I haven't watched the game, but based on the stats... the Broncos D must have been massive, and as I feared, the Panthers bought into the hype.
They scored 500 pts in the regular season.I don't think they were buying into Hype. Cam looked Nervous in his first drive. The occasion got to them plus the O-line and WR were never that good to begin with.
They scored 500 pts in the regular season.
That's 30+ per game, and then they went on to put 31 and 49 points on Seattle and the Cards respectively, arguably better teams than Denver. Not something you'll achieve with a crap O-line and receiver corps...
I haven't watched the game yet, so I won't argue about anyone's merits or blemishes at this point, but as good as Denver's defense is, this result is still very surprising.
Yeah, I think it was more that they didn't handle the occasion well. That fumble and recovery TD to start was a serious killer. It's hard to come back from that. Remember the Denver-Seahawks Superbowl and the snap over Manning's head - put me in mind of that, though thanks to Denver's insipid offense and Carolina's defense the Panthers at least stuck with them through the better part of four quarters.
Those two Newton fumbles were the difference - fourteen gifted points in a fourteen point game. It was probably too late in the game anyway but the PI call on 3rd and goal after Cam's late fumble all but sealed it. You're always at least a chance to block a field goal, even if a small one, and a nine point lead is better psychologically than fourteen points.