Super Bowl 50 preview: How Panthers, Broncos stack up
CAROLINA PANTHERS (17-1) VS. DENVER BRONCOS (14-4)
TV: Feb. 7, 6:30 p.m. ET, CBS (Jim Nantz, Phil Simms, Tracy Wolfson)
Opening spread:Panthers -3.5
About the Panthers: This will be the second Super Bowl trip in their 21-season history. Carolina lost 32-29 to the Patriots 12 years ago. ... Of the seven NFL teams that won at least 15 regular-season games, Carolina is the fourth to reach the Super Bowl. The '84 San Francisco 49ers and '85 Chicago Bears won it, but the 18-0 New England Patriots of 2007 did not. ... Despite the defense's dominant performance in the NFC title game, starting WLB Thomas Davis and S Roman Harper - both team leaders - went down with injuries that will be worth monitoring. ... QB Cam Newton took his game to a new level in 2015 and produced an NFL-high 45 TDs (35 passing, 10 rushing) in the regular season. His 636 rushing yards led all quarterbacks. Newton is expected to be the runaway choice for MVP. Led by Newton, a league-high 10 Panthers were selected for the Pro Bowl. ... Luke Kuechly is probably the best inside linebacker in the NFL. ... The Panthers forced a league-high 39 turnovers in the regular season before adding nine more in their two playoff victories.
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About the Broncos: They are making their eighth Super Bowl appearance, tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys and Patriots for the most in NFL history. ... In what could be the final game of his illustrious, record-setting career, QB Peyton Manning - he now has a 13-13 record in postseason games - will be seeking the second ring he's been chasing for nine years since he was named Super Bowl XLI's MVP for the Indianapolis Colts. ... Manning broke a nine-quarter stretch without a TD pass in the AFC Championship Game and actually threw multiple TDs in one game for only the fourth time this season. ... Manning has come up short in his last two Super Sundays, including an embarrassing 43-8 defeat to the Seattle Seahawks two years ago when he was piloting a Denver offense that had scored the most points (606) in NFL history. This season's offense isn't nearly as explosive, but the Broncos' top-rated defense can more than compensate, as it showed in the AFC title game. ... Broncos WR Demaryius Thomas set a Super Bowl record with 13 catches two years ago. ... The Broncos rushed for 99 yards Sunday, the seventh time they failed to eclipse 100 yard in Manning's 12 games this season.
What to watch: This is the third consecutive year both No. 1 seeds reached the Super Bowl. Prior to 2013, that had only happened three times since the NFL adopted the current seeding system and the 12-team playoff format in 1990. ... Carolina's opportunistic defense has been bleeding talent with DE Jared Allen, CBs Charles Tillman and Bene Benwikere all injured in recent weeks and now Davis and Harper in doubt. However the Panthers know they'll have Kuechly and all-pro CB Josh Norman, two of the best pass defenders in the game. Both could victimize Manning, particularly Kuechly, given the 39-year-old quarterback can't make the array of throws he did when he was younger, especially deep downfield and outside the numbers. ... But much of the Super Bowl's focus will also be on the Panthers' No. 1 scoring offense -- their 500 points were 145 more than Denver -- against the Broncos' top-ranked defense, which allowed the fewest yards this season, the fewest passing yards, the fewest rushing yards per attempt (3.3) and recorded the most sacks (52).
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