Bump N’ Run: Special Super Bowl 50 Edition

We have hit Super Bowl 50 after a grueling NFL season and to say the hype is in overdrive would be an understatement. Many are seeing Super Bowl 50 as a game between good (Peyton Manning) and evil (Cam Newton). Others are seeing the game as the bridge for the NFL to move into a new generation and the end of a career.

Let’s get this special edition of Bump N’ Run started with my thoughts on the biggest game of the football year.

Keys To Victory For The Denver Broncos

The main key for the Denver offense is for the Broncos to establish a running game early in the game. Let’s be honest, Peyton Manning is not the Peyton Manning of old and the Carolina Panthers know that. If the Broncos are to win Super Bowl 50, ball control will be a key as Ronnie Hillman and C.J. Anderson will have to carry the ball often and gain positive yards consistently. We are talking 2nd and 5’s and not 3rd and 9’s. If Peyton throws the ball more than 25 to 27 times in the game that means that the Broncos are not doing what they need to do on the ground.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Broncos will need to find a way to make Cam Newton one dimensional. Easier said than done I know but it will be up to Wade Phillips to create a scheme to limit Newton running the ball and make him a pocket passer. Newton is a good passer but the aura of Cam Newton is that you don’t know from play to play whether he will tuck it and run or throw the ball down the field. If they can do that, I think the Broncos will be able to pressure Newton and take him out of his rhythm.

Keys To Victory For The Panthers

The Panthers offense is one that is high-powered and that needs to continue in Super Bowl 50. Newton needs to be that dynamic quarterback that he has been all season and the no-name wide receivers that has held the offense together must continue to rise to the occasion. Jonathan Stewart will also need to come out and run the ball effectively in order for offensive coordinator Mike Shula to throw in read option looks at various points in the game.

Defensively the Panthers will need to shut down the run game of the Broncos and force Peyton Manning to throw the ball. As mentioned earlier, Manning is not the same Manning of old and his flutter balls will not work 35 to 40 times in the Super Bowl against Josh Norman and the rest of the secondary of Carolina. The secondary is above average and that’s it but more of those duck balls that have been thrown by Manning and it could a easy night for the Panther defense.

Super Bowl 50 Prediction

After careful thought this week, I will have to go with the Denver Broncos. Many on the team still have the Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl drubbing a couple of years and they want that game back. Throw in Manning in probably his last game of his career and you have a team on a mission for their legacy and the legacy of their aging quarterback. The Broncos will use Carolina’s youth and lack of big game inexperience against them and Peyton will tie his brother with his second Super Bowl title.

Final Score: Broncos 27, Panthers 23