Cam Newton didn’t lose the Super Bowl for the Panthers

Cam Newton will be blamed for the Panthers' loss in the Super Bowl. It comes with the territory. The NFL has seemingly been distilled into a media-created series of prize fights between quarterbacks where success and failure is hoisted on their shoulders, and their shoulders alone. Should the NFL's MVP have played better? Yes, probably -- but he didn't lose his team the game.

The Panthers lost because Denver's defense ripped their offensive heart out. This team went 15-1 during the regular season and went to the Super Bowl through the backbone of a strong read option running attack that froze opposing linebackers and forced them to stay at home rather than blitzing. From here, Cam Newton was able to pick apart the defenses with passes to Greg Olsen, deep throws to Ted Ginn Jr. and Corey Brown and his running ability -- none of this happened.

Denver, to its credit, never fell for the read option. They kept attacking instead of letting unsurety force them into passivity. The defense dismantled Carolina precisely the same way they did against Tom Brady and the Patriots. They did something the Panthers weren't used to: Stick to their game plan. Carolina became accustomed to playing in a manner that forced opponents into play their game, the Broncos couldn't be bent.

One thing that was lost in the Super Bowl preparation, and all season really, was just how average the Panthers offensive line was at the tackle positions. Michael Oher was an offseason upgrade over Byron Bell, and Mike Remmers was a nice UDFA find -- but neither were the kind of offensive tackles that teams typically have in the Super Bowl. It's the blessing and curse of Cam Newton. His athletic ability can mask a multitude of sins, which is great 90 percent of the time, but that 10 percent remains. It's this margin where the Broncos set up shop and exposed the Panthers weaknesses.

Carolina was either unwilling, or unable to adjust -- which is the other part of this scenario. Von Miller was having a field day working one-on-one against Remmers all night, but instead of shifting help to the right or keeping a running back at home, the Panthers became over-confident that what got them to the Super Bowl could win the Super Bowl.

Essentially, everything went wrong for the Panthers at the line of scrimmage, so what failed beyond it? That's a more complicated issue. The Broncos did an amazing job using Aqib Talib to bracket and contain Greg Olsen for much of the game. Carolina's running attack is used to set up Olsen, which in turn sets up deep passes. Denver took away two aspects of the Panthers offense immediately, which forced them into the one dimensional.

That one dimension isn't good. It involves asking players like Ted Ginn and Jerricho Cotchery to play far beyond their ability -- and this is before we talk about the pass that went through Ginn's hands and became an interception, or Cotchery dropping a pass in his hands inside the 10-yard line when the Panthers were only down six, or that for the critical final quarter Corey Brown was out due to a concussion -- the only player who made clutch catches for the Panthers on offense.

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