Peyton Manning must defeat his reputation en route to beating Carolina Panthers

Peyton Manning can’t get it done in big games. He withers under bright lights and had he not faced the woeful Rex Grossman, and his Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI, a game in which Manning completed just one touchdown pass, he would be winless when it matters most.

That, folks, is the narrative that surrounds the career of the otherwise great Peyton Manning. You know it, I know it, the NFL knows it and you can wager that he knows it too. And now Manning finds himself in the big game again, with one last chance to flip the script on his legacy.

If the Broncos are to beat the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 they are going to need Manning to do just that.

As heralded as Denver’s defense is heading into the big game, the unit doesn’t have the horses to completely topple Carolina alone. Not in the fashion it did against the Patriots. Cam Newton and the Panthers will score.

If the Carolina offense is half as effective as it has been thus far in the playoffs, Denver might hold it to around 24 points. In fact, that would be an idyllic scenario. While the knock on the Panthers is that they lack weapons in the passing game, they have proven to be the league’s most prolific team in terms of scoring — with a stunning average of 31.3 points per game in the regular season and a jaw-dropping post-season average of 40 points per game. They finished the regular season tops in the league in scoring with 500 total points, 11 more than the Arizona Cardinals and 35 more than the third place New England Patriots.

Behind the wildly underrated Jonathan Stewart, the Panthers finished second to the Buffalo Bills in regular season rushing yards per game at 142.6, and they’ve improved that average to 148 yards per game in the post-season. The quarterback position contributes more to Carolina’s success on the ground than for any other team in the NFL.

Newton rushed for 56 first downs during the regular season — 25 more than second-place Russell Wilson. He scored 10 rushing touchdowns, too, four more than second-place Jameis Winston. Newton is a weapon unlike any other in the NFL right now and possibly ever. As the old saying goes: You can’t stop him, you can only hope to contain him.

Denver’s season average scoring production was 22.2 points, 19th in the NFL. They have actually fallen behind that lowly pace thus far in the playoffs. And, while the Denver “D” has allowed them to scrape together two big wins while averaging just over 21 points per playoff game, they are yet to face an offense like Carolina’s.

Defensively, the Panthers haven’t exactly been a liability either. While the Broncos ranked first this season, allowing 18.5 points per game, the Panthers were not far behind. They finished sixth in the NFL with 19.3 points allowed per game. They were fourth in the NFL in rushing yards allowed, but eleventh against the pass.

That’s where Peyton Manning comes in — or where he needs to if the Broncos are going to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. The Broncos must score a minimum of 27 points to win Super Bowl 50, and they won’t be able to count on their defense to do it. They will need to score in the passing game.

If the Broncos are going to win their third Lombardi Trophy, Peyton Manning must go down kicking and screaming. He’ll need at least two touchdown passes, if not three, and 250-300 passing yards. The Broncos will need to beat the Panthers in a surprising way, in a way that they haven’t won all season. Both the Broncos and their Hall of Fame quarterback need to shock the Panthers — and the Nation — with an offensive game plan that allows Manning to reverse the narrative that surrounds his reputation in big games.

Manning needs to lead the Denver Broncos like he never has before. Two years ago he took the Broncos to the Super Bowl, this year the Broncos took him. Now it’s on Manning to grab the ring for them and to ride off into the sunset in precisely the way John Elway hoped he would … on top.