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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There isn\u2019t very much you need to tell players as they get ready for the Super Bowl. Even during the media rush of the week before, players are watching tape, coaches are breaking down tendencies, and practices are attuned to the most important game many of these individuals will ever see. Still, there\u2019s nothing wrong with a little extra advice. Here are 10 bits of free wisdom for individual Broncos and Panthers players as Super Bowl 50 comes calling.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;h3&gt;1. Cam Newton: Don\u2019t throw under pressure.&lt;/h3&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most running quarterbacks invite themselves into pressure. It\u2019s often hard to run and have a total sense of the pocket at the same time, but Cam Newton doesn\u2019t really have that problem at this point in his career. The fifth-year man and this year\u2019s likely MVP is just as adept at zinging the ball downfield&amp;nbsp;in the middle of the pocket as he is moving to throw and causing all sorts of havoc for the linebacker corps and secondaries tasked to follow him around.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It\u2019s not easy to find the Kryptonite for a quarterback built like Calvin Johnson who has thrown 27 touchdowns and three picks since Week 9 of the regular season, including his two playoff games. Right now, there\u2019s no football player who poses a greater challenge to opponents than Newton does. But if you can manage to throw him off with legitimate pressure, that\u2019s where Newton becomes ... well, if not vulnerable, at least mortal. Under pressure this season, Newton has completed just 51% of his passes, with six touchdowns and six interceptions.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;That\u2019s the good news for Denver\u2019s defense. The bad news? Since Week 9, Newton has completed 53.8% of his passes under pressure, with six touchdowns and just one pick. The Broncos\u2019 defense better hope for the early-season version of Cam Newton, because the one throwing the ball right now is a first-class pain to defeat.\r\n\r\n&lt;h3&gt;2. Peyton Manning: Only throw deep if you\u2019re sure.&lt;/h3&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It\u2019s not exactly a state secret that Peyton Manning\u2019s 39-year-old&amp;nbsp;arm isn\u2019t what it used to be, and as much as Gary Kubiak and Manning\u2019s teammates may want to deny it, good old Father Time remains undefeated and he\u2019s bearing down on Manning. In his two playoff games this season, Manning has thrown two touchdowns and no picks\u2014both TDs went to tight end Owen Daniels in the AFC Championship Game against the Patriots. Throughout most of the season, he\u2019s been merely managing the game.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As is the case with most \u201Cgame managers,\u201D Manning has done nothing of import with the deep ball all season. On throws over 20 yards in the air this year, he is 11 of 51 for 472 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Most of his worst reads this season have come on the deep ball, and that has&amp;nbsp;less to do with his mental acumen than with the fact that his arm simply can\u2019t take commands from that beautiful football mind anymore. The Panthers will play Manning underneath most of the time, and he should only take the deep shot if he knows it\u2019s a relatively sure thing.\r\n\r\n&lt;h3&gt;3. C.J. Anderson: Get going in a hurry.&lt;/h3&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Unlike the offensive juggernaut that made it to Super Bowl XLVIII, this Broncos team is built on defense and the running game. With Manning\u2019s obvious limitations, the ideal scenario for Denver is to have C.J. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman putting their quarterback in favorable down-and-distance situations throughout the game. It\u2019s also true that the only sure way to defend Newton at this point is to make sure he isn\u2019t on the field. Anderson is Denver\u2019s primary back, and he\u2019s been at his most effective on third down and in the fourth quarter, which doesn\u2019t always suit the ideal scenario mentioned above. Of his 720 yards in the regular season, Anderson picked up 228 in the fourth quarter (with a 5.1 yards per carry average) and averaged 10 yards per carry on third down. Though he has found the most success on later downs, Anderson has had most of his carries on first down (82 of 152), and while opposing&amp;nbsp;coaches study such tendencies, the Broncos shouldn\u2019t abandon their first-down plan. If Manning is thrown into second-and-long too often in the first half against Carolina\u2019s defense, this thing could get ugly pretty quickly.\r\n\r\n&lt;h3&gt;4. Denver\u2019s defensive line: Hold your gaps, and stick to the plan.&lt;/h3&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Carolina\u2019s run game is not just the NFL\u2019s most effective, it\u2019s also the most diverse from a schematic perspective, and it may be the most diverse the league has ever seen. Imagine the 49ers\u2019&amp;nbsp;lethal combination of power/counter/trap blocking concepts combined with pre-snap motion and tight end/fullback moves under Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman. Then, add a quarterback in Cam Newton who can pick up chunk yardage out of power schemes in designed run packages, add Carolina\u2019s vertical route concepts (which take multiple defenders downfield) and add the threat of receiver Ted Ginn&amp;nbsp;Jr. as a reverse/sweep runner, and it\u2019s all almost too much to take in.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Broncos\u2019 front seven is full of great run defenders, but that will not matter if they concern themselves too much with the first run look they see on Sunday and lose the gap integrity that\u2019s crucial to countering that run game.