Panthers Fortunate to Trail By Just 6 After Mistake-Filled 1st Half

The stage is set for Super Bowl 50 Sunday evening as the one-loss Carolina Panthers take on the Sheriff and Denver Broncos from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Miller dominated Mike Remmers on his strip-sack of Newton, leading to the touchdown on an end zone fumble recovery from Malik Jackson.

Five years after being drafted No. 2 behind Newton, Miller bothered Carolina’s quarterback from start to finish Sunday, forcing two fumbles and compiling 2 1/2 sacks in a showdown between a couple of shutdown defences. Running back and former Oregon Ducks star running back Jonathan Stewart leaped over the Broncos defense from one yard out for a touchdown to cap a nine-play, 73-yard drive as the Panthers cut the lead to 10-7 in the second quarter.

The Panthers simply made too many mistakes against a Denver defense that led the way for Manning to earn his second Super Bowl title in perhaps his final game.

Cam Newton also threw an interception, and was sacked six times in his first Super Bowl appearance, completing only 18 of 41 passes for 265 yards.

Denver’s defence wound up with a Super Bowl record-tying seven sacks, showing off the rush that led the National Football League with 52 sacks this season.

Standing between Manning and history are the Panthers, and quarterback Cam Newton, 26, is the NFL’s next big superstar.

The Broncos returned this year as a defensive team trying to milk a few clutch throws out of Manning’s tired arm, and, strangely, that formula proved much more effective. It’s the second Super Bowl title for Peyton Manning and the third title for the Broncos franchise.

On if Denver did anything different to take away running lanes: “No”. He also lost two fumbles – one was recovered for a touchdown and the other set up a Denver touchdown. He had a 42.7 passer rating at halftime and a 56.6 mark for the game. When he convinced Manning to play for the Broncos, Elway, according to ESPN, promised the future NFL Hall-of-Famer that he would do everything in his power to help him finish his career in the way he finished his. However, Gano’s try nailed the right upright and fell no good, keeping the Denver lead at 16-7.

Newton was still being pressured and hit by the Denver defence, but he came up big again when a long pass was hauled in by Corey Brown for a gain of 42 yards to put Carolina in scoring range. His first four plays were passes for 46 yards setting up a 34-yard field goal by Brandon McManus.

But who cares about entertaining the fans when you’re winning Super Bowls? Graham Gano’s 39-yard field goal pulled the Panthers to within 16-10. But Miller knocked the ball out of Newton’s hand and the Broncos recovered.

When he took his turn on the winner’s podium to hoist the championship Vince Lombardi Trophy, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said: “I don’t know if this is your last rodeo, but we all want to thank you for the ride”.