Mizzou Football: Kony Ealy Has Big Game

The Carolina Panthers may have lost Super Bowl 50, but former Mizzou Football player Kony Ealy had a game to remember.

The Carolina Panthers ran into a tough Denver defense on Sunday in one of the most underwhelming offensive Super Bowls of all-time. The winning team only managed 194 yards of offense and 34 of those yards came on one play.

The Panthers’ offense was plagued by dropped passes, missed opportunities, and fumbled footballs. They coughed up the ball four times which makes any game hard to win, let alone the Super Bowl.

Kony Ealy represented Mizzou football well, with a great showing in the loss. Ealy had three sacks, forced a fumble, and recovered a fumble. He also showed off some good hands with a nifty interception that he returned 19 yards. He runs pretty well for a ‘big man’. While the video isn’t allowed to be embedded, you can watch a video of the interception here.

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Kony Ealy put up numbers that may have been good enough for Super Bowl MVP if the Panthers had been able to come up with the victory. Von Miller won the honor for the Broncos with very similar numbers. Miller stripped Cam Newton of the football two times. Both of those forced fumbles led to touchdowns for the Broncos.

Ealy’s three sacks tied a Super Bowl record shared by Darnell Dockett and Reggie White. That’s pretty good company to be in considering White is in the Hall of Fame and Dockett is a three-time Pro-Bowler.

Kony Ealy may be in position to become the Panthers’ primary defensive end in 2016. Jared Allen may be on his last leg as a defender and if he does stick around it may be in a limited role. Ealy’s breakout performance had people talking. See what was said in an article by Mike Norris at Bleacher Report:

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"Ealy’s plays were not inconsequential, either. His interception came in the first half as Denver was driving toward the Carolina red zone. His third sack caused Manning to fumble, and he recovered it at midfield. The Panthers drove downfield and kicked a field goal to cut the lead to 16-10 with 10 minutes, 21 seconds remaining in the game.NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport tweeted that the media should have focused more extensively on Ealy leading up to the game"

The future looks bright for Kony Ealy as he’ll look to build on the best game of his professional career. Mizzou Football has had several defensive players make an impact in the NFL and Ealy may just be the latest to have made a name for himself.

Next: Best Mizzou Quarterbacks

What do you think Mizzou Football fans? Was Kony Ealy underrated coming out of college? Was his Super Bowl performance an anomaly or a sign of things to come? Let me know in the comments section below.

All stats courtesy of NFL.com