Super Bowl 50: My Prediction
By Ben Renner
It’s Super Bowl week here at ECS, and even though we all have to deal with a Seahawks-less Big Game for the first time in three years, the Broncos and Panthers should at least provide one more exciting football game. Here’s my prediction:
At first glance, it’s easy to write off Super Bowl 50 as a retread of Super Bowl 48, only much less fun for Seahawks fans. The Broncos will start an aging Peyton Manning against a ferocious defense yet again. Perhaps odds makers remember the 43-8 stomping the last time Manning tried to win a Super Bowl against one of the best defensive units of the decade. They have the Broncos as six-point underdogs.
There are plenty of reasons why the Broncos should be worried, but this is a different team from the one that ran into a buzzsaw in SB48. For one, Denver’s defense is one of the best units in the league and they have key contributors ready for this game that they didn’t have for their Seahawks spanking two years ago. Cornerback Chris Harris, defensive end Derek Wolfe, and linebacker Von Miller, all major defensive contributors, were all injured for SB48 and watched the slaughter from the sidelines two years ago. This year, they’re all healthy and leading a Broncos team that has a much different identity than the 2013 season.
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A different coaching staff, a new emphasis for the team, and an upgraded defense have transformed the Broncos of Super Bowl 48 from an offensive and one-dimensional powerhouse (let’s not forget that the Seahawks squashed one of the best offensive units in NFL history in Super Bowl 48) into a defensive, run-first team that was fourth in points allowed in 2015. Gary Kubiak and company have remade this team into one that can adapt to Manning’s struggles.
You can bet that the Broncos will be sticking with their run-heavy approach against Carolina’s ball-hawking defense. Eventually, with C.J. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman running into brick walls over and over, Manning will be forced to throw. Manning will rack up some yards as Demaryius Thomas and company make tough catches against the Panthers’ brutal secondary, but it will be tough to consistently move the ball and pick up 1st downs on those short slants and hitch patterns Peyton is so fond of. Manning may throw a pick or two, but if the running game can get anything on the ground, the Broncos will be able to move the ball just enough to be in position to win.
On the other side of the ball, I expect the Broncos defense to give Cam Newton fits. When the Panthers started the year, they lost their star wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin and no one thought Newton would have anyone to throw to. That speculation seemed silly after Newton used cast-off Ted Ginn Jr. as his resident touchdown machine and appears primed to win MVP honors, but the Broncos have a mismatch with Newton’s receivers on the outside, allowing them to commit extra defenders to stop tight end Greg Olsen if necessary.
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Newton’s running ability will be on display during Super Bowl 50, as well as his dancing at some point, but in the end this game will be much closer than expected. My feelings about Newton aside, he’s an extremely talented quarterback whose skillset and playing style is difficult to stop. However, the Broncos are sure to force him to make well-timed, accurate passes from the pocket at least a few times in the game, and that’s where he’s vulnerable.
In the end, the Super Bowl will be a defensive affair. Both offenses will struggle against two of the top defensive units in the league, and the game will hinge on one final drive by Manning. Somehow, the immobile, weak-armed, ancient quarterback will find a way to upset the Panthers and win a Super Bowl in his last game in the NFL. My score prediction: 24-17 Denver.