Super Bowl 50: Denver Broncos vs Carolina Panthers

It’s official: the Denver Broncos will face the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50! We get a blast from the past in Peyton Manning and a shimmering light of the future in Cam Newton. One seed versus one seed. It’s about as perfect of a match up the NFL could have dreamed of this season. A chance for Peyton Manning to ride off into the sunset in John Elway fashion while Cam Newton creates his legacy with a one loss, Super Bowl winning season.

The Broncos were able to hold off the New England Patriots 20-18, but a missed point after attempt by New England prevented the Patriots from tying the game after a late touchdown by Rob Gronkowski with 12 seconds left. A failed two point conversion at the end of the game spelled the end of the Patriots quest to return to the Super Bowl.

The Carolina Panthers blew out the Arizona Cardinals 49-15 as Cam Newton cemented his Most Valuable Player award candidacy. The Panthers quarterback threw for two touchdowns and ran in for two more on route to scoring his 50th touchdown of the season. Corey Brown and Greg Olsen had big games, finishing with 113 receiving yards each.

An interesting side story to this game is that the two head coaches (Gary Kubiak and Ron Rivera) replaced John Fox as head coach of their respective team. Rivera became the Panthers coach in 2011, while Kubiak is in his first year with the Broncos after Fox was abruptly fired.

The two teams will play in San Francisco’s Levi Stadium on February 7th. Early projections have the Panthers favorited over the Broncos, but those projections will change all the way up to kick off.

Stay connected to NFL Mocks as we continue to preview the Super Bowl and this springs NFL Draft!