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CYou have to take a different approach,\u201D Broncos end Malik Jackson said Tuesday of holding Newton in. \u201CCam can kind of take off and do things with his legs\u2014and you know he will as soon as he gets a chance. You definitely have got to make sure that if we\u2019re rushing just four, we\u2019ve got to be able to keep them in front of us and make sure that nobody is rushing behind the passer and that we just open up lanes for them. It\u2019s definitely hard.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is a tall task, but defensive coordinator Wade Phillips and his crew of coaches have the horses to combine quarterback pressure and run-stopping responsibility.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;h3&gt;5. Ryan Kalil, Trai Turner and Andrew Norwell: Show the Broncos what they haven\u2019t seen.&lt;/h3&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Adding to the Broncos\u2019 potential issues with Carolina\u2019s run game is the simple fact that they haven\u2019t seen a team like this all year. They did see the Seahawks and 49ers in the preseason, but teams don\u2019t use their full playbooks in August. Perhaps the closest Denver has gotten to what the Panthers will do was its two meetings with the Chiefs, odd as it sounds. Kansas City has a handful of read-options plays with quarterback Alex Smith and the running back &lt;em&gt;du jour. &lt;/em&gt;But the Chiefs don\u2019t run the same type of blocking schemes the Panthers do, the Seahawks are a zone-blocking team for the most part, and the 49ers have changed their style since Jim&amp;nbsp;Harbaugh and Greg Roman left town. If center Ryan Kalil and guards Trai Turner and Andrew Norwell\u2014an interior line trio that has given up no sacks and no hurries throughout the playoffs\u2014are able to ramrod Denver\u2019s front with complex pulls and counters, they can negate the Broncos\u2019 power/speed advantage up front.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CThey\u2019re so fast, and I think the best way you can\u2014you talk about how well they\u2019re coached, and what a good job Wade [Phillips] does when you see them diagnose so quickly,\u201D Panthers offensive coordinator Mike Shula said of that front on Wednesday. \u201CThey get to the ball so fast even on the misdirection stuff. They seem to find the ball quick and they\u2019re swarming to the ball.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;What Shula almost seemed to say there was that Denver\u2019s speed on defense can be used against them. We\u2019ll see if that\u2019s the case in Super Bowl 50.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;h3&gt;6. Brandon Marshall: Take Greg Olsen up the seam, but bring help with you.&lt;/h3&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While the Panthers have gotten by pretty well with a suboptimal group of receivers, tight end Greg Olsen is unquestionably one of the best at his position in the league. When Newton needs a matchup nightmare to get the ball downfield, he\u2019ll ask Olsen to exploit his size, route awareness and understanding of defenses, and it generally works like a charm. Both Brandon Marshall and Danny Trevathan are experts in intermediate coverage, which is actually one of this game\u2019s undersold stories\u2014for all the talk about Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis covering well, Marshall and Trevathan tend to get short-shrifted. But the Broncos ranked eighth in Football Outsiders\u2019 opponent-adjusted metrics against tight ends this year, and they\u2019ve faced more of the league\u2019s prominent tight ends than the Panthers have.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With Olsen, the best plan may be to have the inside linebackers take him up the seam, where safeties T.J. Ward and Darian Stewart can complete the coverage. Cornerback Chris Harris sounded confident in that plan this week, which may indicate that Ward and Stewart are progressing nicely through their individual injury protocols.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI can\u2019t really get into it too much of what we\u2019re going to do, but Greg Olsen, he\u2019s definitely one of the dynamic tight ends,\u201D Harris said Monday. \u201CThey use him kind of like a receiver and we definitely have to be ready for him. We have a great test of tight ends this whole season\u2014we\u2019ve seen Gronk twice, we saw [Chiefs tight end] Travis Kelce twice and we\u2019ve been battle-tested when it comes to tight ends and I like our chances with the safeties.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gronkowski caught eight passes for 144 yards and a touchdown in the AFC Championship Game, and six passes for 88 yards and a score in Denver\u2019s regular-season overtime win. Kelce caught nine passes for 94 yards in Denver\u2019s two games against the Chiefs. So, the Broncos do have a lot of history in 2015 with teams who count tight ends as their top receivers. Their mixed success in those matchups is a story, though\u2014and Olsen could be a difference-maker here.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;h3&gt;7. Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis: Watch out for Owen Daniels.&lt;/h3&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Peyton Manning has more impressive receivers in Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, but Thomas has been up-and-down this season, while Sanders has fulfilled his role as a great second receiver in speed slot/outside roles. But when it comes to touchdowns for Manning as of late, it\u2019s been all about Owen Daniels, the veteran tight end who caught all three scores Manning threw at home this year. It was Daniels who abused New England linebacker Jamie Collins in coverage for two touchdowns to help the Broncos to get to the Super Bowl, and the Panthers are vulnerable to better tight ends sitting down in their zone coverage concepts. As I detailed this week, Seattle\u2019s Jimmy Graham was the best tight end the Panthers have faced so far this season, and Graham torched both Kuechly and Davis on seam stuff for a total of eight catches on 12 targets for 140 yards in a Week 6 Carolina win. Daniels isn\u2019t the athlete Graham is, but few tight ends better understand how to exploit coverage in the short-to-intermediate passing game. And the short-to-intermediate passing game is pretty much all that Manning has left.