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**5 reasons** the carolina panthers will win the super bowl
Five reasons Carolina can win
1. Cam Newton, quarterback
What can’t Cam Newton do? He threw for 35 touchdowns in the regular season, ran for 10 himself, passed from the pocket when necessary and was basically unstoppable in one of the single greatest football seasons anyone has seen.
The Panthers went 15-1 during the season, with two more wins in the playoffs, but they don’t seem to get the kind of respect past contenders have received. The Broncos very good defence will find out it’s much more difficult to defend against a quarterback with running back speed, tight end strength and the size to see openings downfield.
In two playoff games, Newton’s Panthers have looked unstoppable and one of those drubbings came against a very strong Seattle team, who had been NFC Super Bowl representatives the previous two seasons.
2. Luke Kuechly, linebacker
If Newton is the biggest offensive force in football, Kuechly ranks second among defensive players, just behind Houston’s J.J. Watt.
Kuechly doesn’t get nearly the attention a player of dominance deserves. He is without peer today as a tackling NFL linebacker, having led the league again in tackles, even though he missed three games. And when he isn’t tackling people, he has remarkable ball sense. He scored interception touchdowns in both of the Panthers playoff wins.
Only seven defensive players in history have won Super Bowl MVP awards (Dallas’s Harvey Martin and Randy White shared the award in 1978). Denver didn’t face anything like Kuechly in its first two playoff games. He could well be an MVP candidate Sunday night.
3. Momentum
The New York Giants won the Super Bowl twice in the last eight Super Bowls, and you could make the case they weren’t the best team in the NFL in either season. What they were was the best team once the playoffs began.
The Panthers have been the best team in the NFL all season long. And they have been the hottest team come playoff time. That combination works in their favour historically.
They are 17-1 through 18 games, their only loss coming to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 16. They scored more than 500 points in the regular season, the only NFL team to do that. Carolina is the third 17-1 to make it to the Super Bowl. The other two? The 1984 San Francisco 49ers and the 1985 Chicago Bears. The average margin of victory in the Super Bowl for those two titans: 42-13.
4. Greg Olson, tight end
The only New England offensive player who gave Denver trouble in the AFC championship game was tight end Rob Gronkowski. Gronkowski may be one of a kind, but Greg Olsen plays a significant role in the Panthers offence. If the Broncos couldn’t cover Gronk, when the Patriots had next-to-no running game and no big game receivers, how will they be able to handle Olsen, who is Newton’s go-to target.
Olsen caught 77 passes and scored seven touchdowns during the season. There has been some talk that Denver might alter its defensive scheme to pay more attention to Olsen than any of the other Panthers’ receivers but by itself that could open up more for either Newton or receivers like Ted Ginn Jr., who suddenly is catching the football.
5. Special teams
Bruce DeHaven has coached in the Super Bowl four times and lost four times and the fact that he is fighting prostate cancer — something he prefers not to talk about — means this might be last shot at a championship. There is an emotional side to that, and when you consider that many Super Bowl games have changed on special-teams plays, I can see the Carolina players being especially motivated to do something special for the beloved DeHaven Sunday night.
The Panthers are sound in every area of special teams, but Ginn has six returns this year of 30 yards or more. Graham Gano is a more than dependable field goal kicker, having made 83.3 of all kicks this season, 87% from inside 50 yards.
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**5 reasons** the Denver Broncos will win the super bowl
Originally Posted by DwightShrute
