The Broncos defense completely obliterated the Patriots in their AFC Championship victory. They were able to do so by only rushing 3 or 4 players on almost every down and still getting an amazing amount of pressure. This is the key to beating literally any quarterback. If you are able to get pressure without blitzing and allow 7 players to drop back in coverage, any quarterback will have trouble finding open players. However, the main reason that the defense was able to pull this off against the Patriots was because there was absolutely no threat to run from New England. Obviously, things will be different when the Panther's offense is on the other side.
The Panthers offensive line is better than the Patriots offensive line, but if the Broncos defensive line plays as well as they did last game, they should be able to get pressure with four or five guys most of the time. Cam Newton's ability to run means the pass rushers need to be discipline and stay in their lanes. Cam is not easily brought down either. An arm sack will not work against him, sometimes even a gang sack is required to actually bring him down to the ground. Von and Ware cannot get too far upfield against him because when he has that opening he will probably take it. The sack numbers wont be as gaudy as they were in the AFC Championship game, but if they get Cam uncomfortable in the pocket by forcing pressure up front, that is all the defense should need to succeed and hold them below 20 for the game.
The best thing that the Broncos can do on defense would be to force Cam to stay in the pocket with a 4 or 5 person rush and let their excellent secondary to shut down options for Cam. Carolina simply does not have the receivers to counteract Denver's excellent corners. The defense was also able to neutralize Gronk for the most part until both Darian Stewart and TJ Ward went down with injury. If they were able to handle Gronk and not let him have many big plays, I don't doubt that they can do the same with Olsen. Unfortunately even though they do not have a great or even good receiver on this team, Ted Ginn is just too fast to leave one player on him for the duration of the game. One of the safeties will have to watch the deep zone of whichever side he is lined up on.
The Panthers running game adds a threat that the Broncos' defense did not have to worry about against the Patriots. Jonathan Stewart has been playing excellent this season and will provide the run defense's its biggest challenge of the season, outside of Adrian Peterson and Jamaal Charles. Although, Stewart had his best season since 2009, Cam is the one who makes the running game what it is. The defense has to account for him on every play. I am sure the Broncos are counting their blessings that they have one of the smartest outside linebackers in the league and his partner on their other side is probably the best in the business. Von and Ware have to keep their eyes on Cam on every run play and allow the interior lineman and inside linebackers to focus their attention on Stewart.
The Panthers do have a dynamic running game, but I think a lot of people are forgetting how great the Broncos' defense has been this season. Although most of the praise is placed on the pass rush and coverage, this defense also had the number one defense against the rush, when looking at yards per attempt (3.3). Brandon Marshall and Danny Trevanthan are two of the best 3-4 inside linebackers in the league. They do a great job dissecting running plays and meeting the runners in the hole. They will be instrumental pieces defending against Cam and Stewart.
There will be plays for the Broncos defense to make. Sometimes Cam sails balls high when he is under duress and the secondary needs to take advantage of those few opportunities. The offense will probably need all of the extra possessions and good field position that is possible in order to score enough to win this game. They know that Cam is a gunslinger and throws off balance a lot so I am sure that they will focus on practicing on creating those during the week leading up to the Super Bowl.
The key for the defense is to stop the runs on first and second down and force Cam to convert third and longs. If the Panthers are able to get ahead of the sticks and are facing a lot of third and threes, the Broncos will be in trouble. They cannot allow running to be an option on third down or else they will never get off of the field.
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