Super Bowl 50: Youth vs Experience

Super Bowl 50 will give us two completely different approaches to the game.

When Super Bowl Sunday comes around, the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos will be a contrast in study.

One, a youthful team led by their charismatic young quarterback and their “balls to the wall” defense, and the other being a veteran team trying to erase a nightmare Super Bowl loss lead by their veteran gunslinger trying to ride off into the sunset with the Lombardi Trophy in hand.

With a two week break between the championship games and the Super Bowl, the marquee match up most discussed has to be about the quarterbacks.

For Carolina you have Cam Newton, the most likely 2015 league MVP with a thousand watt smile and a rocket launching arm.  This year has been a national coming out for Newton at the pro level.

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As a Heisman winning, No. 1 draft pick, Newton flashed talent in the past, but this year put it all together.

Newton, while leading Carolina to a 15-1 regular season, threw a career-high 35 touchdowns and also got in the end zone 10 times on the ground.  Newton also showed clear leadership of the offense by engineering 4 fourth quarter comeback wins.

In the playoffs, Newton continued to soar as he raised his QB rating from 99.4 during the regular season to 113.4; accounting for 5 touchdowns while only committing 1 turnover.

A win in this Super Bowl and Cam Newton goes from the gridiron straight to a Wheaties box.

On the other side we have the veteran and sure Hall-of-Famer Peyton Manning.

In what is probably his last game, Manning will try to cement his legacy as probably the greatest quarterback by winning a second Super Bowl.

For Manning, a Super Bowl win is as much a reclamation project for this season and maybe how his career will be viewed.

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This season has been difficult for Manning, as he has only played 10 games do to his deteriorating health and ineffectiveness.

Manning threw 9 touchdowns and 17 interceptions the worst statistical year for him since his rookie season. And in the playoffs, Manning has become a game manager — throwing less, relying on the Broncos run game, and mitigating his mistakes.

If Manning pulls one more great game out of his arsenal it will  be the fitting end  for a Hall-of-Fame career.

On the defensive side the Panthers boast Luke Kuechly, a fourth year tenacious linebacker who, when not terrorizing the opposing QB, is versatile enough to drop back into coverage and intercept a pass.

He is the anchor of an athletic young group that forced 9 turnovers and two pick sixes against Seattle and Arizona during the playoffs.  Using their speed and aggression will be a key to getting pressure on Manning and his receivers.

The Broncos are a veteran defensive group that will try and put pressure using their twin terrors of verteran linebackers Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware.

Bottom Line: Experience is the x-factor.

In the AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots the pair terrorized Tom Brady all day, combining for 3 sacks and forcing multiple rushed passes.

A key to winning the Super Bowl for Denver will be if the veteran laden defensive corp will use experience in attacking the Panthers offense.

Prediction: