I hesitate to talk about potential Super Bowl matchups because it seems kinda like bad luck but let’s just speculate for fun even though I think this weekend will be a grind even if the final score doesn’t make it appear that way. And honestly, if we win this weekend I’d be pretty relaxed about the Super Bowl because at this point, even another Super Bowl loss only moves the bar Belichick and Brady are setting even higher.
I think both the Panthers and Cardinals would have their advantages and disadvantages. On a personal note I’m rooting for the Cardinals because of connections to their front office that could result in possible tickets to the Super Bowl. I do think I would lean toward the Cardinals as being slightly more favorable, but I don’t think it’s a slam dunk because they have size and speed at all the skill positions and would stretch us thin. That means a game against the Cardinals would likely make Sheard/Ninkovich/Jones/etc and the pass rush the biggest key to victory.
But for the Panthers I don’t see their weapons outside of Newton stretch us thin and that would leave enough resources in the front seven to deal with him. From a matchup standpoint the Panthers would make me a lot more intrigued, especially to see how Belichick would not only deal with Newton, but on the other side of the ball we’d see what I think is the best defense in the NFL. Kuechly is my favorite non-Patriots defender to watch. Norman would be a great matchup for Edelman, and right on down the line with the rest of them.
Either way it would be a close game. After six Super Bowls agains varying degrees of opponents that all came down to the very, very end why would we expect anything else?
