“He (Newton) is a special talent, a rare talent”, said Broncos coach Gary Kubiak. The Panthers get more takeaways than any team in the league and their quarterback is unstoppable when he’s at his best. He and Kubiak have been doing this long enough to know that players win games – not coaches – and fittingly, both talked liking the way both their teams have looked this week. “Everything I’ve seen since I’ve come here, when he’s been healthy and 100 percent, he’s made all of the throws, and I haven’t seen anything different this last month”.
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The Manning factor. Sure, he’s had a pretty bad season by his standards, with the second most interceptions against his name in the National Football League this season, despite only playing 7 full games.
According to the pool report, Manning connected with wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders on one deep ball early in the session and found Demaryius Thomas and Andre Caldwell later on. If you throw in a little bit of tight end Greg Olsen, running back Jonathan Stewart, and Pro-Bowler Mike Tolbert, you essentially have the key pieces of the offense.
“Defense wins championships, and we’re not going to stop being aggressive on whoever we play”, Broncos linebacker DeMarcus Ware said. “We practiced better today than we did last week”. I liked our speed.
Archie Manning said he sent a letter to Tom Coughlin and they had a “great conversation” after Coughlin stepped down.
Now, would it be hard to go 15-1 against the Bucs? – Manning’s famous call – and drew the defense offside. We know where the meeting rooms are. “Now we just have to see him finish this thing”.
It’s almost upon us, but there can only be one victor. The over / under is 1.5 – I’m going with the over. Both teams will be focused on stopping the pass. Manning hasn’t had a very good season passing the football, but he is one of the smartest quarterbacks of all time and he has a big edge in experience.
Osweiler insists he’s not paying attention.
Playing in the Super Bowl has “become a common thing for us, and not everybody can say that”. “… That will cost you”. I think he deserves to be recognized that way and if he loses Sunday, he’ll probably go down as a quarterback who had lots of stats, but didn’t always deliver and doesn’t even lead his own family in Super Bowl wins.
There might be something to that, as Shula has helped groom star quarterback Cam Newton into a bona fide MVP candidate by highlighting his rare combination of size, arm strength and mobility, and downplaying his spotty mechanics, which can affect his accuracy.
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Panthers owner Jerry Richardson attended practice for the first time after arriving in California on Wednesday night, watching practice from a golf cart beyond a corner of the field.
