It is nearly over. The time of the year that every football fan fears is nearly upon us. The Super Bowl is both the most anticipated and most dreaded event of the year. It is the culmination of the NFL playoffs and we have a champion crowned. But it also means that football is over. For some the transition to baseball, soccer, or the stretch runs in basketball and hockey fills the gap. For others, the countdown until the NFL Draft and the next season begins as soon as the Lombardi Trophy is hoisted in a downpour of confetti. The Super Bowl is the final chapter of every NFL campaign, but this year it is the potential final chapter of two tremendous football stories: the ride into the sunset for Denver’s Peyton Manning or the fairy tale ending to a season for the ages for Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers.
THE STATE OF THE AFC CHAMPIONS
The Broncos come into this Super Bowl as severe underdogs. Quite frankly, they were underdogs in the media’s eyes against both the Steelers and Patriots as well. The top seed in the AFC has dealt with nothing but doubts about their legitimacy since the playoffs began. That doubt all routes back to one man: Peyton Manning. Arguably one of the top men to ever grace an NFL field as a quarterback, Manning’s disappointing 2015 has still left many believing that the Broncos are cannon fodder come February 7th.
The memory of Denver’s thrashing at the hands of the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVII is still fresh. The sheer look of panic in Manning’s eyes with each wave of Seattle’s defense crashing upon him is unforgettable. Take that terror and add countless injuries along with two years of battling Father Time and Carolina should eat him alive right? Not so fast.
Peyton Manning is no longer the focal point of the Denver offense. He knows it and the organization knows it. Brock Osweiler’s cameo this year was just as much to see what their future looked like as it was to give their Papa John’s slinging starter some much needed R&R. The offense has turned into one eerily similar to the one they just beat in New England. Intermediate routes with mismatches paired with running the ball with various styles of backs has become Denver’s bread and butter. Oh and that defense is pretty damn good too.
Statheads want to reference the times to which Manning had several highly ranked defenses during his tenure in Indianapolis. They also take great pleasure in informing you how little he did with such support from the other side of the ball. But none of those defenses were as cohesive or relentless as these Broncos are. They had pass rushers such as Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis, but it was usually one or the other shining. Von Miller has led a sack crusade these playoffs with Derek Wolfe and DeMarcus Ware. There were very few instances over both of their games this postseason where at least one of this trio, usually more than one, were in the opposing QB’s face. The secondary at Denver’s disposal, anchored by Aqib Talib, is also light years ahead of anything the Colts ever assembled. The pressure on opposing quarterbacks has been greater this year than on Manning, even at his lowest valley of play.
Manning hasn’t made it official that this is his last game in the NFL. His “last rodeo” comments to Bill Belichick following the AFC title game may actually be foreboding, as now it seems Peyton is leaning more towards retiring than returning. And if these playoffs have shown anything, it is that Manning should take that opportunity to go out on top, even if it is in a losing effort. He bested his two biggest quarterback peers, Ben Roethlisberger and Tom Brady, one final time. Though he hasn’t thrown for 300 yards in a game (offensive paradigm shift being the culprit there) he hasn’t thrown an interception in either playoff contest either. The Super Bowl could serve as a fitting send-off for one of the game’s great ambassadors in a win. It could also serve as a passing of the torch to the next prototype of quarterback in Cam Newton in a loss. Speaking of Newton, let us see how Carolina’s final chapter could be penned.
THE STATE OF THE NFC CHAMPIONS
The Carolina Panthers have spent these entire playoffs proving to both myself and many others that they are for real. I thought they would lose to Seattle. They racked up 31 points before I even sat down at the bar. Arizona had to do better, right? Nope. Carson Palmer and company were dominated in every facet of a game of such magnitude that hadn’t been seen since maybe the aforementioned Broncos/Seahawks Super Bowl. Yet after all that, the Panthers are still trying to get people to believe in them.
Carolina was 7-8-1 last year. They only made the playoffs because the NFL’s going to eight divisions…that’s another rant for another day. The Panthers, who were 12-4 the year before though, were a flawed team that made the playoffs last year. So coming into 2015, with Ted Ginn Jr. being their marquee signing replacing IR bound Kelvin Benjamin, people expected Carolina to be the class of a miserable division, but not any better as a team. Cam Newton had other ideas.
If Cam Newton doesn’t win NFL MVP this season, there needs to be an investigation akin to the one to find the three people who didn’t vote Ken Griffey Jr. into the Hall of Fame. Newton has been on a tour de force for the Carolina offense this year. He threw for 35 touchdowns (to just 10 INT) and ran for 10 more during the regular season. He’s thrown three and ran in two more during the playoffs. Newton’s brilliance has reinvigorated both Ginn at wide receiver and Jonathan Stewart at running back. Both those men were left for dead coming into the season. Expected to be nothing more than bit players, they’ve instead been key contributors. Ginn caught 10 TDs during the regular season and his end around against Arizona was the noose that hung the Cardinals. Stewart’s opening run against the Seahawks was a cherry on top of his best, and healthiest, season in half a decade.
While the offense has the league’s MVP, the defense has been the organizational MVP in 2015. Featuring three All-Pros, LBs Luke Kuechly & Thomas Davis along with CB Josh Norman, the defense has been one of the most timely opportunistic sides in the NFL. They were not on par in terms of dominance as some of the elite defenses of yesteryear, but when they needed a turnover or a stop to save the game, they usually got it. It is the closest a unit could be to a “bend, don’t break” type squad without the dearth of talent that most often is associated with those types of defenses.
It has been a dream ride for the Panthers this season, with only one hiccup against the Falcons keeping this game from gaining them a greater immortality from the football gods. They’ve defied the odds time and time again and laid waste to their opponent in the game that was viewed as the Super Bowl before the actual Super Bowl. But does this story have a fairy tale ending for the Panthers? Does Cam Newton get to dab with the trophy and silence the critics of his bravado and style of play?
Mother Goose may have compiled many tales and nursery rhymes into her collection, but the Super Bowl is a one story party. The Panthers as of press time are as high as six point favorites according to Las Vegas’ top bookmakers. That number may even rise as we near closer to Sunday. Yet still I find myself aligning with Peyton Manning and the New Orange Crush for this game. Cam Newton has beaten the second and fifth ranked defenses to get to the Super Bowl, but the first ranked will be his downfall. I don’t think Peyton Manning busts out a vintage Manning production, but with the defense giving him good field position on several occasions he does enough to eke out a win in his potential final NFL salvo.
So enjoy the final chapter of the playoffs as much as I hope you enjoyed the final chapter of our State of the NFL Playoffs series. Don’t shed a tear because the NFL will be back before you know it. You can follow me on Twitter @TREVORutley as I can guarantee barring my phone falling in a well that I will be live tweeting the Super Bowl. And as always follow the site @sportsftb as well as using the trusty GameView to get the thoughts of those closest to the “Big Game” as the action happens.