Posted on 02/09/2016 9:58:58 AM PST by Jim W N
5. The Broncos' run defense
The Panthers carried the ball 16 times for 53 yards on first-and-10 on Sunday, producing a 3.3-yard rushing average which will hit the books as their fifth worst on first down all season. In their two previous playoff games, Carolina carried the ball 33 times for 175 yards on first-and-10, averaging 5.3 yards per attempt. As a result, the Panthers were almost never in third-and-short situations in which they would have held an enormous advantage over the Broncos. Their one attempt on third-and-3 or less was when Newton plunged forward for a first down on third-and-2 during Carolina's disastrous attempt at a two-minute drill.
Denver will look back fondly on how it played. Carolina averaged 4.4 yards per carry, but some of that came from Cam as a scrambler; Jonathan Stewart produced just 29 yards on 12 carries, going out for part of the first half with a foot injury. At the same time, given how much I wrote about Carolina's state-of-the-art rushing attack heading into the game, I have to admit that I was pretty underwhelmed by how little Carolina did to spice up their ground game. Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall felt the same way.
The Panthers rarely brought motion across the formation to try to fake (or execute) the jet sweep, which could have slowed down the Denver edge rush. A triple option early in the first half sparked the first signs of life from Carolina's offense when it went for 14 yards and a first down, but Mike Shula didn't really go back to it, or much else in the way of exotic rush concepts.
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.go.com ...
Denver went in with a plan in hand.
Excellent insight!
After being thrashed by Seattle two years ago, John Elway built a defense similar to the Seahawks and it worked pretty well.
We didn’t get to see what should have been a great and entertaining matchup because the 2nd best rush in the NFL, Carolina’s running game, didn’t show up Sunday. I blame the Carolina coaching staff for forgetting what their strength was.
The coaching staff ran only 40% of the time and mostly with unimaginative running plays - very little of the double and triple options and misdirection razzle-dazzle they did during the regular season and against top defenses like Seattle. Almost inexplicable.
Carolina was one of the worst passing teams in the NFL this year. Nevertheless, Carolina’s coaching staff decided to vacate their strength and pass 60% of the time. Dumb game plans produce dumb results and generally boring games.
Denver still had a good chance to win, but at least it would have been a more entertaining game to watch - top skill against top skill.
You did - bless you for it.
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.
Cam Newton ran his mouth to much and Von Miller decided to try and kill him. (The Toll, post #17)
& 'Twasn't only Cam's mouth...but Cam electing to perform 'Dab' TD dances on too many mere first downs in .
Cam himself motivated the Broncos!
Oh, & how ironic...In 4th qtr, a Panther was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty vs. Immanuel Sanders when Sanders tried to signal first down after a catch. The Panther first knocked the ball out of Sanders' hands as he began his signal, & then straight-armed Sanders.
(So the 'Dab-man' can dabble in dab-dances, but other offensive players can't give a less showier expression?)
Exactly!
Cam looked really tired in the 4th quarter. Hasn’t had to pick himself up so much the entire year (looked like clean hits to me, too.)
2. Luck. Denver recovered fumbles, Panthers did not.
Was your coach Yogi Berra?
So my questions:
What will this do to the draft?
Are we going to see teams make a major effort to improve their defense?
Has the shine of high scoring offenses been tarnished by not being able to score against a solid defense?
Simple, Denver scored more points.
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.
Well, I have to ask back, how did Carolina beat the TOP DEFENSE against scoring in the NFL, Seattle? They did it by sticking to their strength: THE RUN. They ran 65% of the time and won. Against Denver they passed 60% of the time and lost.
As far as I’m concerned although the Carolina coaching staff had two weeks to prepare, they simply did not have the right game plan to exploit their greatest strength - the run.
Because Denver had a dominating defense that shut Newton down and threw the Panthers offense in disarray. Denver won that game, the Panthers did not lose it. I get tired of everyone saying Carolina was the better team or they did something to lose the game without giving Denver their due for dominating.
So what Carolina do? They passed in 60% (41) of their plays and ran in 40% (27) of their plays. As predicted that was deadly for Carolina against Denver.
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Perhaps Carolina being behind the whole game had something to do with it.
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.
Yes, of course, Denver’s defense is superb. But we didn’t get to see the matchup we should have seen. A great running offense against a great running defense.
It’s the first SuperBowl I’ve watched since Joe Willie Namath pulled off his famous upset.
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Ironically, Namath didn’t have a great game and is the only MVP QB not to throw a TD. It was the Jet’s defense who won that game. The Jet’s RB also rushed for over 100 yards.
The SuperBowl Half-time show was a tribute to Black Power, however, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Black Panthers, who succeeded about as well as the Carolina Panthers. Beyonce’s fake cartridge belt may have contained a few actual cartridges, minus their primers. The large X that the 50 black women in paramilitary uniforms and black berets formed, of course, honored Malcolm X, the racist white-hater. Was the conventional US media silent on this? Then go read the British press!
That is exactly HOW they got and stayed behind the whole game.
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.
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