Super Bowl notebook: Peyton Manning will wait, then decide his future

SANTA CLARA - After the Super Bowl, a reporter asked Peyton Manning if Sunday’s game was his last game in the NFL.

“I don’t know the answer to that,” the Denver Broncos quarterback replied. “Tony Dungy, whom I communicated with last night when he got in the Hall of Fame … I talked to him last week. He called me and said, ‘I need to talk to you,’?” and said he got some good advice from Dick Vermeil and I think maybe Bill Cowher as well about not making an emotional decision one way or the other. And so, I thought that was good advice to let this sink in.

“It has been an emotional week, an emotional night, and the night is just beginning. I look forward to celebrating with my friends and family. I think I’ll take some time after that. Like I said, I’m going to enjoy tonight, take it one step at a time.”

Manning, 39, has played 18 NFL seasons. This was his second Super Bowl title.

VERNON GETS HIS RING

Vernon Davis had a few big victories at Levi’s Stadium. His biggest followed a strange path.

Davis, who was in his 10th season with the 49ers when they traded him to the Broncos on Nov. 2, now has a Super Bowl ring. No one saw that coming earlier this season, as the Niners floundered and Davis, once among the NFL’s best tight ends, seemed to lose his fire.

He didn’t exactly rekindle it in Denver. Davis played sparingly for the Broncos, including, by his estimation, 8-10 plays in Super Bowl 50. But he is a champion nonetheless.

“I knew from the moment (of the trade) something amazing was gonna happen,” Davis said. “… It didn’t turn out the way I pictured it for myself, but at the end of the day it’s not about me and the accolades I receive, what awards. It’s all about how can you contribute to get this team from Point A to Point B? And I’m very, very pleased with the way I contributed to this team this season, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

ELWAY RETURNS THE FAVOR

When the Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers to win Super Bowl 32 in January of 1998, team owner Pat Bowlen hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy and told the crowd, “This one’s for John.”

Elway had waited 15 seasons for his first title, and Bowlen knew how much it meant to the famed quarterback.

Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, Elway got to return the favor. Bowlen stepped away from the team in July of 2014 to deal with complications from Alzheimer’s disease. After Denver’s victory over Carolina, Elway, who is now the team’s general manager, shouted, “This one’s for Pat.”

“I feel very lucky to be able to say it back to him, because this is a hard game to win. The NFL is a tough place to win, and especially the world championship. And to be able to get back here and win it and have the opportunity to say ‘this one’s for Pat,’ it was what I wanted to do. And I owe everything to Pat. He gave me an opportunity as a player and he gave me an opportunity as an executive.”

THE BEST DEFENSE EVER?

The Broncos’ top-ranked defense recorded seven sacks Sunday evening against the Panthers, tying a Super-Bowl record set 30 years ago by the greatest defense of all time, the 1985 Chicago Bears.

Is the Broncos defense even better than the best defense of all time?

“Easy, easy,” Broncos cornerback Chris Harris said after the victory. “That was the No. 1 offense in the world before this. All that you were talking about was Cam Newton every day and their offense, how we’re going to stop them, how we cannot stop them. Everyday that’s what you talked about.

“For us to get 10 points, four turnovers, to have a game like we did today, we proved that we were one of the greatest ever defenses. Look at our schedule. We played 16 games. Half of those games came down to the wire and we had to win on defense. Probably more than half.”