(on his current emotions) “Well just disappointment more so than anything else. We had opportunities. We didn’t take advantage of it. They took advantage of their opportunities. They made some plays on the defensive side that put their offense in position to score points. That’s what it came down to. They took advantage of their opportunities. We didn’t.”
(on what he told his players after the game) “Well I told them, for the most part, is we’ve talked about getting to the mountain peak and obviously we’re at the top of the mountain but we’re not at the peak. This team out here played their way today, and that’s why they won the football game. They did some really good things. Again, we didn’t capitalize on the opportunities we had and because of that, they won the football game. So I told our guys just to – this is the same team that a couple of years ago got beat in New York. So we have an opportunity to grow and learn from this experience. So we need to learn from this experience and give ourselves an opportunity to get back here.”
(on turnovers by his team being caused by nervousness) “No, I wouldn’t say that. I would just say we missed opportunities. We tried to put it in position to make plays and we had to look into other ways to put them into position to make plays. You got to give credit to what they did. I thought, again they did some really good things on the defensive side of the ball and made some plays. Pass rush was strong for them, and unfortunately we didn’t capitalize when we got the ball down near our red zone. We can’t turn the ball over in our own red zone.”
(on Aqib Talib being offside on the Panthers’ field goal attempt) “Well, that’s ball. I mean the referee didn’t throw the flag. It was his judgement, and we’ll move on from there.”
(on Von Miller’s performance) “Well we have to look at ways to stop him. I do believe we play the NFC West next season, so we’re going to have to get that answered. He played a heck of a football game. I believe he was the MVP and deservedly so. Played a heck of a football game. He deserves to be the Super Bowl MVP.”
(on how big of a factor the Broncos’ pass rush was) “Well it was a factor obviously because we turned the ball over twice because of it. Again, you got to do your job and again we as coaches have to look at some of the things we did to make sure we’re putting them in position to have success.”
(on if the Panthers gave T Mike Remmers enough help pass blocking) “Well I think we did at times, but at other times, we didn’t. It’s the obvious part. You can’t give it to him all the time. Sometimes you’ve got to make plays. Again, you have to give credit to what they did and credit to how the young man played. I’m not going to take anything away from Von Miller or any of his teammates.”
(on if he thinks the Panthers kept their personality) “I think they did. I think there’s a couple times when we had opportunities and we didn’t take advantage. When you really look at it more than anything else, the problem is we turned the ball over. I mean we fumbled the ball when we really haven’t fumbled the ball. A couple of tipped passes that get intercepted. You’re not going to win football games when you make mistakes like that. Again, credit to them. They did some really great things. They really did. On the offensive side of the ball, they were very efficient when they needed to be and kicked field goals and at the very end they were able to score the last touchdown.”
(on why RB Jonathan Stewart struggled to get going) “I think a lot of it had to do with the type of front they were playing up against us. I thought their linebackers did a real nice job with diagnosing plays, but I do think that they did some nice things with their defensive front. I’m going to have to take a look at the tape and really get a feel for what happened. Again, credit to what they did. They did a heck of a job.”
(on if losing Corey Brown to injury caused the Panthers to lose) “Philly was dynamic and made a couple of plays, but I’m not sure that’s why (we lost). It would’ve been great to have him out there and with his speed. One of the biggest things is (how) he’s grown so much as a savvy receiver. He’s put himself in position to make some plays and (it hurts if) you do lose a guy, but that’s not why.”
(on if he had already spoken to Cam Newton) “I spoke a little bit with him, but again, this is one of those things that’s going to hurt. It’s going to hurt everybody for a while. Hopefully after a few days, or whatever it is, we’re going to get over it and we’ll move forward.”
(on Cam Newton’s performance) “I thought he played pretty well. We’ve got to make plays when we get the chance and we have to put them in position to have success. Obviously, it didn’t work in our favor this week. Again, as I said, you’ve got to give them credit. They played a heck of a football game and Coach (Wade) Phillips did a nice job.”
(on Jerricho Cotchery’s dropped passes) “Well, the hard part is (when) you have the opportunity to make plays and don’t make them. Whether it was Jerricho, or any one of the other players out there, you get a chance to make a play and you make it and it helps keep the momentum going, convert first downs and stuff like that. Those things hurt. Again, I really do want to give credit to what they did on the defensive side of the ball. I thought they had a really nice plan.”
(on challenging Panthers WR Jerricho Cotchery’s incomplete pass in the first quarter) “Based on what I saw, I disagreed, and the answer I got was there was not enough comparable evidence to overturn. That, to me, seems like a hard thing to do. If they would’ve said that was a completion, it would’ve been a completion. Instead, he called it an incompletion and that’s what we have to live with.”
(on his overall take on Super Bowl 50) “I don’t want to diminish what we accomplished. We did a lot of good things. We had some great opportunities. We made a lot of plays, did a lot of positive things, but again, we’re going to take a step back – that’s the one thing. The truth of the matter is we came in second. We’ll go back, evaluate our season and start looking forward to next year.”
(on if he thinks this was Broncos QB Peyton Manning’s last game) “If it is, thank goodness to a degree. He’ll be missed, and he’s a tremendous football player, one of the really good people in this league. I’ve been a big fan of his for a long time. I really have. If it his last game, then congratulations to a great career and a future (Pro Football) Hall of Famer.”
(on if the Broncos had an elite defense) “Oh, absolutely. Again, they played like it, too. We played pretty well as a defense. We did some really good things. Unfortunately, they made more plays, and we didn’t make enough plays.”
(on if he is surprised the game was decided by the teams’ defenses) “No, it really doesn’t surprise me because both these teams are top-notch defenses, and again, (Broncos Defensive Coordinator) Wade Phillips and his defensive staff made decisions that were tremendous. The players they had were great. Again, got to give them credit for winning the football game.”
(on both teams struggling on third down) “The big thing is we were able to get our defense in the third-and-long situations. They did the same thing to us. Again, it comes down to who made more plays on the defensive side.”
(on if his players had any issue with the field’s playing surface) “No, no. We didn’t have any issues with the field. Both teams played on the same field. As far as I’m concerned, for me to be able to blame the field and try to blame it is kind of a cop out. The truth of the matter is we both played on the surface. The surface was outstanding. I thought everything about this week was terrific. I thought the league and the community of Santa Clara, San Jose and San Francisco were tremendous in terms of the way the Super Bowl went off.”
(on his assessment of Cam Newton) “Well I thought when he had opportunities to make plays, he made them. I mean he missed a couple throws, but for the most part I thought he did some really good things that would give himself, give us, a chance. Again, you’d like to see what would’ve happened if he did have a little bit more time.”
(on the fumble late in the fourth quarter and if he thought Cam didn’t try to recover it) “He was trying to find a chance to grab the ball. He’s trying to stay alive and get a chance to pick it up and someone came diving in so he backed up and tried to see where it ended up and then seeing it go flying out. Again, he’s just trying to find an opportunity to pick it up.”
(on the Broncos defense) “They were solid. Again, you’ve got to give them credit. They did a lot of good things. You can’t put yourself in a situation where they can pin their ears back and that’s what they did. We didn’t have enough success on first and second down to really slow it down and that’s probably the biggest thing. We never really slowed down their pass rush.”
