Bump N’ Run w/ KT: Super Bowl 50 Is Set And Could Calvin Johnson Be Retiring At Age 30?

Another football weekend is in the books as we are moving into the final stages of the NFL season. Championship Sunday was this past weekend and while we here at Double G Sports are a tri-state area sports site, no one cares about the local tri-state teams right now. It’s all about the Final Four of the NFL so let’s discuss the two games from the weekend.

The Panthers Beat Up On The Cardinals

We have the two teams that will be competing for the Vince Lombardi Trophy in two weeks. The biggest surprise of this past Sunday was the Carolina Panthers 49-15 drubbing of the Arizona Cardinals. Arizona was outmatched in a game where I thought Arizona would prevail but once again Cam Newton (even though I am not a fan of his) continues to prove me and others wrong. Newton went 19-for-28, 335 yards and 2 touchdowns and added two more touchdowns rushing to bring the Panthers to their second Super Bowl in franchise history.

While it seems that Newton should get all the credit for the win and the Panthers’ current run, Carolina’s defense is playing at their highest level of the season. Even after losing starting safety Roman Harper and linebacker Thomas Davis during the game, the defense still forced seven turnovers and forced Carson Palmer to throw four interceptions. Carolina move into the Super Bowl with only one loss all season and they will be facing another hot team…

Broncos Beat Patriots In Possible Final Brady-Manning Matchup

The 17th and probably final head-to-head game of the Tom Brady v. Peyton Manning showdown ended with a 20-18 Denver Broncos win over the New England Patriots to move the Broncos into Super Bowl 50. The story of the game was a missed extra point by Stephen Gostkowski, his first missed extra point in 523 attempts, and Bill Belichick not kicking a field goal when the Pats were down by eight points late in the fourth quarter.

As in the Carolina game, the Denver defense came to play hitting Brady 23 times with Von Miller credited with 2.5 sacks and he even picked off a Brady pass. Similar to how the Giants beat the Patriots in two Super Bowls, the Broncos and defensive coordinator Wade Phillips took that blueprint and ran it to perfection pressuring Brady at every turn and giving him no time to throw the ball around the field. This brings us to…

The Super Ultra Early Super Bowl 50 Non-Prediction

I will not be giving a prediction for Super Bowl 50 until next week’s Bump N’ Run but the initial thoughts about this game is interesting. You have a Bronco defense that can heap a ton of pressure on the quarterback as seen against New England. The problem is that the quarterback they are facing in two weeks is not Tom Brady or Ben Roethlisberger. Cam Newton is a dual threat quarterback and the last time Denver faced a dual threat quarterback in the Super Bowl was against the Seattle Seahawks and we all remember how that turned out. I will discuss this more next week but it will be interesting to see how all the pundits compare the two teams and where the betting line goes over the next 7-10 days.

Around The Country

• After watching the East-West Shrine Game last weekend, I am beginning to believe that Vernon Adams, Jr. could be the second coming of Russell Wilson. The Oregon Duck quarterback threw for 191 yards and three touchdowns in the annual senior showcase game. At 5’11” and 200 pounds Adams is not a prototypical NFL quarterback but for a team to take a flier on him late in the NFL Draft, it may not be a bad thing.

• If Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson decides to retire as his agent is saying he is strongly considering, then the Lions organization has let him down. Johnson has been a class act in the league since being drafted in 2007 and Detroit has done nothing to build a team around him to compete for a championship. Similar to when Barry Sanders retired abruptly from the NFL and the Lions in 1999, the Lions would probably never trade “Megatron” so he is stuck in Detroit. If he was to retire, I would not blame him.