It’s finally here! The Super Bowl!

Now, I wrote an article predicting the NFL Playoffs all the way through the Super Bowl a few weeks ago, but I was only correct about one of the teams playing in it, so I’ve decided to write a whole new article for just the big game.

As everyone already knows, this year will be competed between the 15-1 Carolina Panthers and the 12-4 Denver Broncos, both first seeds in their respective conferences.

The Carolina Panthers

The Panthers entered this season will less than high expectations. The previous season was tumultuous, and despite only going 7-8-1, they managed to win the lackluster NFC South and even win a Wild Card playoff game, before falling to the Seattle Seahawks 31-17. And with the loss of star wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin in training camp to an ACL tear and running back DeAngelo Williams to free agency, the concerns for Cam Newton and the Carolina offense was high.

Well, until about five weeks into the season, when Carolina went into Seattle, the team and the stadium that had eliminated them from the playoffs last year, and defeated the Seahawks 27-23. The Panthers would go on to be 15-1, only losing in Atlanta in Week 16. Quarterback Cam Newton put together a 45 touchdown campaign (35 passing and 10 rushing), putting him in strong contention for the MVP of the season.

And while the offense of the Panthers was the best in the league this year, their defense was just as great, with All Pro players like linebackers Thomas Davis and Luke Kuechly, cornerback Josh Norman, free safety Kirk Coleman, and defensive end Kony Ealy.

There were concerns about the high that this good but playoff-inexperienced team would fall to a seasoned team like the Seattle Seahawks in the playoffs, but after convincing victories against now both Seattle and the Arizona Cardinals, the second of which was a 49-15 blowout, the Panthers are the heavily supposed favorites of Super Bowl 50.

Offensive Key Players:

For Carolina, it really all comes down to Cam Newton. If Newton plays great, or even well, this team will have no problems. The Denver Broncos defense is daunting, but so are Seattle’s and Arizona’s, and Cam has managed to steer the ship and make plays against both of those teams.

The other major piece will be Jonathan Stewart and the offensive line. The Panthers are a run-first team, and running early and often means they can dictate the tempo of the game on their side, which allows for their all star defense to rest in between drives.

Defensive Key Players:

I pretty much just summed up the major players in the section earlier, but Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis need jam up the run of the Broncos, and Josh Norman and Kirk Coleman, along with the rest of the Carolina secondary, need to stop the excellent Denver receiving corps. Peyton Manning has not played as well as he usually does, but the Sheriff should never be counted out.

The Denver Broncos

Coming into the season, analysts were optimistic about the Broncos and quarterback Peyton Manning, with the major concern being Manning in new head coach Gary Kubiak’s system, which differed and relied much more heavily on the run game than Manning’s usual high flying pass game. This was not seen as necessarily bad, due to concerns over Manning’s health and age, especially at the end and during the playoffs of last season. Denver was still considered an AFC championship favorite, minimally.

While the Broncos themselves had a generally great regular season, the same cannot be said for future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning. He played very inconsistently and turned the ball over much more than he had in the past. The run game didn’t seem to help him out much either, admittedly, but after a game where Manning started and threw four interceptions in 20 pass attempts (in which he only actually completed five for 35 yards), he was pulled out in favor of backup Brock Osweiler. Osweiler played pretty well in replacement of Manning, and continued to while Manning overcame a case of plantar fasciitis. Osweiler went 5-2 in his starts, including the regular season finale, in which the Broncos collectively turned the ball over five times, and Osweiler was actually pulled in favor of Manning, who went on to lead two scoring drives and inevitably win the game.

Lost in all of this quarterback controversy is the absolutely exceptional play of the Denver Broncos defense. Their defense is above all the reason they have managed to win any games at all. They create turnovers and jam both running and passing attacks that keep scores low so that the offense doesn’t have to score as much.

Offensive Key Players:

Just like with Carolina, it’s a quarterback league for a reason. Peyton Manning hasn’t thrown an interception since he was benched, and if he can rely on the running tandem of Ronnie Hillman and CJ Anderson, and not turn the ball over, then the Denver Broncos have a shot at winning. This is going to rely heavily on the ability of wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders to get open, since more than likely Josh Norman will be defending their top receiver Demaryius Thomas.

Defensive Key Players:

The Denver defense was able to hit Tom Brady almost 20 times in the AFC Championship. The Carolina offensive line is far superior to the Patriots', and Cam Newton is much more agile than Brady, so this will be more difficult to do. Linebacker Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware will need to play exceptionally well to get to Newton, while the defensive line with Derek Wolfe will need to do their best to stop the exceptional Carolina run game. More than likely, cornerback Aqib Talib will be defending Ted Ginn Jr., so it will be up to the secondary to stop Greg Olsen from cutting up the middle of the field.

Both of these teams have great defenses that could launch them to victory alone, but the lackluster performance of Peyton Manning against the Patriots worries me when compared to Cam Newton’s four total touchdown performance against the Arizona Cardinals, another team that had a great defense. If Cam can effectively use the read option and keep one extra defender guarding him, then this will be a repeat of Super Bowl 48, when the Seahawks trounced the Broncos.

For the non-biased football fan, this game is a no-lose. Either Cam Newton, the MVP-favorite, wins his first Super Bowl, as well as the first Super Bowl for the Carolina Panthers franchise, or Peyton Manning, the future Hall of Famer, finally wins his second Super Bowl and gets to ride off into the sunset and retire on top. Either way, you can’t lose as a football fan.

I do think that this will be a fun game to watch and a close game in score, but I think that this year is Newton’s year. As I predicted in my other NFL playoffs article, the Carolina Panthers will win Super Bowl 50, and on the way, Newton will break Steve McNair’s Super Bowl quarterback rushing record and rush for more than 64 yards.

Final Score Prediction: Panthers 21 – Broncos 17

“Das Jus Me Doe!” – the1janitor

Who do you think will win?

Let me know in the comments down below!

Thank you for reading!