Miller overcomes obstacles, dominates on biggest stage

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — It happens this way often in sports, that great success by a team is created through unforgettable disaster, that amazing individual achievement is born from embarrassing failure.

The road to a championship isn't always nice and clean and tidy.

Sometimes, you need the guy who once tried substituting another's urine for his own when trying to beat an NFL drug test.

Denver and its Broncos have a third Lombardi Trophy to display back home because a defense that was built specifically off a shellacking the team took two years ago in this game and a linebacker who is a past offender of the league's drug policy overwhelmed favored Carolina 24-10 in Super Bowl 50 on Sunday before 71,088 at Levi's Stadium.

There is no better snapshot to Denver's victory than what occurred with 4:04 remaining, the Broncos having just stripped Carolina quarterback Cam Newton deep in his territory and Newton barely making an effort to pursue the fumble.

He became a spectator as the ball bounced toward the end zone, watched the Broncos recover it at the 9-yard line, sat on what was nasty and ripped turf and understood any opportunity for late-game heroics and a win in his first Super Bowl was over.

Newton was a beaten, broken man who had packed it in and given up.

That's what the league's Most Valuable Player was reduced to by Denver.

It did so behind the Super Bowl's Most Valuable Player and the player selected No. 2 and immediately following Newton in the 2011 draft. Von Miller easily was the most dominating figure in what was the ugliest of games Sunday, finishing with 2½ sacks, two forced fumbles and six tackles.

His first sack and strip of Newton was recovered by the Broncos for a touchdown and 10-0 first-quarter lead. His final sack and strip was the one that broke Newton's spirit.

"This is what you work for," Miller said. "We didn't pay attention to underdog talk. We know the type of team we are. We have a lot of love for each other, and that is where this success came from."

It actually came from this: Seattle 43, Denver 8.

Miller was injured and didn't play in the Super Bowl two years ago, when the Seahawks rolled over Denver and John Elway realized what needed to happen if his team soon would return to this moment.

So the former Broncos great and now Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager went out and spent more than $109 million on contracts for defensive upgrades. DeMarcus Ware to rush the passer. Aqib Talib to cover big wide receivers. T.J. Ward to roam the secondary at safety.

Elway got three All-Pros in them, and yet it's Miller's journey to Super Bowl MVP that best describes how far Denver has come since being bum-rushed by Seattle.

He was suspended for four games in 2013 under the NFL's substance-abuse policy, a violation that was increased to six games when it was discovered he attempted to corrupt the league's drug-testing program with the help of a urine collector.

The case forced the league to change its collection procedures, and it's a good thing for Miller wasn't an Olympic athlete, which would have landed a ban of two or four years.

He also had numerous traffic violations for which he was arrested for failing to appear, tried to purchase a gun with an outstanding warrant, tested positive for marijuana as a rookie and suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament at the end of the 2013 regular season, missing the playoffs and Super Bowl.

Second chances sometimes work out. They sometimes don't. They sometimes lead to you becoming the most celebrated player in the biggest game of your life.

Miller is that guy today.

"In my opinion, we're the best defense to ever play the game," Broncos linebacker and Cimarron-Memorial alum Brandon Marshall said. "Ever. It's a bold statement, but from top to bottom — from rushers to safeties to linebackers — we're better than anybody who has ever done it."

I'm not so sure I agree.

I'm also not sure it's so bold.

You can make better arguments for the 1976 Steelers and the 1985 Bears and the 2000 Ravens and the 2013 Seahawks team that caused Elway to re-evaluate his defensive players, but consider what Denver did off a marvelous game plan from coordinator Wade Phillips: Carolina led the NFL in scoring this season with a 31.2 average and produced 54 offensive touchdowns, of which Newton took part on 45. The Panthers had scored 80 points in two playoff wins before Sunday.

The Broncos held them to 10 points and 315 yards, all the while proving true the notion that if a time came when Newton struggled — he didn't much in Carolina going 15-1 before the Super Bowl — a sub-par supporting cast after running back Jonathan Stewart and tight end Greg Olsen couldn't make up the difference against an elite defense such as the one Denver owns.

The Broncos beat Tom Brady twice this season. They beat Ben Roethlisberger in the playoffs. Now, they beat Newton in the Super Bowl.

Not so bold at all.

"Cam was our focus, and he didn't really look to run much, so we started rushing four and five guys to see if we could get him," said Phillips, who was out of a job when first-year Denver coach Gary Kubiak called. "Von Miller just played tremendous. He took over the game. It's a great tribute to his talent and what he can do.

"I said going from unemployed to the Super Bowl is great, but from unemployed to winning the Super Bowl is even better. I think we have to be considered up there with the all-time great defenses. I've been around some great ones, and we almost led in the league in every category.

"They said we couldn't stop this quarterback, that quarterback. This is all very gratifying. This is a very special defense."

It happens this way often in sports.

Sometimes, a team and one of its star players need to be dragged through the mud before things become as nice and clean and shiny as the Lombardi Trophy.

— Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be a heard on "Seat and Ed" on Fox Sports 1340 from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. On Twitter: @edgraney.