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Panthers to face Broncos in Super Bowl 50
American Football is never predictable and Sundayâs matchup between the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots was a perfect example of that
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merican Football is never predictable and Sunday's matchup between the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots was a perfect example of that. In the end, it came down to a missed point-after-touchdown, with New England losing 20-18 in an exciting game. The main storyline was the Broncos' defense, which played quarterback Tom Brady's offense about as perfectly as one could imagine.
The pressure Brady felt all game not only showed up in the box score with his four sacks, but the two interceptions he threw due to pass rushes as well. 'I think there were a lot of plays that got hit pretty hard today,' Brady said half-jokingly in the post-game press conference, as reported on nfl.com.
Patriots head coach Bill Bellicheck was full of compliments for the Broncos after the game: 'They are a good football team, well coached, a lot of good players. They just played a little bit better than we did today.'
On the Broncos side, the biggest difference-maker was outside-linebacker Von Miller who finished the game with 2.5 sacks and one interception. Asked afterwards whether they did anything special with Miller before the game, head coach Gary Kubiak replied: 'He has been that way all year, he´s a very special player [...] I've known him since he was a kid, and to see how far he has come, the player he has become the leader of this team. He was big time.'
Veteran quarterback Peyton Manning played a solid game, becoming the oldest quarterback ever to lead his team to a Super Bowl. While throwing two touchdowns was decent, the fact that Manning managed to not turn the ball over all game will give Broncos fans even more hope heading to Santa Clara on Feb. 7.
In the NFC matchup, the Carolina Panthers never allowed anyone to question who was going to the Super Bowl, winning 49-15 against the Arizona Cardinals.
The game was a case of one team making all the right plays, and the other team all the wrong ones. Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer finished with just one touchdown while throwing four interceptions, mostly due to bad decisions by the 36-year-old. In the post-game press conference, an obviously devastated Palmer said: 'I just kept digging us into a hole that we couldn't get out of. And our fans take this personally, and they should. And I hate that I let them down, they've been unbelievable all year.'
Along with Palmer's poor performance, the team couldn't get the job done in any aspect of the game. Head coach Bruce Arians put it this way: 'We didn't play well enough [and] our best players especially didn't play well enough. If you don't put a Super Bowl ring on your finger, if that confetti doesn't fall on your head, it's a bad year for us.' The team turned the ball over seven times.
For the Panthers, the game just showed what a lot of people already knew: This team is dangerous. They never allowed the score to get close, leading 24-7 by halftime. Cam Newton probably decided the MVP race with yet another stand-out performance, passing 335 yards and rushing 47 more.
At the end of the game his passing and rushing had combined for four touchdowns. Another notable player on offense was tight-end Greg Olsen, who caught the ball for 113 yards on 6 receptions. Even more important than that was the defense, which had the task of stopping one of the most explosive offenses in football. Under the leadership of Luke Kuechly, they not only stopped them but forced multiple turn overs.
Kuechly, nicknamed 'Captain America' by Cam Newton, had a pretty normal game for his standards, which is almost unbelievable looking at the numbers. He finished with 8 tackles, and took one interception back to the opponent's end zone for a touchdown.
After the game, Kuechly talked about how excited he was to face one of his former idols in the Super Bowl: 'You know, when I was growing up it was always Peyton Manning and the Colts putting up big numbers. He was the guy, and he still is the guy that everyone looks at, and it's going to be a lot of fun to get a chance to play against him on that stage and we have to be ready to go, because they're going to bring their A-game.'
The Super Bowl will be held on Feb. 8 at 6:30 a.m. Jakarta time, and will be covered live on ASN2.
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The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post
