Share

Remember When Madden Predicted The Exact Score Of Last Year’s Super Bowl?

Sam Hunt will be one of the millions of football fans watching the Super Bowl showdown between the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos this Sunday (Feb. 7).

Advertisement

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning jokes with reporters after an NFL football practice at the team’s headquarters, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016, in Englewood, Colo.

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File).

Carolina quarterback Cam Newton won the Heisman Trophy and an NCAA Championship while at Auburn. The script has flipped a bit this season, as Denver now boasts the NFL’s No. 1 defensive unit, and it’ll face the NFL’s top-ranked offense, led by league MVP Cam Newton. With pro bowl cornerbacks Aqib Talib, and Chris Harris Jr. on the field, the Carolina Panthers receivers will have trouble creating any separation.

On the eve of the biggest annual American sports game, Broncos coach Gary Kubiak turned to his most respected veterans to deliver speeches, once more with feeling. “Of course, they haven’t gone up against a defense like Denver before, but I think that have just too much momentum going from the season and I don’t think that there’s a chance that Denver can hold them”.

They have nine takeaways and eight sacks in the postseason.

They’re the only team in National Football League history to overcome two-touchdown deficits to beat three playoff-bound teams in a season.

But even as we see the game’s most important position being transformed by the athletes who play it best, there always will be a place for someone with Manning’s skill set – provided another one ever comes along. “They have a great defense”.

That’s a good plan, but executing it has proven to be a little more hard. The Panthers also have the threat of a running game, something the Patriots use as an afterthought. To put that in perspective, no other team has a streak longer than six games. He completed only 13 of 23 passes for 141 yards and no touchdowns with one interception yet became the oldest starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl. Its offensive line is solid and Newton will pose a much more elusive threat than the immobile Brady. They only have one loss this season. But NFL Network analyst Steve Mariucci told NESN.com’s Michaela Vernava at Super Bowl Radio Row this week that Newton’s improved passing attack could give the Panthers a leg up. “It’s a whole mindset that the mastery of the pocket, the mastery of the data”.

“I keep saying it: We’re not finished”, Newton said. He’s a threat to run you over. But I don’t have to.

“If you really think about it, it’s kind of a fairy tale”, Rider said.

Advertisement

In those 24 games Carolina has outscored its opponent by a whopping margin of 735-427 – or by an average score of 31-18. Anderson managed to get the Broncos deep into Panthers territory on multiple occasions, it only yielded field goals for Brandon McManus.

Leaders talk security if Super Bowl comes to Charlotte