Super Bowl 50: The Battle of Old School vs. New School
Super Bowl 50 pits the Denver Broncos against the Carolina Panthers, in a battle of “old school vs. new school” between their quarterbacks.
The day of Super Bowl 50 is finally here. After two weeks of buildup, celebrations, interviews, and trumped-up headlines, the actual game is upon us. The Denver Broncos, with the best defense in football, take on the Carolina Panthers, who will attempt to match an NFL record with 18 wins in a season. But the biggest matchup from the big game is between two players who won’t even face each other directly on the field.
The two quarterbacks are the headliners. The Broncos’ 39-year-old signal-caller Peyton Manning will take the field on Sunday, and if what he said to New England Patriots’ coach Bill Belichick after their AFC Championship battle is true, it will be the final game of his illustrious, Hall of Fame career. On the other side, Manning’s counterpart is Cam Newton, whose career is just getting started at 26 years old.
Each quarterback has a completely different style. Manning is the old school gunslinging pocket passer, beating defense with his arm and his brain. Throughout his career, no quarterback has manipulated his offense like Manning, making reads at the line of scrimmage to put his team into the right offense for the situation. His signature “Omaha” audible call is the stuff of legend.
Newton, on the other hand is the leader of the new school, the premier dual threat quarterback in football. He beats defenses by making pinpoint accurate throws, and can also beat defenses with his legs, breaking the pocket and scrambling to pick up big chunks of yardage. No quarterback has been able to combine those traits like Newton, leading the NFL’s number-one offense in 2015.
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The pocket passer has been the way of the NFL for years, from past stars like Dan Marino and Joe Montana, to current quarterbacks Manning, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees. But the movers and shakers have always had their place. From Steve Young, to Fran Tarkenton, to Michael Vick, and Newton, the league has always had room for the more athletic types. But as the years have gone on, the league has shifted more and more from that pocket passer to the dual threat.
The 50th rendition of the Super Bowl marks the fourth straight matchup in the big game that features a pocket passer against a running quarterback. The past two seasons have featured the Seattle Seahawks’ and their athletic passer Russell Wilson. He was matched up against Manning in 2014 and Brady in 2015. In 2013, San Francisco 49ers’ dual threat Colin Kaepernick (who set the NFL record with 181 rushing yards as a quarterback in his first playoff game) faced off with Baltimore Ravens’ classic quarterback Joe Flacco.
This shift was gradual at first, with Vick breaking ground in 2001. In recent years, players like Wilson, Kaepernick, and Newton have made the change harder to ignore. In 2015, the top two quarterbacks taken in the NFL draft, Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota, are part of that new generation. The pocket passer is slowly coming extinct, and their more athletics brethren are pushing them out. The shift is now undeniable.
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Super Bowl 50 could be the pocket passer’s final stand, led by their president Manning. Manning is the old sheriff, riding his trusty stead into one final gun battle. Newton is the new kid in town, bringing his stallion into town to take the badge from the old sheriff. Does Manning have any more tricks up his sleeve to win another big one, or is it Newton’s time to become the man?