Why Super Bowl 50 Will Be Decided in the Trenches

The NFL's 50th Super Bowl is nearly here, and on Sunday, the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos will engage in the final contest of the 2015 season.

The rapidly approaching matchup promises to be a terrific one—a game worthy of the sport's biggest stage. The contest features a pair of big-name quarterbacks in Peyton Manning and Cam Newton. It should also spotlight two top defensive units. Carolina is ranked sixth in scoring defense with an average of 19.2 points allowed per game. Denver is ranked fourth at 18.5 points surrendered per game. 

Talent at the skill positions? Well, we should get a healthy dose of the likes of Broncos receivers Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, as well as guys such as Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart and tight end Greg Olsen. Let's also not forget about the presence of top-flight cornerbacks such as Denver's Aqib Talib and Carolina's Josh Norman.

While we're drooling over the defensive matchups, the looming quarterback duel and the name recognition this game has to offer, we must acknowledge that this contest will almost certainly be decided by the unheralded big men playing in the trenches.

There are several reasons why the offensive and defensive lines are sure to play pivotal role in Super Bowl 50, and we're going to examine them here.

The Ground Game

The first thing we have to look at is how the trench players affect the rushing attack of each team. Both the Broncos and Panthers possess powerful defensive fronts that have shown the ability to shut down the run throughout the 2015 season.

To this point, Denver has allowed an average of just 83.6 rushing yards per game, the third-lowest total in the league. Pro Football Focus rates the Denver defense first overall against the run for the year. The Panthers defense is a bit further down Pro Football Focus' rankings, at 15th, but Carolina allows an average of just 88.4 yards per contest (fourth in the NFL).

B/R recently looked at why the Broncos' offensive game plan must start with the running game. In addition to controlling the clock and tempo, a strong rushing attack should allow Denver to keep pressure off Manning's shoulders.

Offense		Defense
LT	Ryan Harris	DE	Derek Wolfe
LG	Evan Mathis	NT	Sylvester Williams
C	Matt Paradis	DE	Malik Jackson
RG	Louis Vasquez
RT	Michael Schofield

In order for Denver to produce a successful rushing attack, the offensive line is going to have to find a way to punch a hole in Carolina's defense. This will require the linemen to move the likes of defensive tackle Star Lotulelei and defensive end Charles Johnson out of running lanes and to make some downfield blocks on linebackers such as star run defender Luke Kuechly.

Because the Broncos run a base 3-4 defense rather than a 4-3 base like Carolina, the Panthers offensive line will have to employ a slightly different strategy for the running game. Knocking back defensive linemen won't be quite as important as keeping them out of running lanes and preventing Denver linebackers such as Brandon Marshall and Danny Trevathan from flowing to the football.

Establishing control at the line on runs will be just as important for Carolina as it is for Denver because the ground game is such a big part of the Panthers' offensive identity. During the regular season, Carolina ran the ball 526 times and attempted 501 passes. The Panthers are truly a run-first team.

Whichever squad finds the most success on the ground Sunday is going to have a clear advantage, and it all starts up front.

Offensive		Defensive
LT	Michael Oher	LDE	Charles Johnson
LG	Andrew Norwell	LDT	Star Lotulelei
C	Ryan Kalil	RDT	Kawann Short
RG	Trai Turner	RDE	Jared Allen
RT	Mike Remmers

The Pass Rush

One only has to go back and watch tape from Denver's AFC title game against the New England Patriots on Jan. 24 to see just how much of an impact a dominant pass rush can have. The Broncos only sacked Patriots quarterback Tom Brady four times in that game, but they made his entire day a miserable experience with pressure and repeated hits.

Both the Panthers and Broncos come into this game with effective pass-rushing units, though the two operate in completely different manners.

The Denver pass rush relies primarily on the edge-rush talents of linebackers such as Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware. Though Miller and Ware are the main sack artists of the group, the Broncos also have the ability to rotate in pass-rushers such as Shaq Barrett and Shane Ray. This helps create a steady stream of pressure on opposing offensive tackles, which can wear on them through the course of a a game.

For the Panthers, it will take standout efforts from offensive tackles Michael Oher and Mike Remmers to counter the Denver pass rush. A failure to do so could easily swing the game to favor the Denver defense.

The Panthers pass rush, on the other hand, relies more on interior pressure from defensive tackles such as Kawann Short, whom Pro Football Focus rates fourth among all defensive tackles when rushing the passer.

