Denver vs. Carolina:
(1) To start at the beginning, my take on Cam Newton coming into this season was that his cannon arm was not consistently accurate with all the fastballs or touch throws, but the guy had a propensity to step up and deliver deadly throws from lots of platforms when he most had to have them. This season, starting with the Green Bay game, my take was I was tracking QB play at an MVP level, regularly dealing for entire games . . . So, Cam Newton genuinely loves himself, has some bad fundamentals and amazing athleticism, and IMO he missed a decent number of throws in the Arizona game. Everyone gets amped up for the Super Bowl, so there is at least a bit of concern over whether Cam might struggle with some early misfires before he settles into the game.
(2) Denver has the best defense in the league, sound, disciplined and multi-faceted. But in Carolina they get a complete team that has a dual threat MVP QB, a dynamic rushing attack and a formidable defense of their own. IMO nothing counters a pass rush better than running right at it with success, and equally important IMO is Carolina making Denver defend a whole field of weapons in a way New England could not. The Carolina OL is an obvious strength of their team and has been together all season. Going further, I?m confident Carolina is the team most capable of turning turnovers into touchdowns. In the matchups, I see clear advantages favoring Carolina.
(3) I?ve been a vocal fan of Ron Rivera as a coach since his days with the Bears. Back when this season featured a record number of 5-0 teams it was always Carolina that was dismissed as the fraud, and they really haven?t gotten much recognition as a favorite for anything. IMO the reality of this season is Rivera has taken a team to 14-0 and still got them peaking at the right time.
(4) My play for this game was enthusiastic and without hesitation, not dependent on a stray half point, but I?m not at all surprised I ended up with line value. At the same time I mentally steeled myself against waffling if the personality being displayed by Carolina appeared like a team being too loose or having too much fun, which could generally make me wary. But in the immediate aftermath of the NFC championship game I was very pleased with what I heard from everyone associated with Carolina about the final step on their journey. And although I have somewhat avoided any immersion in the build up this week, what I have seen has been consistent with the way Rivera has kept this team right on point with their focused and loose personality. Still showing their Super Bowl look, no question here.
(5) I think my assessment of Manning and Kubiak in my earlier comments was accurate. My posted comments confirm I was not caught surprised when Manning played his best half in two years against New England, nor surprised when New England shut him down in the second half . . . The Denver backers can counter with the situational or matchup advantages they are seeing, and what adversity Carolina will be unable to overcome, which has them thinking they are on the right side with a live dog. I know it would be the intangibles and not the matchups or fundamentals which could get me to see the Denver side. But I'm on Carolina, and I?ll close by contributing my thoughts that pressure up the middle will not be Manning?s friend on Sunday, that two weeks is not what Manning needed in this spot, and Denver has earned their reputation for being far from dominant away from the Mile High city.
GL
