Because the Carolina Panthers were in their usual pregame routine on the eve of the Super Bowl, quarterback Cam Newton and coach Ron Rivera couldn't be in San Francisco to accept their respective awards at the NFL Honors ceremony.

The schedule worked out much better for linebacker Thomas Davis. He made the 50-minute trip from San Jose that morning to attend the Super Bowl 50 Breakfast, an event that featured Davis' latest honor.

A year after he was named the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year, Davis was given The Bart Starr Award. Voted on by fellow players, the honor goes to someone who exemplifies character and leadership on and off the field.

Because the ceremony was held early on Saturday morning of Super Bowl week, there wasn't much media coverage. I regretted not going, especially after receiving an email from a BBR reader who caught Davis' "must see" acceptance speech.

I then dropped the ball for another week and a half until a Wednesday night retweet from Davis reminded me to search YouTube.

Success!

I won't spoil his speech by giving any details, but you'll want to carve out 9:30 to watch this when you can:

And here's the entire ceremony, including the award announcement and accompanying video starting at 9:50: