Super Bowl 50: AKA Congrats Cam Newton

By: Connor Lenahan

Winning the Super Bowl is huge for any athlete’s career, so for Cam Newton this is a huge moment for him. To cap off his career best year with a win in the 50th annual Super Bowl. It’s incredible, and fitting given how well the Carolina Panthers have played this year, that they ended up pulling it out on the biggest stage. An amazing end to a weird football season.

…Wait, you’re telling me that the game hasn’t happened yet?

Oops.

Well, here’s the thing – the Carolina Panthers are about to obliterate the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50, and I’m not sure it’s going to be close. They put together an absolute thrashing of the Arizona Cardinals yesterday, winning 49-15 in a game that could have seen the Panthers score 70 if they were so inclined. Make no mistake, the Cardinals were really good all year. Yet when they came to Carolina they looked like a team in the midst of rebuilding. The Panthers, who are now 17-1, are only a miracle Julio Jones catch away from being 18-0 right now.

Then there’s Denver. Yes, they ended up beating the Patriots yesterday. Yes, they have an absolutely horrifying pass rush. But context matters here. Denver somehow beat Tom Brady up like nobody’s business and still only won by two. How’s that possible? Well, the Broncos had one good drive yesterday and managed to get an extra touchdown after an interception return. They couldn’t really move the ball all that well, and Peyton Manning didn’t play all that well. Denver is not a scary team outside of their defense, and I genuinely do not think they could score 21 points at this point unless things went ridiculously well.

Good defense and all the Panthers both can and will score on the Broncos, but I’m not sure that Denver is going to score on Carolina. Like, at all. I would much rather bet on Josh Norman and Luke Kuechly than Peyton Manning and CJ Anderson at this point. Manning isn’t going to eviscerate a Panthers D that is convincingly better than New England’s when he only managed 170 yards against the Pats yesterday.

Remember Super Bowl 48? The one where the Seahawks came in and absolutely dominated the Broncos? This is going to be a sequel. This isn’t even a jinx, I just genuinely can’t imagine Denver winning. With that in mind, congrats to Cam Newton on winning his first Super Bowl, and you keep dabbing on, you glorious star you.