The 2015 season finished with the Broncos vs. Panthers, and the 2016 season will begin with the Broncos vs. Panthers.
Perfect.
A Super Bowl rematch Week 1 is an easy storyline, but not everyone’s buying into it. Cam Newton, specifically.
“A lot of people want to make it a rematch. It’s not a rematch,” Newton said Sunday, via the Associated Press. “It’s just our next opponent.”
True, but it’s not as if Super Bowl 50 won’t play a vital role in the outcome of this week’s game. Both teams are returning plenty of starters, coaches and schemes. If they’re not drawing as much as they can from Super Bowl 50, they’re doing something wrong.
On Monday, the Broncos spoke on just that, and it’s clear they believe they can draw from their February magic.
OC Rick Dennison on what he expects from Carolina’s gameplan
“I have no idea what to expect and they do a great job over there. They change up coverages and they can bring the gas or they can play soft. We have to stay in the huddle and do what we do best and run the plays that are called, try not to guess what we’re going to get and make sure that we have plenty of options and find our creases.”
DC Wade Phillips on what they did right last time
“They said that we stopped their running game well enough to force them into passing situations, which is a strength for us. We were the number one passing defense in the league. He’s such a good player. Before our game and the whole season last year, they were the leading scoring team in the league. They did it in the playoffs except for our game. We expect the same kind of team.”
Von Miller on if he can learn anything from Super Bowl 50
“Yes, they’re returning 18 starters, same coaching staff and same players, really. I think you could use a lot from that game, but you’d be fools to think that they’re going to run the same plays. I think that we could use some things that we didn’t do well and some things that they did well and we think that they’re going to try and attack us in those areas.”
Miller on what he can learn from Super Bowl 50
“They missed a lot of opportunities. They had some plays that weren’t even us. It’s stuff that we did on defense. Some plays the running back missed the hole here, or a dropped pass here or there. But they had their fair share of chances to win the game. So going into the game, I expect to see the same type of Carolina Panthers. The win was there for them the first time we played and I just expect them to execute a lot better this game. And it’s the second time around. It’s a lot tougher to beat a team the second time around. But I think me and my guys, the guys in the locker room—I think we’re up for the task.”
DeMarcus Ware on what he can take from the Super Bowl
“I think you always have to look at the experience, the guys that you go against, their tendencies, what they did and you have tape of yourself going against those guys and how are they going to react to you instead of having to watch tape on other teams. Everybody always has their wrench that they’re going to throw in the tool box so you have to be ready for that, but a lot of teams change and some teams don’t change. You just have to be prepared with what you have and just keep rolling from there.”
Ware on what he saw from his Super Bowl performance
“It was one of those technical games to where there’s a lot of misdirection. Does the quarterback have the ball? Does the running back have the ball? There were screens, draws; a lot of misdirection, a lot of guys were on their P’s and Q’s on where they needed to be and their responsibilities. Seeing that we can do that from last game and trying to let that carry over into this game—say that there’s going to be some things that they’re going to throw at us that we haven’t seen yet, but we’ve seen a lot of things that they’ve done—we can do it, getting that confidence, going out there and playing well.”
