Carolina beats San Diego 34-17 to win Super Bowl V

Super Bowl V featured San Diego and Carolina two opportunistic defenses with 91 combined takeaways in 36 combined games so on paper it seemed like whoever could protect the ball better would come out ahead. San Diego went three and out on the opening possession and Carolina started its first possession on their own 14. Peyton Manning started off hot and drove the Panthers to the Chargers 1 yard line. San Diego held on 2nd and 3rd down, but Carolina decided to go for it on 4th and 1 and Brandon Jacobs powered the ball over right guard to give Carolina a 7-0 lead with 7:36 left in the first quarter. After both teams punted San Diego drove from their own 20 to the Carolina 33. Jerious Norwood converted a 4th and 2 run to the Carolina 28 but Tony room went deep on first down and Sean Jones picked him off to end the drive.

After two Carolina first downs San Diego came with a run blitz and Manning’s pass was intercepted by Anthony Henry and returned 49 yards to tie the game at 7-7 with 8:30 left in the half. A 31 yard kickoff return by Andre Davis gave Carolina good field position at their own 40 yard line. Manning redeemed himself quickly driving Carolina down the field capped by Jacobs’ second rushing touchdown of the night to put Carolina ahead 14-7 with 5:01 left in the half. San Diego’s offense responds with a 10 play 45 yard drive to set up a Rob Bironas 40 yard field goal with 27 seconds left in the half to cut the Carolina lead to 14-10 at intermission.

Carolina gets the ball to start the second half and Manning continues his hot passing completing 6 passes covering 80 yards in 8 plays, capping the drive with a 25 yard slant to Jericho Cotchery to put Carolina up 21-10 with 10:46 left in the 3rd quarter. San Diego responds behind Tony Romo driving 77 yards in 11 plays and a 3rd down short slant to Marques Colston goes 13 yards to cut the margin to 21-17 with 6:49 left in the 3rd. Carolina starts off with poor field position after a 12 yard return to their own 10, but a Jacobs 10 yard run, Gates 12 yard pass and Houshmandzadeh 32 yard catch quickly bring the ball to the San Diego 35 yard line. Six plays later Manning catches San Diego in a blitz and hits Houshmandzadeh with a 6 yard pitch and catch to cap the 90 yard drive and Carolina builds a 28-17 lead with 1:46 left in the 3rd. San Diego goes three and out giving the ball to Carolina on their own 24 as time runs out in the 3rd quarter.

Carolina drives to the Chargers 3 yard line but the San Diego defense comes up big on 3rd and 1 stuffing Jacobs and a Matt Bryant field goal extends the lead to 31-17 with 8:25 left in the game. San Diego is forced into a 4th and 15 on their on 35 that falls incomplete with 7:13 left in the game. Carolina runs 6 plays and takes 4:32 off the clock and Bryant connects on 37 yard field goal to make the final 34-17.

Carolina had a 462-227 had a yardage and 28-14 first down advantage in the game. Peyton Manning who has struggled in past season’s playoffs took home MVP completing 27-35 for 379 yards and 2 Td’s. Brandon Jacobs rushed 24 times for a modest 91 yards and 2 TD’s for Carolina. TJ Houshmandzadeh caught 11 balls for 138 yards and a TD while Jericho Cotchery added 9 balls for 147 and a TD in the win. The defense was lead by Sean Jones’ 2 Interceptions, Carlos Dansby had 7 tackles and the team had 7 deflections, 3 stuffs and 4 hurries in disrupting the SD offense.

San Diego was lead by Tony Romo’s 20-38 for 169 and a TD pass, Marques Colston’s 7 catches for 73 yards and a TD and a group effort ran for 58 yards on 14 carries. On defense Thomas Davis had a huge game with 8 tackles and 6 stuffs, Barrett Ruud had 9 tackles, 2 deflections and 3 stuffs and Anthony Henry had 7 tackles and a interception return for a touchdown.