Sports’ Lorenzo Reyes breaks down the Super Bowl 50 matchup between the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos.
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I know what you’re thinking: “But what if Manning used HGH this year to return from a late-season injury?”
Like Parcells did before him, Tom Coughlin had them on walls in strategic places, inside and outside the locker room, the weight room and meeting rooms. All those guys. Making plays, Dallas Clark, man, (Edgerrin) James, the whole offense they had. He committed $109.5 million by adding free agents DeMarcus Ware, Aqib Talib and T.J. Ward. During the regular season, the Broncos’ defense allowed an average of just 14 Fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks, and the Broncos’ defense allowed the 13th-fewest Fantasy points per game to running backs.
That toughness has been on display all season.
During the first 10 years of the Super Bowl, Michigan State and Minnesota produced the most player appearances in the NFL’s championship game.
But unlike Carolina, there is not a single player you can take off the Denver roster a week from Sunday and think they cannot overcome the loss.
Carolina was favored in their only loss of the season. And this will mark the first time that former Cal players have ever squared off against each other with one an National Football League player and the other an National Football League coach, according to the Cal Athletics website.
In remarkable contrast, the Broncos scored a total of 32 offensive TDs this season – 13 fewer than Newton accounted for – and 23 fewer than they scored a year ago.
Regardless, if the Broncos do somehow defeat the Panthers and win the Super Bowl, it will mainly be because their defense held Cam Newton in check. He had two TD passes against the Cardinals and two more TD runs. The Broncos have to hope that receivers Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas, along with veteran tight end Owen Daniels, can get open against Carolina. This is the sign of a team whose players have a trust in one another under pressure.
It was, of course, Ware whom Kubiak called upon to speak to the team the night before the AFC Championship win over the Patriots, and he mesmerized his teammates with an impassioned speech while breaking out the first Lombardi Trophy the Broncos won as a visual aid.
He then helped steer Denver to playoff victories over the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots that have set the table for a Hollywood ending to a season, if not his career.
Now for some quick Super Bowl history.
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“I just think Cam Newton is a guy who doesn’t get overwhelmed by the moment, ” he said.