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CHis experience is tremendous for us, having been around it for a long time,\u201D Broncos offensive coordinator Rick Dennison said of Daniels this week. \u201CHe\u2019s just a great player\u2014tough guy, plays hard, knows what to do and then he works all the zones inside. It\u2019s tough for them to match up. He can find a place to get open and he does a great job with that. He\u2019s a very versatile player. You ask him to do something, he\u2019ll do it.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Panthers may want to follow Daniels with more man coverage concepts, which leads us to another issue...\r\n\r\n&lt;h3&gt;8. Josh Norman: Follow the leader.&lt;/h3&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With cornerbacks Charles Tillman and Ben\u00E9\u200B Benwikere out with injuries, Carolina has had to mix and match coverage pairings with star cornerback Josh Norman&amp;nbsp;since the final weeks of the regular season. Norman may have been the NFL\u2019s best cover corner this season, and whichever receiver he\u2019s on will probably not have an exceptional day (unless he wants to try beating Norman up like Odell Beckham Jr. did). But as previously detailed, Denver\u2019s receiver corps is in flux right now, and Manning isn\u2019t the most efficient passer. If Manning spreads the ball around, that puts more pressure on substitute cornerbacks Robert McClain and Cortland Finnegan.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Both men were afterthoughts in the league before their recent starting turns, but they\u2019ve held up pretty well. Finnegan was toast as an outside corner, but he\u2019s done a credible job in the slot, and McClain has played well despite the obvious increase in targets to his side. But if Manning gets hot with one receiver\u2014our bet is Sanders\u2014Norman may have to follow that receiver around more than he usually does. Denver\u2019s clear counter-tactic would be to put Sanders in the slot, where Norman doesn\u2019t usually go: He played just 12 snaps in the slot this season, with three targets and a touchdown allowed.\r\n\r\n&lt;h3&gt;9. Denver secondary: Steal the schemes that beat your offense in Super Bowl XLIX.&lt;/h3&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In a 43\u20138 loss to Seattle two years ago, Denver\u2019s underneath receivers were drilled over and over whenever they tried the middle of the field against the Seahawks\u2019 tough defense. Safety Kam Chancellor (who should have been the game\u2019s MVP) and linebackers Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright put severe hits on Thomas and any other Manning target who dared to try any type of slant, drag route or in-breaking concept. Broncos EVP John Elway used that devastating loss to inform the rebuilding of his own defense, and he now has the guys to do to Carolina\u2019s receivers what Seattle\u2019s Legion of Boom once did to his own. Strong safety T.J. Ward could be the key factor as an enforcer of the short inside stuff. Match that with Denver\u2019s preference to play super-aggressive outside coverage, and it could force Newton to make throws he doesn\u2019t want to make.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;h3&gt;10. Brock Osweiler: Stay ready.&lt;/h3&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;So, here\u2019s a situation that could easily happen in Super Bowl 50: The Panthers get out to a big lead in the first half\u2014say, two touchdowns or so. Manning is playing at a decent level, but he\u2019s not guiding the kind of accurate explosiveness required to overcome such a deficit, especially if Carolina knows the Broncos have to throw the ball and can tee off on Manning without fear getting burned.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you\u2019re Gary Kubiak, what do you do?\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Denver\u2019s first-year head coach has already proven that he doesn\u2019t care about the veteran\u2019s legacy at the expense of the young understudy, and he has also proven that he\u2019ll bench that understudy if the veteran has a better handle on things. Osweiler\u2019s turn as the starter began in mid-November against the Chiefs after Manning threw four picks, driving&amp;nbsp;Kubiak to pull him in the third quarter. Kubiak then flipped the script in the regular-season finale against the Chargers, replacing Osweiler with Manning in the third quarter and subsequently announcing that Manning would start as long as the Broncos went.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;That said,&amp;nbsp;Osweiler was the starter for Denver\u2019s two biggest comeback wins of the season\u2014a 30\u201324 overtime win against the Patriots, in which the Broncos overcame a 14-point deficit, and the 20\u201317 overtime win against the Bengals, when Denver clinched a playoff spot and chased down a 14-point first-half Cincinnati lead.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI think he deserves a great deal of credit,\u201D&amp;nbsp;Kubiak said Wednesday of Osweiler. \u201CHe had our football team for seven starts. We won some big games with him. We come back 14 down against Cincinnati, 14 down against New England, and Brock was at the helm. We wouldn\u2019t be here today if it weren\u2019t all 53 of those [players] and we\u2019ve lost some guys along the way. But he definitely did his part. He did a hell of a job when he was in there.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;You never know\u2014he may do it again. This is the first year Osweiler got a shot as a true starter, even though he was selected in the second round of the 2012 draft, and he\u2019s proven that tough moments aren\u2019t too big for him. Perhaps a switch in this game could turn things in Denver\u2019s favor and bring the Broncos their third Super Bowl.\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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