Super Farce 50: Observations From The National Bloodfeast

• I can't believe, for the life of me, anyone outside of the Carolinas or Panther fans even thinking of betting for or believing Carolina would win.  This was so obviously The Peyton Manning Retirement Party, and the only thing which surprised me is that they gave Carolina no "hope spot" in the entire game to indicate it was going to be viewed as a two-way contest.  It was clear that the NFL felt Peyton Manning such a broken man physically that they could not count on him doing One More Drive at the end, so the game was effectively done the way it was.
• You know I'm doing this one:  It was evident from the go that the officials and New York were in full charge of the game from whistle to whistle.  The worst call, though, was probably the biggest -- and it was in the first quarter.  We had a Calvin Johnson ruling again, and the rule worked as intended:  It set the table for Carolina to be hamstrung for the rest of the game with a shit call.  First play, second Carolina drive with about seven minutes to go in the quarter, Newton passes to Cotchery for 25 yards.  The pass is ruled incomplete on the field, and Carolina challenges.  The replay shows a clear Calvin Johnson situation, but the blazes if I can find where the ball actually contacts the ground.  Ruling on the field "stands", meaning there was no conclusive evidence (even with all of the extra cameras used for the Super Bowl) that the ball never touched the ground??????  Two plays later, fumble into the end zone for the touchdown, and Denver never looks back.
• Aqib Talib should've been thrown out of the game.  Before he should've, though, he was involved in an incident in which he got a separate unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, and the cameras catch what, to me, was a 50-50 situation.  Both players were unsportsmanlike, yes.  Yes, Talib took his chinstraps and threw them down during the exchange, but that wasn't anything more than offsetting -- the penalty gave Carolina a fresh set of downs it could do nothing with, but indicated the officials and New York were understanding the flow of the game and trying to offset Denver a bit.
• But it was the play before Carolina's lone touchdown that should've been the end of Talib's night.  A 13-yard pass from Newton to Brown to the Denver 2 is only stopped by Talib taking Brown by the facemask and helicoptering him to the ground.  Not only should he have been tossed as a function of a flagrant dangerous facemask, but the only reason the touchdown was stopped (for one play) was his foul.  The referees should've awarded the six and tossed Talib.
• Cam Newton appeared to get away with intentional grounding at least twice.  One of the things which should've indicated to viewers paying attention that the game was Denver's was something else:  Newton didn't even really attempt to use his speed and the like for the entire first quarter!
• The long punt return that led to Denver's second field goal had two problems:  One, it did look like the punter got a fair degree of nailed on the situation (even running into the kicker would've nullified the return if nothing else).  Two, there was all sorts of confusion, and almost certainly a penalty for failing to give Norwood the opportunity to catch the ball, fair or otherwise. Deadspin noted five Panthers avoided tackling Norwood during the return -- though I might only count the last three, as I think the first two probably interfered with his ability to catch the ball.
• There was a play with some question on it in the third quarter at 13-7 Denver just before Carolina missed the field goal  There was a flag for a defensive holding situation, but it was picked up, stating there was no foul -- and no one decided to actually get the public to look at it to see what the confusion was.
• Not to mention that Carolina felt Talib had committed his fourth penalty of the game by jumping offside on the missed field goal.
• The game was one of the dirtiest in Super Bowl history, as SEVEN 15-yard penalties were accepted -- it was clear the officials were given orders to call the chippy nature of the NFL tightly, but the penalties just seemed to highlight the violent nature of the game...
• ... a game so violent that, by about three minutes to go in the third quarter, there were at least three ANNOUNCED players with concussions in the locker room.
• If there was any remaining doubt that the game was The Peyton Manning Retirement Party, the announcers were not only saying they did not believe Carolina would be able to score twice (at 16-7), but were already beginning to talk "The End" for Manning at the start of the 4th quarter.
• Another key bad call was when Ted Ginn Jr. got MUGGED in the 4th quarter on a driver which led to Carolina's field goal, but a touchdown makes it a 2-point game.
• The final straw (and the announcers noted it) was on the fumble that gave Denver it's final touchdown, a fumble in which Cam Newton did not go into the pile to get.  In the Super Bowl...  Cam Newton played his role to the hilt -- and if Carolina (or Newton with another team) gets back real soon, don't think that won't weigh in his favor.

So no...  I don't think there was an ounce of legit in any of this.