Cam and the whole Panther team thought it would be a walk in the park; over confidence defeated them. Thought the Old Guy would fold early on.
I attribute it more to it being the first time the Carolina coach and offense coordinator had been to the Super Bowl. What coaches new to the Super Bowl tend to do is think they’ve got to be more than who they really are, especially if they are a weak passing team. How many times we’ve seen strong running teams in the Super Bowl abandon their strength because of nervous coaches who think they have to score quickly by passing when they don’t have a good passing team.
I have yet to hear anyone talk about the fact that Carolina was one of the lousiest passing teams in the NFL this year but the 2nd best running team. The Carolina coaches got caught up in the Super Bowl hype and forgot who they were.
If Carolina coaching staff actually thought that, they should be severely reprimanded or fired. They all had two weeks to see how Denver shredded Tom Brady’s thereto invincible pass attack. They should have prepared accordingly and had the perfect answer - the same answer they had to beat Seattle: mostly run the ball with double and triple options and misdirection. Instead they played like they were blind deaf and dumb to who they were playing and what their own strengths were.
As far as Carolina’s side went, it wasn’t about Cam Newton, it was about the coaching staff handing them a lousy game plan.