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WALLY HALL: Super Bowl a grandiose disappointment

Defensive coordinators and maybe some defensive players might not agree, but Super Bowl 50 was more of a Stupor Bowl or Super Bore than a fun game to watch.

Yeah, yeah, Sunday's game received the second-highest TV rating of any Super Bowl.

Of course it did. There wasn't much choice. And since it was the last football game until August, most people stuck it out, thin or thin.

Granted, it wasn't like driving to Memphis and back in one day, but it wasn't great fun either.

When the highlights are Lady Gaga singing the national anthem, and Beyonce and Bruno Mars having a dance off to carry Coldplay at the half, things didn't go great.

Let's just lay it out there: The announcers weren't very good, and obviously CBS doesn't believe in sharing individual statistics on the air or its website. And the commercials were mostly as overhyped as the game.

Yes, your trusty scribe watched every second starting with the pregame that included a somewhat controversial interview with Carolina's Cam Newton, who walked out of the postgame interview.

If Newton wasn't humbled Sunday night, and he probably never will be, then it isn't going to happen.

He's almost as arrogant as New England's Tom Brady, who was booed when he was introduced with the former Super Bowl MVPs beforehand.

Brady, who has played in six Super Bowls and won four of those, may be the most unpopular NFL player, outside of the Boston area.

Newton is closing in on a solid second, but he didn't lose the Super Bowl by himself. He had a little help.

His interception and fumbles hurt, especially considering the fumbles led to 14 Denver points, or to put it another way, the deciding margin of victory in the game.

Not that Peyton Manning wants his legacy to be Super Bowl 50 either. Instead of being the catalyst he was the manager, and he managed to let the Broncos defense do its thing.

Remember, when the Broncos arrived at the Super Bowl, it was Brady who said they were there because of their defense and he was right.

Starting with Brady in the AFC Championship Game and continuing to the Super Bowl with Newton, that defensive line dominated.

They had Brady and Newton eating more grass than a herd of starving cattle.

Linebacker Von Miller was named MVP, only the 10th defensive player to win the honor. But it could have gone to the entire defensive line, which came in with a plan to make Newton beat them with his arm while scrambling for his life.

They were successful.

Newton was sacked six times and had only six carries. One last thing on him: When he fumbled the last time and visibly backed off trying to make the recovery, it was he -- and only he -- who hurt his image. It will be temporary, but he did it.

Almost lost in the dominance of the Denver defense -- which led to many comments about defensive coordinator Wade Phillips not being employed last season -- was the game Panthers defensive end Kony Ealy played. He had three of the five sacks on Manning, forced him to fumble and also intercepted a pass.

The gutsy, gritty play of Denver running back C.J. Anderson might have earned him some MVP consideration if the D-line hadn't been such a determining factor. Anderson carried 23 times for 90 yards and had 4 receptions, and his fourth quarter touchdown sealed the victory.

Another aspect that hurt the flow of the game -- but gave CBS plenty of time to air those not-very-creative commercials -- was penalties. Carolina was flagged 12 times and Denver six. That's far too many on football's largest stage.

Sports on 02/09/2016

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