Barnwell: Carolina isn't a good matchup for Denver

[Nomad82]

8 minutes ago, CatMan72 said:

Great article, the real football people know how ugly this could get for the Broncos. 

I've been telling anyone that would listen how favorable this matchup is for us. That doesn't guarantee a win, but the Broncos will have to play the game of their lives while we just have to play the way we've been playing all season to secure the win. 

Everyone is focused on our offense vs. their defense, nobody is talking about our defense vs. their offense and that's the matchup that is most likely to decide this game (in our favor).  

Yep, the only chance they have of winning is if we beat ourselves.

Let's not oblige them..

[Ivan The Awesome]

Panthers be like...

 

[KB_fan]

1 hour ago, Cary Kollins said:

This is the kind of Super Bowl coverage worth reading. A diamond in the fuggin rough.

 

 

Seriously.

I'm so glad someone posted it as a stand alone thread.  It's been linked by a few of us (me included) in other threads, but it deserved more exposure.  I just didn't have enough focus / energy to do it justice earlier in the day in between a bunch of work meetings.  It was only as I was reading it and quoting a few sections that I realized there was STILL MORE great stuff... it just kept getting better. 

What football analysis should be.  More articles like this sports journalists, please!

[Car123]

Any given Sunday.

[KB_fan]

2 hours ago, pantherking15 said:

Haha, this is the Panthers defense. The Panthers offense gets to practice vs the perfect defense designed to stop them.

YES!!!!!  This!!!  I've been thinking this for awhile... how much better our defense makes our offense because of practice matchups, and vice-versa. 

It hit me again today seeing the picture of Benji & Peanut against one another on the practice field.... ok, Benji's not been playing in the regular season, but practicing against him in training camp helped Josh improve dramatically. 

Peanut got our whole team thinking about ball security....,

Luke & TD make Greg have to excel....  

Our incredibly strong interior of the Oline pushes KK & Star  (and vice versa)

There is something so incredible watching a team with a lot of elite talent on both sides of the ball... chemistry, symmetry, they each energize the other.....

[uncfan888]

Good article.. but if I never hear about Football Outsiders and DVOA again, it'll be too soon

[Khyber53]

Excellent article, thanks for sharing it.

So many of the articles out there seem to have been done by folks who watched the playoff games and skimmed through a couple of our wins this season. Barnwell did a thorough job for sure.

[KB_fan]

2 hours ago, pantherking15 said:

Basically, the people who actually know football (Greg Cosell, Brian Billick, Bill Barnwell, etc.) are telling it like it is. The "analysts" and former players on ESPN, NFL Network, etc. are repeating the same uninformed/misleading talking points to generate hype, which is understandable.

Speaking of Greg Cosell....

here's his weekly show at WFNZ today:

 

 

[Alliesend]

While Denver's defense has been stellar this year and wrecked Tom Brady and made him a vegetarian for 60 minutes. Denver's defense is facing a 5th ranked offensive line along with the 2nd ranked rushing offense in the NFL. Denver has only faced a top ten running team twice and gave up over 100 yards in both. Carolina has already faced the second ranked defense twice and throttled the 5th ranked defense. Denver's only hope in this game is that the defense forces turnovers. If they can't force Carolina to turn the ball over then they are outmatched. Even if Carolina turns the ball over Denver's offense can't turn it over at all as that would certainly turn into points as Carolina scores the most points off turnovers in the NFL while having the least amount of points given on turnovers. 

This game will most likely be decided on Denver's offense against Carolina's defense and Carolina certainly has a huge advantage. Denver's offense is rather tame compared to the high scoring offenses we have gone against. Demaryius Thomas is their top receiver who will be blanketed by Josh Norman. The linebacker trio of Shaq Thompson, Luke Kuechly, and Thomas Davis will certainly make the run game ineffective. Their run game will only be used to keep the defense honest so that they don't blitz a lot or double coverage in the backfield making the windows too tight for Manning to throw. Defense wins championships and it seems that Carolina not Denver's defense will be the key factor in this game. I expect Luke kuechly pick six mania to continue sunday.

While Denver will be a worthy opponent I feel the Carolina-Seattle game was this years super bowl similar to in the 80s Dallas-San Francisco game being a battle of which one wins the super bowl.

[pantherj]

Yes Seattle was the second best team this season. Once we defeated Seattle we played lesser teams the rest of the way. Arizona and Denver are not as good as Seattle. We were fortunate that a Seattle defender slipped giving Stewart a huge run early. We jumped all over Seattle and held them off, but earlier in the season we were in trouble with them. Seattle is very good. Denver and Arizona are just not on the same level.

Denver's only chance to win this game is if Cam totally poops the bed worse than he has in a long time. Cam would have to have a Jake Delhomme Arizona meltdown for us to lose to Denver. Cam plays like his normal self and we will beat the ever living poo out of Denver. They are not built to stop our read option. Now Seattle from a few years ago had the right build to give our read option trouble and shed blocks quickly, but this Denver team just won't be able to do it. Denver is praying for a Cam meltdown. 

[Thanatos]

I disagree about Seattle actually. I think Denver would do to Seattle what we did. I'm not sure they could put up enough points to beat them, but Denver's secondary is in fact better than ours. Can you imagine Malik Jackson, Derek Wolfe, Von Miller, and DeMarcus Ware against Wilson's pathetic O-line? They'd eat him alive even worse than we did. 

Just not sure their offense could put up enough points to withstand Seattle's furious comeback when Jesus takes over for Russell Wilson in the 4th quarter.

[beastson]

13 minutes ago, Thanatos said:

I disagree about Seattle actually. I think Denver would do to Seattle what we did. I'm not sure they could put up enough points to beat them, but Denver's secondary is in fact better than ours. Can you imagine Malik Jackson, Derek Wolfe, Von Miller, and DeMarcus Ware against Wilson's pathetic O-line? They'd eat him alive even worse than we did. 

Just not sure their offense could put up enough points to withstand Seattle's furious comeback when Jesus takes over for Russell Wilson in the 4th quarter.

Idk about Seattle, but I don't think Denver beats Cards though

[Ace_Aladdin]

10 hours ago, Cary Kollins said:

This GIF sums it up.

[MadHatter]

1 hour ago, Thanatos said:

I disagree about Seattle actually. I think Denver would do to Seattle what we did. I'm not sure they could put up enough points to beat them, but Denver's secondary is in fact better than ours. Can you imagine Malik Jackson, Derek Wolfe, Von Miller, and DeMarcus Ware against Wilson's pathetic O-line? They'd eat him alive even worse than we did. 

Just not sure their offense could put up enough points to withstand Seattle's furious comeback when Jesus takes over for Russell Wilson in the 4th quarter.

Denver's anemic offense probably would be shutout by Seattle's defense.