"You could easily make a case he's been our best defensive player," Panthers defensive line coach Eric Washington recently said of Short, per Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. "And there is a lot of competition for that."

Carolina does get some edge pressure from defensive ends such as Jared Allen and Kony Ealy, but the core defensive strategy is to push the middle of the line into the opposing quarterback's face and create pressure from the inside.

If Denver's interior linemen, such as guard Evan Mathis and center Matt Paradis, cannot keep Short and company at bay, then Manning is likely to spend the entirety of Super Bowl 50 with the Panthers defense on top of him.

Offensive Line Questions

We've examined the importance both offensive lines are going to have Sunday. However, is either line up to the challenge.

For Denver, the question is whether the team has found the right combination of linemen to help deliver a Lombardi Trophy. The Broncos line has been ravaged by injuries from the start of the 2015 season, when star left tackle Ryan Clady suffered a torn ACL at the beginning of offseason activities. 

Rookie tackle Ty Sambrailo was lost for the year just three weeks into the regular season.

As a response, the Broncos have periodically rotated offensive tackle Tyler Polumbus into the lineup and have a fairly consistent three-man combination at guard. The latter rotation consists of Mathis, Louis Vasquez and Max Garcia.

Broncos offensive coordinator Rick Dennison recently explained the strategy of using a rotation, per Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com:

"

It’s not really an exact science, but as we’ve kind of stated throughout the year, we’re trying to make sure that there’s a good balance so that we keep fresh guys inside. I think it’s really been important, especially with...the guys that are playing inside on defense. We’re playing some good defenses. We just keep throwing new guys at them, fresher guys. Just trying to keep a rotation, however that science works out.

"

The rotation on the interior has been good enough of late to get Denver to this point, but the challenge of Carolina's standout defensive front will be huge.

The question for the Panthers is whether the line is good enough at the edges to stop the Denver defense from taking over the game. The pass-blocking unit has been solid for most of the year—it's rated third overall by Pro Football Focus—but Newton's scrambling style does sometimes lead to problems. 

Newton was sacked 33 times in the regular season and twice in the playoffs, and he hasn't always performed well under pressure, either. Pro Football Focus rated him 24th among all quarterbacks when under pressure. He has completed just 49.7 percent of his passes when under pressure with five touchdowns and six interceptions.

If the Panthers can't handle Denver's collection of edge-rushers, Newton could be under fire the entire contest.

Defensive Challenges

So we know each offensive line is going to have its hands full with the opposition's defensive front at Super Bowl 50. However, that doesn't mean the big men on the other side of the football aren't going to have challenges of their own.

For Carolina, the difficulty will come in limiting Denver's ability to run. There's a good chance the Broncos will try to attack the Panthers defense with outside rushes rather than handing the ball off into the teeth of the defense. If this does occur, Carolina's defensive end will be forced to help set the edge in order for the linebacker group to make plays.

Since defensive ends such as Allen are better suited to being situational pass-rushers than edge defenders, this could create a few problems.

The Panthers defensive line will also have to exercise caution pre-snap in order to minimize the number of reads coming from Manning and to avoid his hard-count shenanigans. According to Jarrett Bell of NFL.com, the Panthers have been working to replicate his cadence in Super Bowl practices.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

"We're trying," said Panthers head coach Ron Rivera, per Bell. "We know that certain things [with calls at the line of scrimmage] mean something else. But it's just so our players hear it."

Denver's defensive line draws the challenge of trying to limit the Carolina running game, especially the unpredictable runs from Newton himself.

Ahead of the game, we examined how Newton's rushing ability can be used to beat the Denver pass rush. If the Broncos continue to bring most of their pressure off the edge, Newton can do major damage by rushing up the gut and picking up yardage away from pressure.

It will be up to guys such as nose tackle Sylvester Williams and defensive end Malik Jackson to try to clog the middle running lanes while keeping blockers away from Denver's linebackers. If Newton is continually able to run into the middle of Denver's defensive front, it could render the outside pass rush virtually useless.

What Does All This Mean?

We often overlook the men in the middle of the fracas on game day. Defensive linemen who don't regularly rush the quarterback are rarely recognized, and offensive linemen almost never have their names called.

This trend will likely carry into Super Bowl 50, in which we will focus on the receiver-cornerback matchups, the ball-carriers and, of course, the quarterbacks. However, there is going to be a battle going on between down defensive linemen and offensive blockers that will be worth witnessing. 

Though it may not result in a lot of big plays or highlight-reel moments, the battle in the trenches is going to dictate the outcome of the NFL's most important game of the year.