With Conference Championship Weekend firmly in the rear-view mirror, we now have two weeks of non-stop Super Bowl 50 media hype in front of us before the big game takes place on Sunday, February 7th. Depending on whom you ask, all that hype can be a good thing or a bad thing, but any way you slice it this match-up in the Super Bowl’s golden anniversary is worthy and deserving of all the hype it will receive.
Broncos vs. Panthers: A Golden Super Bowl
For the third straight year the top seed in the AFC will face the top seed in the NFC in the biggest game of the season with a Lombardi Trophy on the line. For the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers, this is what they’ve been dreaming of, and working towards all season. As the culmination of all the OTA’s, mini-camps, practices, and grueling contests, Super Bowl 50 is the chance to realize a dream.
While these two clubs have taken very different paths to get here, there is no doubt that they both deserve this moment. In a game that is full of star players (14 Pro Bowlers), there is always going to be a lot of media attention, but in the biggest game of the year the hype will reach fever pitch.
Everyone will be talking about Peyton Manning and Cam Newton. Manning, in the conversation for the greatest quarterback of all time, enters his fourth Super Bowl with a chance to add a second Lombardi Trophy to his Hall of Fame resume, while the whole world wants to talk about whether or not this will be his last game. I can’t answer that question, but I can say that it will be an absolute treat to watch number 18 take the field on February 7th.
Newton, on the other hand, is just beginning to forge his own legacy. Coming off a likely MVP season, Super-Cam has reached the pinnacle of the sport at the young age of 26. One of the league’s most electric players, he has a chance to bring the Panthers organization it’s first Super Bowl if he can lead his team to victory for an amazing 18th time this season.
This is the NFL and the quarterbacks will always get most of the attention, but let’s not forget a key ingredient in what got these two teams to this point: defense. In short, the Broncos and Panthers fielded two of the best defenses we’ve seen in recent history this year. One doesn’t need to look any further than the events of last weekend. These two defenses shut down two of the game’s elite offenses during Conference Championship Weekend, with the Broncos holding the New England Patriots to 18 points, and the Panthers holding the Arizona Cardinals to 15. To put that in perspective, prior to the AFC Championship, the Patriots had only been held to fewer than 20 points once all year, and prior to the NFC Championship the Cardinals had only been held to fewer than 19 points just twice. You just don’t see these offenses stifled like that very often.
It is truly a special thing to watch long-time veterans who have worked so hard for so long get an opportunity to play in the big game. Look at Panthers’ Pro Bowl linebacker and all-around great guy Thomas Davis. He broke his arm in the NFC Championship game and he still looks on track to play in the Super Bowl. I’m also really hopeful that Panthers’ defensive end Jared Allen, who has worked hard his whole career for this moment, will be healthy enough to suit up as well.
On the Broncos’ side of the field, defensive end DeMarcus Ware is in a similar situation. After years of dominance and eight Pro Bowls, Ware finds himself in the Super Bowl for the very first time, and he truly deserves this moment. Lost in the story-line of the AFC Championship game was the fact that veteran tight end Owen Daniels (who caught both of Manning’s touchdown passes) is going to make his first appearance in the big game, as well.
This is the Denver Broncos’ eighth trip to the Super Bowl and the Carolina Panthers’ second. One of the game’s most famous, enduring franchises goes toe to toe with a fresh opponent; an opponent that has only fielded a team for 21 years, but is hungry to make an indelible mark on the sport’s history. Football at it’s core is a game of passion and drama. It is a sport of human chess, where every movement is important and meaningful. Super Bowl 50 is not only the culmination of a year’s worth of ambition, but rather that of a lifetime. Simple words cannot do a moment like this justice. Stay tuned. The best is yet to come.
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