SANTA CLARA – Quarterback Cam Newton came onto the field during pregame warmups before Super Bowl 50 wearing gold high-top cleats that were adorned with the lettering of his newest distinction:
MVP.
Newton earned the honor as the NFL’s best player with a remarkable season that included 35 touchdown passes and 10 more rushing scores in leading the Carolina Panthers to the best regular-season record in the league. And he certainly was not understated on the nation's biggest sporting stage about his accomplishment.
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SIGN UP HERE But once the game began, Newton got the kind of attention he did not desire from the Denver Broncos. He was sacked seven times – including on two of the critical plays of the game – in the Panthers' 24-10 upset loss to the Broncos in front of 71,088 fans at Levi’s Stadium.
Newton did not have much to say afterward during his three-minute media session. He sat back in his chair and mostly provided one-word answers. But he did sum up the Panthers' futility when asked if he saw anything he did not expect from the Broncos.
“They just played better than us. I don't know what you want me to say. They made more plays than us, and that’s what it came down to,” Newton said. “We had our opportunities. There wasn’t nothing special that they did. We dropped balls. We turned the ball over, gave up sacks, threw errant passes. That’s it. They scored more points than we did."
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Newton completed just 18 of 41 attempts (43.9 percent) for 265 yards with no touchdowns and one interceptions. He also lost two of his fumbles.
“I don't think we played well around him,” Panthers tight end Greg Olsen said. “I don't think by any means this is all him. We can't turn this into the What's-wrong-with-Cam Newton? show.”
Newton failed to hold onto the ball twice when Von Miller, the Super Bowl MVP, forced fumbles while rushing from Newton's front side against Carolina right tackle Mike Remmers.
Miller, who was credited with 2.5 sacks in game, provided Denver with most of its offense, too. His sack/strip of Newton in the first quarter led to teammate Malik Jackson’s fumble recovery in the end zone for a 10-0 lead.
In the fourth quarter, trailing 16-10 and looking to engineer a late go-ahead drive, Newton was again stripped by Miller on a sack. With the ball on the ground, Newton did not to enter the pile in an attempt to recover the ball. When the ball squirted back toward the end zone, Denver defensive back T.J. Ward recovered it at the 4-yard line with 4:04 remaining in the game.
Three plays later, C.J. Anderson scored on a 2-yard run to clinch the Broncos’ third Super Bowl title in franchise history. The Panthers are winless in their two appearances in Super Bowls but figure to be a force in future seasons – as long as Newton performs as he did during the regular season.
Newton has very little help from his supporting cast on Sunday evening – other than a stellar defensive effort that limited Peyton Manning and the Broncos’ offense to 104 net yards passing, 90 rushing yards and just 1-of-14 on third downs. Manning completed 13 of 23 passes for 141 yards and was sacked five times for 37 yards.
Receiver Jerricho Cotchery let two potential big plays slip through his hands – one that would’ve been a 25-yard gain on the Panthers’ second drive of the game, the other on a pass that would’ve given Carolina a first-and-goal situation inside the 5-yard line on the first drive of the third quarter. Running back Mike Tolbert was responsible for one of the Panthers' four turnovers with a second-quarter fumble inside Broncos' territory.
“Everybody took turns having a negative impact on this game,” Olsen said. “You’re not going to beat teams doing that.”
Said Panthers coach Ron Rivera, "I think there's a couple times when we had opportunities and we didn't take advantage. When you really look at it, more than anything else, the problem is we turned the ball over. I mean, we fumbled the ball when we really haven't fumbled the ball."
In 16 regular-season games, Newton lost just four fumbles and threw 10 interceptions. On Sunday, he was responsible for three of the Panthers' costly turnovers.
"I spoke a little bit with him, but this is one of those things that's going to hurt," Rivera said. "It's going to hurt everybody for a while. Hopefully after a few days or whatever it is, we're going to get over it and we'll move forward."