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When Carolina cruised past the Cardinals in the NFC Championship, it kept the Panthers' unbeaten run against top-5 defenses intact.

After an early-season win over Houston (No. 3) and a sweep of the Seahawks (No. 2), Sunday's rout of Arizona (No. 5) improved the Panthers' record versus top-5 defenses to 4-0. Now the NFL's top scoring team gets the best defense of the bunch.

Few can frustrate and batter Tom Brady the way Denver's No. 1 defense did in the AFC Championship, and that's why the Broncos are in the Super Bowl.

They've made up for Peyton Manning's noodle arm by suffocating opposing quarterbacks with a defense that finished 1st in passing yards allowed (199.6) and sacks (52). It's a unit that also ranked 4th in rushing yards allowed (83.6) and gave up the fewest yards per carry (3.3).

But when you take a closer look who they've played this season, something sticks out. They haven't matched up with many mobile quarterbacks, let alone someone as lethal with his legs as Carolina's Cam Newton.

 

 

"I don’t know that we’ve faced a dual-threat guy like him this year with our schedule," Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said Monday.

"It’ll be different for us. Having to tackle him out in the open field, having to defend the quarterback runs and those types of things will be something different for us. It’s nice to have a couple of weeks [to prepare]."

Including the playoffs, Newton has rushed 153 times for 686 yards and 12 touchdowns in his soon-to-become-official MVP season.

In their 18 games, the Broncos' have watched 13 opposing quarterbacks gain just 207 yards on only 44 carries. None of those finished in the end zone.

WK	QB	Att	Yds	TD
1	Joe Flacco (BAL)	0	0	0
2	Alex Smith (KC)	3	15	0
3	Matthew Stafford (DET)	1	-1	0
4	Teddy Bridgewater (MIN)	3	23	0
5	Derek Carr (OAK)	1	-1	0
6	Josh McCown (CLE)	3	12	0
8	Aaron Rodgers (GB)	2	31	0
9	Andrew Luck (IND)	6	34	0
10	Alex Smith (KC)	6	33	0
11	Jay Cutler (CHI)	3	29	0
12	Tom Brady (NE)	0	0	0
13	Philip Rivers (SD)	0	0	0
14	Derek Carr (OAK)	4	-4	0
15	Ben Roethlisberger (PIT)	3	-3	0
16	AJ McCarron (CIN)	4	21	0
17	Philip Rivers (SD)	2	5	0
Divisional	Ben Roethlisberger (PIT)	0	0	0
AFC Champ	Tom Brady (NE)	3	13	0
TOTAL		44	207	0

There is another side of the coin, of course. Even if opposing quarterbacks wanted to be more mobile, the Broncos might not have allowed it.

The best clue would come from Alex Smith, who finished 4th among quarterbacks with 498 rushing yards. In his two games against Denver, Smith managed just 48 yards on nine carries.

While Smith may be more athletic than many give him credit for, the fact that he's the most mobile quarterback the Broncos have played is pretty much the point. As good as Denver has been defensively, they haven't yet faced a dual-threat like the one they'll see in Santa Clara.

"(Newton is) super unique. I’ve never seen anybody who is that size," cornerback Aqib Talib said. "You look like the typical NFL quarterback. You can sit in the pocket and throw it, and then you can run, run wide out. You probably could play any position in the NFL that you wanted to.

“He’s throwing the ball amazing right now, and then you know what he can do with his legs. He’s the best of both worlds.

"He’s probably the most dangerous quarterback in the NFL right now.”