Calinger: Panthers remind him of old-school Huskers
By J.W. CALINGER
ISL Correspondent
I suppose that in many ways, Husker football always will be at the root of the way I watch the game. I’m a Steelers fan partially because so many relatives of mine live around Pittsburgh, but also because in the mid-90s, they had the same power-running game and light but strong defense we watched in Lincoln, and because, after Nebraska beat Miami in the Orange Bowl for the 1994 National Championship, the Steelers drafted three members of that squad, and two went on to start. I watch Ohio State partially because my father went there, and partially because of all my family in the state, but it certainly helps that the Buckeyes wear red. This year, Husker football was what made me cheer for the Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl.
I don’t have anything against the Broncos. Yes, they knocked Pittsburgh out of the playoffs, but we were running out of gas, and our defense wouldn’t have done much good against Tom Brady, had we gone on to play at New England. Peyton Manning is a funny, personable fellow, and they have the kind of defense I enjoy watching.
At the same time, the Broncos have a pretty passing offense, and they don’t even put a fullback on the field. Meanwhile, the Panthers have a running team. I’m a Steelers fan, and because I am, I’ll cheer for Pittsburgh no matter how pass-wacky an offense Ben Roethlisberger is leading. But, when the Steelers aren’t in the Super Bowl, I have different ways of deciding whom to cheer for, and I often go with who plays the kind of game I like.
The Panthers have a running quarterback, a playbook that involves a little triple-option and two-back sets in which either back might end up running the ball. They stomped over a weak division, won all their other games except one, and dominated the first halves of all their playoff games. I don’t care if they were wearing black and neon-blue; this was about as close to the 1995 Huskers as I’ve seen in the NFL in my adult life.
The comparison did start worrying me a little as the game approached. Nebraska was famous for losing to pretty teams in bowl games. We’d go undefeated during the regular season, or we’d have one loss, only to face a team from Florida who could out-pass us, and who could take away much of our running game, leaving us with nothing left. I knew that Denver would take away a lot of the Carolina rushing attack, and even put eight in the box on a regular basis. Still, Newton is a better passer than most of the running QB’s I’ve seen lately in the NFL, and I figured he’d come out throwing the ball until the Broncos backed off a little, at which point there would be some serious running.
Well, game day came along, and the farther along the game went, the more the Super Bowl looked like Huskers bowl games from the 80s or from the early 90s. Newton threw a couple of good passes, and the running backs, though they couldn’t run up the middle on a zone-read, ran well off-tackle and, to my surprise, occasionally bounced outside for a long gain. But, what they did wasn’t always enough to sustain a drive. The Broncos simply put too many men in the box. When Newton dropped back to pass, his throwing was inaccurate enough that the Denver secondary probably felt comfortable on islands against Carolina wide-outs. The difference in the game, two scores, occurred directly once, and indirectly once, because Newton held onto the ball too long, and Von Miller forced fumbles that led to touchdowns for the Broncos.
Meanwhile, unlike the Huskers defense pre-1993, the Carolina defense did a pretty good job shutting down Manning and company. Thanks to them, the game wasn’t really over until Carolina punted the ball on a 4th-and-24, very late in the 4th quarter. But, Denver didn’t need Manning. Their defense turned what might have been a one-point loss into a 14-point win.
On one hand, the Broncos have a storybook ending. Peyton Manning not only has the chance to retire on top, as his boss did 17 years ago, but has re-gained bragging rights at the Thanksgiving table, finally pulling even with younger brother Eli for Super Bowl rings. The MVP award went to a defensive player, calling proper attention to a squad that kept the team winning with a good but understandably green backup quarterback.
On the other hand, much like last year, the pretty quarterback won. I don’t begrudge him; it’s his job to try to win, and if he earned it, he earned it. Still, as a Huskers fan, I cannot help but be a little let down this year, and I can’t help but hope that one of these days, some old-fashioned power running will win a team a Lombardi Trophy again.
