Manning: Broncos offense must ‘carry our weight’

Fans on the winning side generally experience Newton as more childlike than childish, a player enjoying the moment rather than getting weighed down by it.

If the Carolina Panthers had their way, maybe Peyton Manning would be playing for them – not against them – in the Super Bowl. It is Cam Newton’s to lose, as he tries to get his team to 18-1, what would be one of the great single seasons in the history of his sport, as great as what the Warriors are trying to do in basketball. “Who needs the gym?” We’ve done a good job with that schedule.

“What blowout did we have this year?” That’s what we do.

Panthers coach Ron Rivera: He is 3-2 in the playoffs as a head coach, but had never led a team to a Super Bowl. “He just doesn’t do things to do things”, said John Elway, Kubiak’s boss with the Broncos. “It’s nothing personal. My mind-set and my focus is on this game and doing whatever I can do”. It’s not just the lack of points, either, as only three clubs turned the ball over more than Denver this season.

The Panthers have completed their final practice of the season in Charlotte. Just as they have won their past four games.

In recent Super Bowls, underdogs that have covered the spread also won outright.

DeMarcus Ware hadn’t ever even been to a conference championship game before last Sunday.

Collins, who had been accused of using a racial slur by a teammate in 1997, found more problems on and off the field.

Manning is the offensive captain and outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware the defensive captain. The games have not been kind to the team. “That was a dog fight, grinder and went down to the last drive”.

Panthers cornerback Charles Tillman said it may be because Newton wins in an “unconventional way”, unlike a traditional National Football League quarterback.

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning says he does not know if older brother Peyton plans to retire after the Super Bowl, but Eli hopes Peyton “can go out on top”.

Rivera praised his coaching staff, but said the players are the main reason the team has been ready to go on game day.

Prediction: Broncos “I’m going with the Broncos because Peyton Manning, like Manny Pacquiao, has racked up all the records and the victories against superior opposition”.

Denver’s model is no longer lighting up scoreboards but grinding it out, hanging around and making big plays at the end. “And that’s why this team is a tougher team because it’s a mentally tough one”. He will have to do much of the same in 10 days if the Broncos are to defeat the likely NFL MVP Cam Newton and his Carolina Panthers. It’s really prepared us for this time. “He’s kind of, in a lot of ways, changed the game – with the no-huddle offense they had in Indianapolis for so long, and all he does at the line of scrimmage”.