It was a rainy night on Feb 7th, 2016 in Santa Clara. Twas the night of the Super Bowl. It was 3:43 P.M. and the sun was setting at 244° Southwest. The crowd was roaring in Levi’s stadium. the game was set to start in exactly 17 minutes, The Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers were warming up on the field. Many of the players were ready to set a stage that has never been set before. The Super Bowl was the highest achievement a team could reach in the NFL. But, for two of the players it would change their lives forever.

The clock ticked at 4:00 p.m. on the dot. Gametime: The ball was kicked and the Panthers were receiving the possession of the football first. Fozzy Whittaker, a return specialist for the Panthers was set to return the ball. He catches it and speeds past the defense for a return then suddenly out of nowhere Cody Latimer of the Broncos drags him down at the Panthers 48 yard line. The great Cam Newton approaches the field hoping for a blowout victory in the Super Bowl. Everyone expected a blowout win after the Panthers had an undefeated 16-0 in regular season and 2-0 in playoffs tying the winningest streak with the Patriots for 18-0. Which was better than the Broncos record of 14-2 season. Anyways, back to the story. The first snap of the game was set to happen and Cam Newton went under the center expecting the ball while the #1 defense of the Broncos lined up opposed to the Panthers. “DOWN. SET. HIKE!” The ball was snapped and handed to Jonathan Stewart where he quickly cut inside so closely next to defensive end Demarcus Ware but narrowly misses. Stewart cuts to the outside and gains leverage and then gets tackled by pro bowler selection Chris Harris after a gain of 9 yards.

2nd down. Cam receives the ball and pump fakes to Greg Olsen and throws a deep bomb to Ted Ginn Jr. Aqib Talib’s footing slips and then the ball is caught and ran in for a TD !

Now the Broncos get the ball. Future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning takes the field and the crowd uprises and roars in applause for the Qb that had done so much for the NFL. “DOWN.. SET.. OMAHA, OMAHA.. HIKE.” Peyton gets the ball and throws it off target to receiver Emmanuel sanders, then gets hammered by a defender because of a missed block. But it’s evident Peyton was just out of gas. He was too old and he couldn't perform at the elite level he used to. 2nd down. Peyton receives the ball and hands it off to star Running Back, C.J. Anderson who trucks a blitzing Luke Kuechly who appears to be crying after Anderson put him in his grave. Cj Anderson could care less, he shrugs off the tackle and speeds to the edge and that's all she wrote. “TOUCHDOWN BRONCOS!” Phil Collinsworth announces.

Unfortunately, after this drive took a turn for the worse. The Panthers started scoring and scoring until the score was 21-7 with 1:41 left in the half. The next drive the Broncos had the ball, Peyton got it and handed it to Ronnie Hillman, another great Running Back for the Broncos (whom is the speedster) of the team accelerated for a 36 yard run. Next play and there was 1:21 left until halftime Peyton gets the ball and drops back in the pocket dumps it off to Demaryius Thomas but there was something wrong. As Peyton Manning was throwing the ball he threw with too much weight on his front foot and landed flat footed. The play resulted in a gain of 20 yards. The crowd lets out a collective gasp as the great BO-OF (Burnt out old fart) that Manning was went down. Brock Osweiler, the backup QB who had won all the regular season games since week 11 came out to the field. The Broncos were gassed.they run the ball but, only with a gain of a few short yards. it turned into 4th & 3 with 00:03 left in the half. Brandon McManus came out and kicked the long field goal, the Score turned into 21-10. At halftime Peyton was evaluated and they determined landing flat footed resulted in a sharp twist in the knee which caused a torn ACL. 

The next quarter the Broncos get the ball and proceeded to the field. Brock Osweiler takes the field and gets the ball on 1st down, he drops back in the pocket and gets ready to throw the ball; but as he sets his feet He gets sacked by a Panthers Defensive End and fumbles the ball!!

Fortunately Ronnie Hillman is right the to recover the ball. It is now 2nd and 17 and the Broncos need a good play, it’s a Screen pass to C.J. Anderson who to this point had been destroying defenses and gaining yards and this time is no different. He Grabs the ball and gets hit but fortunately due to only being 5’8 he has a low center of balance so he stumbles but eventually gets back up and runs for 5 then gets confronted by Josh Norman. Josh Norman goes for the hard hit but C.J.j hurdles him! He gets a burst of speed and then gets dragged down by the free safety and is down on the play, the injury crew comes to the field and inspects him. He appears to be down because a concussion which means he gets taken back to the locker room for further inspection.

Play goes, on and it’s now 3rd and 2. Brock gets the ball and sets back in the pocket once again but this time with sweat dripping from his forehead from nervousness, although he still musters enough courage to read the defense and see Emmanuel Sanders is wide open down the field and throws a perfect dime right on target. and Emmanuel trots into the endzone. Touchdown. The score is now 21-17. The play pretty much goes back and forth from here, but no scores were made. It is now the 4th quarter with 1:32 left in the game. The Broncos once again have the ball and need to win this game. The more adjusted Brock Osweiler comes out to the field and looks comfortable. He knows the pressure on him right now but he just does himself. He drops back and throws a quick screen to the speedy receiver, Bennie Fowler; Bennie speeds past the first down marker and then stumbles and falls. The clock is still running and the Broncos don't use one of their two timeouts left. They keep playing and gain two first downs until the clock ticks down to 00:05 seconds left in the game and they have 0 timeouts left now. A deep breath was collected from hundreds, thousands, millions of fans watching this game. DOWN SET HIKE! The ball was hiked to Brock and the only option left now was a hail mary. He drops back, takes a deep breath and throws the furthest ball he’s ever thrown before. The ball spirals in the air to the back of the end zone where time seemed to be in slow motion. The ball finally dropped and a gasp from the crowd as the deciding play of the game was about to happen, and the ball is……………………. CAUGHT BY ANDRE CALDWELL THE BRONCOS WIDE RECEIVER. Everyone in the crowd lets out a huge scream as the Broncos are the new Champions of the Nation. It’s a huge success for the Broncos as a team as they beat the only undefeated NFL team in the NFL this year. The confetti was poured on to the field and a celebration began not only there, but also in Denver. The only sad yet still happy face was the great Peyton Mannings. It was a bittersweet moment for him because he knew with the new star they had in Brock, they didn’t have in Peyton anymore, it was the end of a long, great era. He sheds a tear but goes to celebrate with his Champion team. He finally won a superbowl in Denver. The great accomplishment he set out to do in late 2011 was completed in 2016. Only he hadn’t been the one to win it for his team. He will always go down in history as one of the greatest to ever do it, but now he had to accept that Osweiler was the new hype in Denver. They had a ton of talent on the roster and Peyton knew they would be okay without them. He was just sad because everything he had set out to do in his life, everything he had practiced and played for was gone. Thoughts crossed Peyton’s mind about what he would do now that his career has finally ended, he always wanted to be a baker in Switzerland or just maybe... who knows, maybe come back in a few years and be a coach in Denver.