Charlotte, North Carolina (CNN)Peyton Manning isn’t done just yet.
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But it’s not enough, the fifth-year quarterback admitted.
The Carolina Panthers are going to the Super Bowl, in part, thanks to Newton’s fantastic play.
Superman is headed for the Super Bowl. While playoff performance isn’t supposed to have any bearing on the award, Newton’s play Sunday validated him as the player who is most deserving.
Perhaps for emphasis, he repeated himself. Sure. The secondary outside of Josh Norman isn’t the best and was certainly exposed by the Seahawks in the second half of their game. The Panthers led 35-15 lead. He also has an opportunity to lead the Panthers to their first Super Bowl title if he can come away with two more victories. Had INT return for TD last week vs. Seattle.
In the third quarter, Newton scored his second rushing touchdown of the game.
But Manning showed he has something left. He had 52 yards in receptions, and he tracked down All-Pro cornerback Patrick Peterson to prevent a touchdown on an interception return. Throwing darts out of the gate, Newton’s first touchdown went to Corey Brown from 86 yards out on a poorly-covered pass deep down the middle.
– Jonathan Stewart, Panthers, rushed for 83 yards on 19 attempts, helping Carolina past Arizona 49-15.
Newton stayed healthy all season, and the yards, touchdowns and victories kept piling up. “There’s a lot of times where he wasn’t able to throw the ball anywhere”.
Newton is 7 of 9 for 135 yards and one touchdown.
But Denver’s NFL-best defence held firm to settle an absorbing AFC Championship decider at Mile High Stadium.
“We just didn’t play well on defense”, Cardinals safety Jerraud Powers said. Meanwhile, the Broncos harassed Brady into a 27-for-56 day for 310 yards and two picks.
This was Brady’s 10th career AFC Championship Game, the most ever by any quarterback in the Super Bowl era.
“Defensively, we were just tremendous”, said Denver’s Gary Kubiak, the seventh coach in National Football League history to get to the Super Bowl in his first year with a team. The win over the Cardinals may have been the most complete game played by the Panthers defense this season.
As for the head-to-head match-up, it was lopsided.
The Panthers entered Sunday’s NFC Championship Game as three-point favorites over the visiting Cardinals, but Josh Norman still felt that the world was against his team.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Cardinals got on the scoreboard with a 1-yard rush by David Johnson. “It was just Cam Newton, but he makes Ted Ginn look like a superstar and Greg Olsen look like a superstar”. Newton also added two scores with his legs. Through the regular season, the Carolina Panthers considered themselves thieves, and for good reason.
In all, the Cardinals turned the ball over seven times.
Six turnovers committed by quarterback Carson Palmer pretty much told the story of the Arizona Cardinals’ lopsided loss in Sunday’s NFC title game at the Carolina Panthers.
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With the interceptions, Palmer admitted that he was forcing it.
