison]

but I don't think any of them really would have changed the outcome of the game.

The incomplete pass on Cotchery at the very beginning, when every replay showed he caught it, controlled it, kept a hand under it, and landed with it for a first down, led to the 3rd-and-long with the strip-sack fumble recovery for a TD.  That made a HUGE difference. 
The BS defensive holding call at the end on Norman was crap too.  That pass was into row Q and there's not a receiver in the NFL that would've caught it with Inspector Gadget legs.
The big Broncos punt return was a great play by the punter, after lulling the Panthers into complacency with all those fair catches, but the punter also got completely wiped out by the rush, and we never even saw a replay, but with the DVR, it looked like the defense shoved the guard into the punter, which usually results in a running-into-the-kicker penalty.

So there's 3 calls that could've all made serious swings in the game, and they all went for the Broncos.

Maybe...but a complete/incomplete pass does not make the offensive line breakdown and allow a sack on a later play.

The pass interference made the game more out of hand, but the Panthers would have had to have still needed to score twice in less than 3 minutes against a defense that stifled the offense all game.

I get what you are saying but Carolina's o-line did nothing to help them and the Panthers started at or near the 50 yard line all game and did very little.  Anyway, I enjoyed the game because Carolina could have won it if they could have put together some offensive drives and Denver's defense played a beautiful game to watch.

[OJsDad]

I missed several parts of the game.  Were there any commercials for upcoming movies that are worth checking out. 

[bayonetbrant]

Were there any commercials for upcoming movies that are worth checking out. 

Positive ones:
Deadpool and X-Men Apocalypse trailers were about what you'd expect.

Negative ones:
New TNMT trailer was about what you'd expect.

[Bison]

I thought that John Goodman flick looked alright.  I missed the Deadpool commercial.  :(

[Airborne Rifles]

The Turkish Airline spots advertising flights to Gotham and Metropolis were actually pretty good.

[bayonetbrant]

There was a Ryan Reynolds Hyundai commercial that my wife and I kept expecting to turn into a Deadpool commercial

[Martok]

And so ends another Super Bowl.  Congrats to the Denver Broncos defense; they played a hell of a game. 


Now begins 6+ months of bleakness, during which I must endure no sports worth watching.  <sigh>  Oh well, at least my Sundays will be free for gaming now.  8) 

Btw, I thought Lady Gaga did alright on the Anthem.  I expected much worse.

I actually figured she'd do a decent job of it.  Still a bit too...stylized for my tastes, but I expected she'd give it a fairly respectful treatment. 

Sigh. I miss Madden and Summerall in the announcer's booth.

You can't be serious.  :o  Never had a problem with Summerall, but I wanted to punch Madden in the throat every time he opened his stupid mouth.  I literally did a little dance the day I found out he'd retired from "commentating". 

The commercials are pretty underwhelming so far, but the vegan bear on his cheat day got a chuckle here.

My personal favorite was the Doritos/ultrasound one. 

Aside from a couple movie previews, though, I agree the commercials were generally very bland/"wtf??". 

Carolina's offensive game planning was putrid. Every damn first down, let's run a fullback plunge for a yard. Every damn time. It never worked! The D was totally playing the run every time, but play action? No, let's not run anything like that! Ugh.

Denver's defense has been a beast all year long, and that continued. Cam Newton got WRECKED for 4 quarters.

Yeah, I kept wondering if Mike Shula stole Brad Childress' playbook or something.  Seriously, you can't be that f'ing predictable on first down EVERY DAMN TIME, especially against a defense like Denver's.  (It's like I was watching the Vikings offense from a few years ago.) 

The Panthers simply had a very poor offensive scheme for this game.  That, combined with almost no one on their team being able to hold onto the bloody ball (there were numerous dropped/missed catches in addition to the lost fumbles), contributed a great deal towards their eventual defeat. 

On a side note, the commercials were as always in my opinion a very over rated part of the game experience

There was a time -- up until, oh, 5-6 years ago -- when I actually enjoyed most of the new commercials aired during the Super Bowl.  Now, though, they're all so bland and/or strange (and not in a good way) that I'm simply left baffled that so much money was blown on airtime for them.  ??? 

and the halftime show...WTF?   Horrible halftime show.

Surely you weren't expecting anything anything different.  The Super Bowl hasn't had a decent halftime show since I was in my twenties.  Why would the NFL change that trend now?  ::) 

The incomplete pass on Cotchery at the very beginning, when every replay showed he caught it, controlled it, kept a hand under it, and landed with it for a first down, led to the 3rd-and-long with the strip-sack fumble recovery for a TD.  That made a HUGE difference. 

I think it can be argued that he didn't have control of the ball yet as he was hitting the ground; on replay, there did appear to be just a bit of bobbling on Cotchery's part.  Personally, I agree with your assessment, but I'm certain that's why the call wasn't overturned. 

If the call had gone the other way and the Broncos had challenged, I very much doubt the call would've been overturned in their favor either.  There simply wasn't incontrovertible proof in the camera shots available to overturn whatever the call would've been (complete or incomplete). 

The BS defensive holding call at the end on Norman was crap too.  That pass was into row Q and there's not a receiver in the NFL that would've caught it with Inspector Gadget legs.

See now, I got the impression that Peyton more-or-less threw the ball high on purpose because he'd already noticed the penalty flag (and therefore didn't have anything to lose by making that pass).  And last I knew, defensive holding is -- for better or worse -- irrelevant to whether or not a pass is actually catch-able.  Yes?  No? 

The big Broncos punt return was a great play by the punter, after lulling the Panthers into complacency with all those fair catches, but the punter also got completely wiped out by the rush, and we never even saw a replay, but with the DVR, it looked like the defense shoved the guard into the punter, which usually results in a running-into-the-kicker penalty.

Now that, I'll admit I didn't see. 

[JudgeDredd]

So my Broncos did it. Not that I'd know without the internet as the 5 hours and 10 minutes of recording stopped me from seeing anything past CP 10 - 24 DB with about 3 minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

Well done Broncos.  O0

[MetalDog]

We're glad for you JD.  Can't have an unhappy Scotsman running around now can we?

[BanzaiCat]

Sigh. I miss Madden and Summerall in the announcer's booth.

You can't be serious.  :o  Never had a problem with Summerall, but I wanted to punch Madden in the throat every time he opened his stupid mouth.  I literally did a little dance the day I found out he'd retired from "commentating". 

Madden's "ah-bleh ah-bleh ah-blurghle" would have been a HELL of a lot more entertaining than Simms and that other guy, whoever he was. My God they were boring.

[BanzaiCat]

Everybody I know, including shows on the radio, are complaining how terrible the commercials were and how bad the halftime show was.

You'd think some of this would filter back to the NFL, but they're pretty well dead set on making the halftime show all about the women and have been for some time. Doesn't help that I hate Coldplay. Beyonce is alright but I don't go out of my way to listen to her. And Bruno Mars...again? Really? WHY. I went to the bathroom and swear I wasn't in there more than five minutes, just before the halftime show, and when I came out it was over. Hahahaha, good.

I also heard some complaints that it sounded pre-produced. Well, duh...it was probably all pre-recorded and they're all lip-syncing. Lip-syncing to auto-tuned BS.  >:(

The commercials were all shite, though "Baby Puppy Monkey" did make me laugh. I couldn't tell you what they were advertising so I guess it wasn't that effective.

[Bison]

I actually like Nance and Simms compared to most of the announcing teams.  CBS also did the right thing and did the broadcast free over the internet.  I cannot believe I'm complimenting CBS, but in this case they deserve it.