Monday morning NFL recap - Super Bowl

First, I want to say that I ended up making Sunday dinner because Tom went to work at The Condo with my cousin who is in town. Normally Tom makes Sunday meals, but my cousin Darrell is a man, just like my dad, who gets bored on vacation and needs projects. So when he called Tom and offered his help at The Condo Tom and I knew we had to jump. Tom had planned on wings so I got a crockpot recipe for those. I wanted macaroni and cheese and so I found a recipe for that. Then just for good measure I researched Super Bowl recipes and found one for Cheesy Burgers. All three dishes turned out to be a MAJOR HIT. I am now the Super Bowl Meal Queen.

Secondly, because I was busy cooking I had to pause the beginning of the game, and thus when we sat down with our plates I forgot all about the commercials as I fast forwarded through from play to play. So I can't really comment about those this year except for the second half.

Lastly...

PEYTON MANNING! PEYTON MANNING! PEYTON MANNING!

YAY PEYTON MANNING!!!!

• First thing as Peyton took the field at the start of the game was the "oldest quarterback" comment that gets my blood boiling. Really? Are we so caught up with the obvious that we can't come up with something better? We've had a week of Super Bowl hype and questions and comments and guess what? We all know the quarterback age difference guys.
• Denver's offense and defense came out smokin' while the Panthers offense looked nervous and off kilter. Neither lasted long in those roles.
• The Bronco's Aqib Talib seemed to forget where he was in the first half. No one had to be knowledgeable about football when the flags were thrown. No matter the infraction we knew it was on "#21" as he made 1, 2, and 3 penalties that pretty much allowed the Panthers to put their first 7 points on the board. This is where I felt Coach Kubiak needed to step in and rein him in instead of worrying about calling Manning's offensive plays.
• And speaking of that...I really felt Kubiak needed to step back and let Manning do what he does best. Have you not listened to Terry Bradshaw? He called his own plays and has four Super Bowl rings to show for it. Kubiak's plays didn't get anywhere near the end zone and the Bronco's had to kick time after time after time.
• I'm not a big fan of the halftime entertainment and this 50th anniversary celebration didn't do anything to change my mind. If Bruno Mars hadn't rocked his hips and showed us his fancy footwork I would have gone to sleep.
• Defense vs Defense ruling the entire game. Who knew?
• Anyone else think Cam Newton came unhinged? Not going after the loose ball was really not Newton. Odd. But I'm telling you it is better to lose a few games during the season so you don't get to feeling too cocky. Ask Manning about that when he was last here after a stellar season. In fact all five teams who won 15 games lost the big one.
• As I've said before I am not a fan of the CBS team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. But really when they started tooting their own horn in Oh-we-picked-the-Broncos-with-their-great-defense-at-the-beginning-of-the-season it made me dislike them even more.
• Peyton wanted to go for two, and I can't tell you how thrilled I am that he threw the damn ball and got into the end zone for the extra points.
• I know that Carolina fans wanted this win, but did they really? Heck, I think the entire US was pulling for Peyton Manning. He should retire and then run for President.
• Now we just need him to do the right thing and retire. Go out on a high. Leave with a win. End the fairytale the way Disney does fairytales. Thanks for the memories Manning. You're the best in my book. Class act all the way.
• Blah on the commercials. Other than the weird "Super Bowl Babies" through the years I really can't remember one of them.
• The best 50th anniversary celebration the NFL did was the MVP's of past years carrying the trophy to the podium. Although they could only get three? Who was in charge of this debacle?
• Annabel Bowlen, wife of the Bronco's owner, on stage again? Oh, boy. At least she kept it short and sweet this time.
• I thought it odd no one mentioned Brock Osweiler in interviews. Really without him the Broncos might not have even been here.
• Was that booing when Coach Kubiak took the stage? Hmmm....
• Okay, I wasn't happy with Peyton's Budweiser plugging. Too many kids watching and he referenced too much about drinking a lot of beer.
• I sure hope FOX has the Super Bowl next year because that trophy presentation and postgame sucked. I had to switch over to the NFL Network and ESPN for anything noteworthy.
• Wow. How disappointing was Cam Newton's postgame press conference? He sat there like he was Marshawn Lynch giving one word and one sentence answers like a little kid and then he stood up and walked off. Dude, watch back on Peyton Manning's postgame interviews after losing. I get losing, but this is part of the game. You dropped down in my eyes with that. Shameful.
• Oh, yeah, one last thing. Suck it Jim Irsay!