50th Super Bowl: Manning's Broncos face Newton's Panthers

It's the ideal intersection of the NFL's past, present and future. "Disappointing, disappointing result. There's such a fine line between winning and losing".

Newton, meanwhile, is part of the new guard.

Manning's two touchdown passes helped the Broncos upset New England 20-18 in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday. He threw many times into double coverage or overshot his wide receivers. "It's like that dream is becoming a reality". The Broncos will play Arizona or Carolina, who met later in the NFC title game.

Peyton Manning I thought played about the same as he did the previous week against Pittsburgh, no better, no worse.

Newton is the likely league MVP, and he's the unquestioned leader of the Panthers, who have won 17 of 18 games this season counting their two playoff victories. Manning is a rubbery mess of ailments and middle-aged complaints; while I worry about Newton breaking a limb or taking a frightening shot to the cerebellum, I worry that Manning will actually turn the wrong way, take a sack and disintegrate into dust.

"From that point, I just knew how important it was to those guys to close it off. I said, 'The Patriots are coming into our house trying to take what we built.' It was a big, emotional night and the guys carried it over into the game". "Watching him grow each and every year, it's been incredible, and this has been a big year for him".

And then there were two.

It's that dual-threat ability that makes him both electrifying to watch and the poster boy for the next generation. But 17 completions were enough, and the two most important were touchdowns to Owen Daniels, the tight end who has played his whole career with Kubiak. "For so long, there's been this cookie cutter type of what people expect franchise quarterbacks to be...." "And this game today was a unique football game".

Yes, he's still as good as anyone at diagnosing defenses and changing things up - or appearing to, anyway - at the line of scrimmage.

"I expect the public to support Carolina", Westgate book director Jay Kornegay said.

"I'd like to think that everybody was prepared and ready to go. It's fun and, being the old guy in the room, it's really refreshing".

"They're good rushers", Sebastian Vollmer said.

Perhaps as early as next month for Manning.

With two weeks to hype the game, the media's favorite storyline will be Manning. They hit him a record 23 times.

Manning outdueled Tom Brady in their fabled rivalry with a huge assist from the defense, led by linebacker Von Miller's 2.5 sacks and interception. Yes, you read that right. This from a kicker who made an NFL-record 523 consecutive PATs. The Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers won their respective conferences and are set to face other in Super Bowl 50 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. "It was an uphill battle all day", he said.

"Not assuming this is how it's going to be, this is the final decision here one way or another", Manning added. Some thought his career might be over after that game.

Wolfe, Miller and Harris were sideline spectators in the Super Bowl against Seattle two years ago, and now they're leading Manning back with a chance to go out on top during a season when his skills and character were both questioned in media reports. Manning is on his way out while Newton is on his way up. This was the most on a quarterback in a single game since 2006, when Cleveland Browns quarterback Charlie Frye was hit 20 times by the Ravens.

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