Panthers merciless in all-out onslaught for Super Bowl date

Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers will host the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC championship game Sunday night with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.

Today’s National Football League is all about the quarterbacks, so perhaps it’s fitting that the 50th Super Bowl features a matchup between Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos and Cam Newton’s Carolina Panthers. The former Heisman Trophy victor has helped lead the franchise to a 17-1 record thus far, and their first Super Bowl appearance in 12 years. They led the league in points (500) during the regular season, and against the Cardinals’ top-ranked offense they forced six turnovers by Carson Palmer.

Palmer was pressured into three first-half turnovers, fumbling twice and also failing to capitalize on the Newton interception, throwing a pick of his own in the end zone just one play later.

Ginn said he left Carolina after the 2013 season to “chase a check”, but was seldom used in Arizona last season. Now, I’m not saying the Panthers will be as dominant early as they were last week against the Seahawks, but Sean McDermott’s defence is stellar up the middle against the run and pass, and brings pressure with the best of them.

David Johnson ran strong at first, but the huge deficit made the Cardinals abandon the run game and he ended up with just 60 yards on the ground.

Patrick Peterson also muffed a punt leading to a Carolina touchdown. A few things we won’t tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING.

The Panthers and Patriots combined for 37 points in the fourth quarter, including two touchdown passes from the Panthers Jake Delhomme, who threw a tying strike to Ricky Proehl with 1:08 to go. If that is the case, all the Panthers need to do is get to Palmer, rattling his cage and causing him to make mistakes.

Newton set up the score with an 11-yard run for a first down in which he dived for a first down and then spiked the ball as Superman music played in the background. The Cardinals gave him $9.75 million and he used a little of that to thank them with a permanent mark on his body.

“To be going to our second Super Bowl in four years is very special and just an awesome effort by our entire team”, Manning, who will become the oldest quarterback to play in a Super Bowl, told the Denver crowd. Meanwhile, the Cardinals beat the Green Bay Packers in overtime even after Aaron Rodgers threw a last second Hail Mary to force the extra frame.

“I kept digging us in a hole and we just couldn’t come out of it”, Palmer said. The Panthers said his return is questionable.

Ginn has had his best year, and against Arizona he had one of his best games.