El Estoque’s Take: Super Bowl 50

Aditya Krishnan • February 7, 2016

Five months ago, if someone had told me that the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers were playing against each other in the Super Bowl, that person would have had to be a die hard Panthers fan for me to understand that selection. Let’s face it, no one and I mean no one including myself believed that the Panthers had a shot at the Super Bowl much less even a playoff berth. The Broncos, on the other hand, surprised some people, but most had already picked them to be playing at Levi’s Stadium on Feb. 7. Regardless all that talk was from September of 2015 so let’s fast forward to what we have ahead of us on Feb. 7 of 2016.

SB 50 — Featured image by Charlie Lyons-Pardue. Creative Commons 2.0 License.

Super Bowl Preview

Much like the Super Bowl from two years ago, the competition this year has two teams, this first is ranked number one in offense and the second is in team defense. Of course, fans, especially Broncos fans are surely hoping that there aren’t more similarities between both Super Bowl’s come Sunday. A 43-8 trashing by the Seahawks in Superbowl XLVIII will long live in NFL history and in the mind of all Broncos fans. Oh, and of course, Peyton Manning’s definitely thinking about that one he let go of two years ago, especially since the game this Sunday might be the last shot he ever has at a ring. The only difference for the Broncos this time around is that they are the league’s number one defense, not offense, and as the Seahawks showed in 2014, defense does truly win championships. #Defense Wins Championships. Not so fast though. The league’s number one offense is the Carolina Panthers and they can flat out get on a roll when they need to. Let’s also not forget that they happen to have a top five defense to go along with the best player in the NFL right now. Cam Newton. #DabOnEm. Plus when you come off a 49-15 drubbing of the number two seed in your conference in the NFC championship game, you have to feel confident and that is exactly what the Panthers are. Even I would call that an understatement with the way the cats prowled their way to Santa Clara.

Keys to the Game

As a side note, this matchup reminds me of the contest two years ago with the Panthers being that season’s Seahawks and of course the Broncos just being the Broncos, but that in no way means that the Super Bowl will turn out the same way. So who do I go with here. The Panthers at this point have certainly been more impressive. Yet, something tells me that the sheriff in Denver has one more little trick up his sleeve before he says an emotional goodbye to the game. Last week, I picked the Broncos even though they were clearly the overmatched team. Well guess what, they came out on top over public enemy number one Bill Belichick and his New England Patriots. On the other side of things, I saw the Cardinals winning last week and boy, was I wrong on that one. I’ve doubted the Panthers this whole season. I’ve said that they wouldn’t make the playoffs because of injuries and even when they locked up the number one seed, I said Newton would choke in the divisional round. But ladies and gentleman, Newton and the Panthers are no chokers and they have proved that this postseason.

Yet, when it’s all said and done, the Broncos will come out on top with a Super Bowl win.

I did it again. I picked against the Panthers. It hasn’t worked out well so far this season but I don’t know if Newton is ready for this moment. He’s as confident as ever, but a few mistakes here and there could take all that swagger and charisma away. Patrick Peterson’s pick in the NFC championship showed some of that. Of course, Carolina’s defense responded, but that play revealed that Newton, despite being a great player still has a ways to go before I can trust him to lead a team to a Super Bowl win.

Manning, on the other hand is the exact opposite. He’s been a pick magnet most of this season, but unlike Newton, he’s been there and after this try at the prize he might not get another shot. The stakes are high, both teams are evenly matched, but in the end, the game comes down to experience and Denver has plenty of that. Look for special teams to play a huge role on Sunday and expect a low scoring grind-it-out type of game. If the Broncos get into a shootout, advantage Panthers. But if they keep the score low, advantage Broncos. For the Broncos, CJ Anderson and Ronnie Hillman need to have huge games in order to have a balanced offensive attack and stay two dimensional. The Panthers, on the other hand, will need to stop Anderson and Hillman in order to make the Broncos one dimensional where even a Quarterback of Peyton Manning’s caliber would struggle.

In the end, however, the game will come down to turnovers like every big playoff game does. Whoever forces more turnovers while protecting the ball themselves will win this football game and that team will turn out to be the Broncos on Sunday.

Final Score Prediction: Denver Broncos 26 Carolina Panthers 21