This past Sunday I actually caught myself watching the Pro Bowl, quickly realized my mistake, and changed the channel back to “Prospectors”. A sadness overcame me as I realized there will be no more football on Sundays (you know what I mean soccer fans) until September.
But wait! There is one more chance for viewing a great game. One more chance to watch the most popular sport in America. One more chance to listen to Phil Simms be mediocre. One more chance to watch Peyton Manning throw a football. One more chance to get your fix.
This is it. The end of the NFL season comes down to a game between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers. The Super Bowl.
For me this is a special Super Bowl. Being a lifelong fan of a team that can not get out of their own way I have never been able to root for my home team, but I sure know how to hold a grudge against other teams. This is what my Super Bowl viewing has amounted to – rooting against teams. One of the perks of being a fan is that you do not have to be reasonable, but it also takes a toll on the enjoyment of the game if you truly just love to watch it. I digress- why is this special? Because I don’t really care about either team! So I get to sit back and watch (hopefully) good football.
In one of the sports where seeding matters the least in the path to win as history has shown; these teams are the No. 1 seeds from the AFC and NFC. Carolina wiped the floor with strong teams in Seattle and Arizona. I still am not sure how Denver got here. Every Patriots fan right about now is wishing they had not thrown away Week 16 & 17 so they would have had home field. The game is set.
Super quick team break downs.
Carolina Panthers–
The Offense: Cam Newton. The LeBron of football. People have said if you were building a basketball player in a lab, you would build LeBron. I would say the same goes for Cam Newton- his size, strength, speed, and arm make him an ideal candidate to be a dominant quarterback. No one has really been able to stop him this year as a 15-1 record states. They run the ball very effectively and make wide receivers like Jerricho Cotchery look solid.
The Defense: Arguably the strength of the team that boasts one of the best linebackers (Luke Keuchly) and best cornerback (Josh Norman) in the league. They have feasted upon teams that are not as fast or disciplined as they are.
Denver Broncos–
The Offense: A strange mash-up of a Gary Kubiak offense and what Peyton Manning can actually still do. They have excellent receivers in Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, and a running game that is not going to scare you with Ronnie Hillman and C.J. Anderson.
The Defense: Clearly the strength. Von Miller and Demarcus Ware pass rushing off the edge was a sight to behold as they man-handled the Patriots’ depleted offensive line last week. A strong secondary that is not afraid of putting a hand on you, as Gronk now knows. This defense has carried them this far; can it carry them to a Super Bowl victory?
Result: I hope that I am wrong, but this game may be over before the start of the fourth quarter. The only way Denver will be able to hang with Carolina is if Cam Newton does not do well in his first super bowl (possible), the Denver pass rush gets penetration (also possible), Denver secondary shuts down Carolina receivers (pretty possible), and somehow they also stop the Carolina rushing attack (…kind of possible?).
Carolina wins 34-21.
The Overtime Network, assemble!
Image courtesy of @_anchorman on twitter.com.
Andrew W. – I’ll start by saying that I’m only a little biased here. As a Tennessee fan, I’m definitely wanting Peyton to get another Super Bowl. Having said that, I’m also a fan of the Panthers as they were only a few hours from me. From a pure football standpoint, I just don’t see the Broncos offense doing anything against Carolina. Even if Denver’s D can slowdown Cam Newton and the offense, I don’t think they can shut them down and will eventually be worn down. I’m going to say Carolina wins 24-19
John L. – I see this as part two of a Broncos bashing in a Super Bowl. Yes, they’re defense is great and has gotten them here. But they barely scraped out a win against a battered Patriots offense. Carolina’s offense is much better than the Pats, and will be too much for the Broncos D to handle. The Panthers have too many weapons on both sides of the ball in this one. Panthers win 38-17.
Joseph M. – Heading into this year’s Super Bowl, Super Bowl 50, I am sitting at a 9-1 record with postseason predictions. For those of you who don’t follow our social media accounts yet, my loss came against the one and only Super Bowl contending Denver Broncos. With that being said, I am going to pick against them once against. I have the utmost respect for Peyton Manning and the strength of Denver’s team, but when it comes down to it I expect this game to be a battle of the defenses with Carolina’s forcing more turnovers and the Panther offense creating more opportunities against Denver’s D as well. With my 11th pick in this year’s playoffs, I select Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers to take the trophy, winning 31-20.
Alec M. – I think it’s fair to say that most of the neutral fans with no rooting interest in this game want Peyton Manning to go out on top by winning and retiring. However, even with that top Denver D, it’s unlikely that Peyton can keep pace with Cam Newton in this game. Newton has already taken apart two elite defenses in Seattle and Arizona, and made it look easy. Even if Denver can slow him down a little, Luke Kuechly and the Panthers defense could have a field day with another aged QB. I do think Denver will come out to play early and Carolina won’t find the comfort of big early leads they’ve had the past two games. In the end though, I’ll take The Panthers D spoiling a final comeback drive from Manning and Kuechly stealing the MVP from Cam. Panthers 27-20
Tyler F. – This game will not begin to become close till the 4th quarter when Peyton Manning is desperate to win. Cam Newton will come out as he always does every game and jump out to a two score lead in the first half. Denver will make the appropriate adjustments in the second half, but Peyton will be unable to create an opportunity to put themselves in the lead. Carolina seems to struggle putting points on the board in the second half and so it will give a slight hope for Denver to make a rally, but in the end Superman wins his first Superbowl and the potential for many more to come. Score: 31-23 Carolina winning
Andrew H. – Hard to pick against Carolina. With Cam Newton leading the way you don’t see them being stopped often, yet most people said that Tom Brady was going to be able to do some good things against the Denver defense. The Broncos went out and kept Brady off rhythm, on the ground, and cost a coach his job. I do not see Carolina running away with it, but any time you have Peyton Manning under center you have a chance to do something special even if we are in the twilight of an amazing career. In a defensive show down, the soon to be MVP Newton will lead the Panthers to a win. Carolina 27-21
David H. – The only thing the Broncos have a chance to win is the coin toss. The Bronco’s defense has been their saving grace all year, but it now has the unfortunate task of stopping Cam Newton. You can watch all the tape you want to prepare but until you see it live, you don’t know what is in store. Frankly the AFC does not have any QBs like Cam or running QBs in general. Russell Wilson, Colin Capernick, RGIII, when he was playing, are all from the NFC. No defense can be prepared to stop a QB in a tight end’s body, who runs a 4.4 and can throw the ball like Newton.
In what seems to be Peyton Manning’s farewell encore, he will mount a Manning-like come back in the second half after the Panthers jump out to a quick 14-point lead through the first two quarters. However in the end, they will fall short. Coming from a Colts fan, I know this feeling all to well. This will have nothing to do with Manning failing yet again because “he can’t finish in the playoffs.” It will have everything to do with team on the other side of the ball being better in every aspect of the game.
I see the Panthers scoring quick and often until Wade Phillips is able to figure out some schemes that slow them down. The Bronco’s offense will struggle finding a rhythm because of the physicality of the corners and the pressure from the Carolina front seven. Carolina wins handily. 38- 24 Panthers win
Featured Image courtesy of www.starpulse.com.
