I never had a chance to really catch many carolina games (they dont usually air in the midwest). But i am now fully willing to admit that they are incredible, offense and defense.
31-16 Carolina takes it, yes, denver wont score 2 tds.
I don’t think Denver will be putting up many points against Carolina’s d. I also would not be surprised if Manning gets knocked out of the game. The way he has been throwing the ball and Carolina’s secondary he will probably have a couple of picks before he does though. The Broncos need to come out and straight run the ball, play field position football.
I believe Cam has the advantage on Denver’s D. Running the zone read on their speed outside edge rushers, make the right read the ball carrier is now matched up on corners that have their backs to the ball carrier. Carolina should have a huge game on the ground. Once Denver is forced to changing their D to stop the zone read it will be over.
Carolina big. Double digit win.
Miserable, what a miserable way to finish the season for the Pats…
All goes back to laying down in the Philly and Miami game. Idiots. (That and a total shit OLine.)
I know one thing is certain. Brady is sore as fuck today. He took a beating.
1 Like
The crazy thing about that is Newton is damn near as big as D-Ware. Denver’s outside rushers are going to need break edge and contain outside the hashes. They can’t start the game coming at Newton with their ears pinned back. The zone read will eat up a shit load of yardage agaist that.
If they sit back and hold the edge, the Carolina’s running game should weaken the middle.
This whole time, when Denver has the ball, they should just be pounding the rock. If it comes down to Manning dropping back, his career is going to end on a bad note. The way Carolina’s D finds the ball in the air, they will be picking off Manning left and right if he isn’t getting picked up off the turf.
1 Like
Agreed. I’m not sure what the exact time was on the clock, I want to say ~5 min left, but Gronk was mugged on 4th and goal when the ball was thrown to him and he couldn’t get it. The Bronco had some of his jersey in his hand, but kept it close to his body to hide it from the ref.
Gronk’s physicality is unmatched by any NFL TE, not to mention he runs good routes and catches the shit most of the time.
1 Like
Wade Phillips called a great game to rattle Brady, he was chased or knocked down pretty much the whole game. Much to his credit, he kept the Pats in it til the end. I am shocked the Pats didn’t adjust to the aggressive rush by going no huddle, going to spread offense, or running more draws and screens.
I’m still conflicted about my SB 50 prediction, I know Carolina did well but Arizona gave up 4 INT and 3 fumbles. I don’t expect Denver to implode like that.
Cam stays calm and Carolina rolls. Their D is nothing to sneeze at, plus Manning has been known to shit his pants now and again in big games… It’s similar to the Denver Seattle SuperBowl IMO. If Manning doesn’t play as well or better than he did yesterday, Carolina rolls, and rolls hard.
Only other way Denver wins is cheap ass dirt bag Ward takes out Cam’s knee as he is known to do.
That said, Denver played pretty damn well yesterday, so you never know.
Yup. It was brutal to watch.
That is what I have been saying. Will be the same steam rolling that Seattle gave them. The only way it stays close is through shitty officiating which may happen on purpose; in order to keep it close.
I see at least 2 picks from Manning. 1 rushing td for Cam and a couple more td’s through the air. I also see Manning retiring after this game.
Heard a hear-say report that Manning confided in some friends he’ll announce his retirement after the Super Bowl … (Heard the rumor on Boston Sports Talk Radio) Haven’t seen anything substantiating that rumor…
It would be very wise of him to do so. One, his skills have fallen off in a big way. Two, the NFL is doing a full investigation in the likely HGH violation. I am not 100% sure of the NFL’s policy on investigating retired players, I would not be surprised if they have not been in contact with him about getting out with his name still intact.
In my opinion it would be silly to investigate him for prior use. Tarnishes both parties. Also it’s not like it worked well if he did use hgh.
They have already started a full scale investigation.
With mostly everyone now “expecting” CAR to win, and with ease no less, it’s good time to recall that NFL results seldom pan out that way. Think back to wildcard weekend, when WAS was “expected” to handle GB easily. Heck, even the AFC championship had an “expected” winner, by public perception.
On sunday, I expect a closely-contested matchup throughout. Plenty of 3-and-outs with those lights-out defenses.
QB-Manning is seasoned enough to play the game of field-position (ie. and not force things) and DC-Phillips has the pedigree to scheme effectively vs QB-Newton.
And that matchup of CAR wideouts vs DEN defensive backs… well, even though everyone’s forgotten the doomsday perception after WR-Benjamin went down in the preseason, CAR does NOT want to be playing catchup in any way/shape/form.
To sum it up, maybe taking DEN on the moneyline is a bit much but an “upset” on sunday might not even be much of one, actually.
Shit is getting real before the game even starts…