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Ben Volin | On football

Panthers sabotaged every single chance against Broncos

Questionable coaching decisions, poor offensive line play, drops, turnovers, head-scratching play calls — Carolina truly did it all.

Cam Newton and the Panthers committed four turnovers against the Broncos.Julie Jacobson/Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — I don’t know how they do things down in Charlotte, N.C. Maybe Panthers fans will welcome their team home with open arms and thank them for the magical run this year, which included 17 wins, an MVP for Cam Newton, and the franchise’s second trip to the Super Bowl.

But if the Patriots ever lost a Super Bowl like the Panthers did on Sunday, boy howdy would New Englanders be upset.

The Panthers didn’t lose Super Bowl 50 as much as they spectacularly mangled and sabotaged every chance they had to get back into that game. Questionable coaching decisions, poor offensive line play, drops, turnovers, head-scratching play calls — the Panthers truly did it all on Sunday in a 24-10 loss to the Broncos.

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When rewatching the game Monday, I couldn’t help but think about how Patriots fans would react to the Panthers’ play. Here’s what everyone would be complaining about:

Carolina didn’t come to play

Newton and the Panthers enjoyed the spotlight all week (and all season), but came up small in the season’s biggest game.

Newton’s receivers had five legitimate drops, and in some crucial spots. Jerricho Cotchery was the biggest defender, dropping a wide-open catch over the middle (the Panthers’ first challenge) . . .

. . . dropping a potential third-and-4 conversion, and dropping a wheel route down the sideline when matched up 1-on-1 with Von Miller, a matchup the Panthers absolutely must take advantage of. Jonathan Stewart and Philly Brown also had blatant drops.

Cornerback Josh Norman also dropped an interception that could have given the Panthers the ball deep in Denver territory.

And Ted Ginn Jr. running out of bounds on his 45-yard catch-and-run was shameful. Not only did Aqib Talib catch up with Ginn after slowing to avoid his fallen teammate, but Ginn didn’t bother trying to cut back to the wide-open middle of the field or lower his shoulder and fight for extra yards.

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Newton was hardly perfect, either. He threw high and wide to Brown on the second play of the game . . .

. . . and missed out on a huge play when overthrowing Ginn deep down the seam, a play that could have gone for a touchdown.

And the Panthers had a penalty meltdown: They had four false starts, a delay of game, and three personal fouls (two by Tre Boston, one by Trai Turner).

Where was the help line?

Guess what happens when Miller matches up 1-on-1 on former practice squad right tackle Mike Remmers?

Or when DeMarcus Ware goes up against journeyman left tackle Michael Oher?

Yup, total domination.

The duo combined for 4½ sacks, 6 quarterback hits, 2 tackles for loss, 2 forced fumbles, and 11 tackles. The Panthers occasionally kept in Greg Olsen or Mike Tolbert to help out, but the Broncos would just blitz the corresponding defender, giving the pass rushers 1-on-1 matchups across the board, which they feasted upon.

The Panthers also had assignment issues, allowing Ware to get lined up 1-on-1 with tight end Ed Dickson, which predictably resulted in another hit on Newton.

Where were the wide receiver or running back screens to neutralize the blitz? Where were shorter-developing plays or play-action rollouts to get Newton away from the rush? The Panthers’ offensive staff seemed to freeze.

The Panthers’ ball security

Von Miller forced Cam Newton to fumble twice.Tony Avelar/European Pressphoto Agency

The Panthers turned the ball over four times, two of which were inexplicable fumbles. The first was Newton getting the ball ripped out of his hands by Miller inside the 5-yard line, which was recovered by the Broncos for their first touchdown. Newton is 6 feet 5 inches and 245 pounds, and needs to grip the football tighter. He also had another one ripped out, but he was ruled down by contact.

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So does fullback Tolbert, whose fumble in the second quarter was an absolute killer. The Panthers should have had first and 10 at the Denver 40, but Tolbert allowed Darian Stewart to pop out the ball on a fairly mundane open-field hit in which Tolbert lowered his shoulder and initiated the contact.

Challenges and use of clock

After losing out on his first challenge, was it really worth it for Ron Rivera to challenge the Peyton Manning sack early in the second quarter? Yes, Rivera got the call correct, but it cost him his final challenge and gave the Panthers only 7 additional yards.

Meanwhile, the clock management at the end of the second quarter was tough to watch. The Panthers trailed, 13-7, with 1:55 left in the second quarter, and couldn’t keep the clock from running out on themselves. Most notably, it took Newton and the Panthers 18 seconds of clock to get off the next play following Devin Funchess’s 24-yard catch, and 19 seconds to get off the snap after a pass to Olsen over the middle.

The second quarter

Talk about missed opportunities. In addition to Tolbert’s fumble and the Panthers’ poor use of the clock, they also squandered a golden opportunity midway through the quarter with bad execution and a head-scratching play call.

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Trailing, 10-7, with 10:46 left in the second quarter, the Panthers took over at their own 49 following a punt. But Jonathan Stewart was stuffed for 2 yards, Ginn was sacked for minus-4 yards, Newton threw incomplete on third down, and the Panthers punted away after a quick three and out.

Why the Panthers would call that Ginn option throwback pass on second and 8 at midfield and the Panthers’ offense starting to get into a rhythm is beyond comprehension.

Where was Kony Ealy?

The Panthers’ philosophy of rotating defensive ends is common across the NFL and makes sense, keeping the pass rushers fresh into the fourth quarter. But Ealy was the most dominant player on the field for the Panthers, yet only played 23 of 60 defensive snaps.

In those 23 snaps, Ealy had three sacks, an interception, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, a pass defended, and four tackles (two for loss). They probably should have found a way to give him a few more snaps throughout the game.


Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @BenVolin.