There is just under 14 days left until kickoff of Super Bowl 50 so there is plenty of time for the line to move.
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The defending champion Patriots struggled desperately on offence against the brick wall that is the Broncos’ D. Brady did manage to throw for 310 yards for the game, but it was on the back of a completion percentage of under 50%, with 2 interceptions thrown. “Nothing wrong with his damn finger”, Arians said on the podium following Arizona’s 49-15 loss to the Carolina Panthers in the NFC title game.
However, Denver hasn’t played a quarterback and offense like Newton and the Panthers. He also ran for 47 yards and two touchdowns. Brown and Greg Olsen each finished with 113 yards receiving.
But last week’s victory over the Green Bay Packers in overtime provided hope for many Cardinals fans looking for their first Super Bowl appearance since Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald brought Arizona to the precipice against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008.
It will be the first Super Bowl for Newton and the second trip to the big game for the Panthers (17-1), who lost to New England 12 years ago.
Ultimately however, Palmer took on a formidable Panthers defense and will now be home watching the Super Bowl in two weeks.
Manning will try to match his brother Eli with a second National Football League crown as the Broncos seek their first Super Bowl win since 1999.
At Denver, the Patriots were undone by a missed extra point conversion kick from Stephen Gostkowski early in the game, forcing New England to attempt a two-point conversion to equalize after Brady threw a touchdown to Rob Gronkowski with 17 seconds remaining to create the final margin.
Each time a member of the Carolina secondary heard a question along those lines last week, it added a little more fuel to the fire.
Ted Ginn had a 22-yard TD run and Luke Kuechly (KEEK’-lee) capped the scoring by returning Carson Palmer’s fourth interception 22 yards.
Newton reached the celebration in the back of the end zone nearly as quickly as Kuechly got there, jumping on him and the other defensive players who rejoiced in the linebacker’s score. They racked up an NFL-high 500 points during the regular season, and another 80 in two playoff games.
“From a number I wear with so much pride being that no one has ever worn that number in franchise history and yet No. 1 means so much”, Newton said Sunday night. That includes leads of 17-0 after one quarter and 24-7 after two against Arizona. “I was thinking 3 at halftime of the Carolina game, but the Panthers’ play has elevated my and the bettors’ appreciation of them”, Avello said. It led the league with 39 takeaways, and at times it made an Arizona team that gained more yards than anyone look amateurish. “We are trying to finish this thing off”.
“Just wasn’t a good enough practice even though there was snow and we were practicing on a bad field”, Boston said. “Just a lot of unorthodox things, and we just weren’t very sound in our defense today”. He took a pass from Newton at his own 45 and then ran past safety Rashad Johnson, the only Cardinals defender near him.
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“I felt like deep down inside they felt like I couldn’t do it”, Ginn said.
