Wade Phillips works magic, earns his first ring
Stadium’s turf slippery; Lynch apparently done
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Wade Phillips stood at the podium, pumped his right hand in the air and screamed: “Yes!” Son of Bum is a champion. Phillips’ smothering defense shut down Cam Newton and the Denver Broncos beat the Panthers 24-10 to give Peyton Manning his second Super Bowl title Sunday.
They wouldn’t have done it without Super Bowl MVP Von Miller and the rest of Phillips’ D.
“We were underdogs,” Phillips said. “They said we can’t stop this quarterback or that quarterback, so it’s real gratifying.”
The 68-year-old Phillips was out of football last year before returning to Denver as coach Gary Kubiak’s defensive coordinator.
“From unemployed to Super Bowl is good. From unemployed to winning the Super Bowl is even better,” Phillips said.
Phillips learned defense from his dad, Bum Phillips, who led the Houston Oilers in the ’70s. Bum Phillips was 82-77 coaching the Oilers and New Orleans, but never won a Super Bowl. His Oilers couldn’t get past the Pittsburgh Steelers’ dynasty.
“He would be glad we kicked the door down,” Phillips said, referring to one of his father’s famous quotes. Bum Phillips passed away in 2013.
The Broncos were No. 1 in yards allowed, passing yards allowed and sacks in the regular season. Then they beat Ben Roethlisberger, Tom Brady and the NFL MVP in the postseason.
“You have to say this is a special, alltime defense,” said Phillips, who was The Associated Press Assistant Coach of the Year.
Phillips has gone 82-61 as a head coach, with only one playoff win in six tries. Of his three head-coaching stints, in Denver, Buffalo and Dallas, none lasted longer than four seasons.
He has served as defensive coordinator with the Saints, Eagles, Broncos, Bills, Falcons, Chargers, Texans and the Broncos again. Wherever he goes, he builds strong relationships with his players.
“We love to play for him. He brings that energy and enthusiasm every day,” cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said.
EALY: Kony Ealy wrapped his arms around Peyton Manning’s right leg to pull down the Denver quarterback.
He tugged Manning by the back of his jersey to put him on the turf another time, and he came from behind to shake up the Broncos offense, too.
The unheralded second-year defensive end even caught Manning by complete surprise — not to mention most everybody else in Levi’s Stadium — when he made a snazzy, one-handed grab to secure a second-quarter interception with Denver driving at the Carolina 20. Then Ealy scrambled 19 yards on the return.
“I just did my job. I knew my job, my angle, I knew which receiver I had. I know
Peyton, he likes to throw in those short little windows,” Ealy said. “I just got my head back real quick and the ball just happened to be there, slow motion. I caught it.”
FIELD: So much for all those positive declarations from the NFL on how the Levi’s Stadium turf would hold up.
Both teams were reporting issues with the field, installed in the past month by the NFL. According to sideline reports by CBS, players were switching out their cleats and complaining about the footing on the field.
Manning slipped on one pass play and was sacked for a 7-yard loss after being touched while down (a replay review was needed to rule it a sack) and other players were slipping throughout the first half of Super Bowl 50.
The turf has been problematic throughout most of Levi’s Stadium’s two-year existence but had been improved during the 2015 season. The NFL stripped out the entire field after the 49ers’ season ended and installed its own, but the problems remain.
LYNCH: Marshawn Lynch was at the center of attention in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. Except this time, Lynch may have given the surest sign he’s on the verge of retirement.
Lynch, the mercurial Seattle Seahawks running back, sent a tweet during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game with a pair of cleats hanging from a power or telephone line, along with an emoji depicting a peace sign. It certainly wasn’t a definitive statement that Lynch is ready to call it a career, but fit with mounting evidence that the bruising running back is ready to move on from football.
The Seahawks official Twitter account later added the hashtag #ThankYouBeastMode to Lynch’s original message and a spokesman said the tweet stood as the team’s comment.