After an early field goal gave the Panthers a 3-0 lead, Ted Ginn Jr was the first player to find the endzone on a well-worked 22-yard reverse that showcased the many different threats of the Carolina ground game. Carolina isolated Arizona’s scoring plays, burying each of the Cardinals’ touchdowns in teal-and-black touchdowns. A week earlier, the Panthers had taken a 31-0 halftime lead on Seattle and held on for a 31-24 win.
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Newton was hot in Auburn’s 20-17 win over OR in the BCS title game in 2010, too.
Arizona, which started slow for the second week in a row, finally scored on running back David Johnson’s 1-yard run with 5:44 left in the first half.
The first half ended in freakish circumstances with, first, Carson Palmer fumbling and turning the ball over to the Panthers. Carolina added 10 points without Arizona answer in the third quarter to enter the fourth up 34-7.
Newton capped his incredible day by throwing a five-yard touchdown to rookie receiver Devin Funchess.
By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Pro Football Writer Today’s NFL is all about the quarterbacks, so perhaps it’s fitting that the 50th Super Bowl features a matchup between Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos… Seven receivers caught a pass from Newton, capped by Corey Brown’s 86-yard touchdown that closed the first quarter. He threw two interceptions which was not like him.
The Panthers rolled from start to finish, avoiding the kind of second-half letdowns that almost derailed them a week ago against the Seahawks and so many times during the regular season.
However, in examining the roads that they’ve traveled to their first ever crack at a conference championship and a trip to the Super Bowl, the similarities wane. Denver recovered New England’s onside kick to seal the win.
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“I kept digging us in a hole and we just couldn’t come out of it”, Palmer said.
