SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Quarterback Cam Newton, the NFL’s MVP and self-anointed Superman, had little to say after his Carolina Panthers were whipped by the Broncos in Super Bowl 50 Sunday night.
“We got outplayed,” he said in a mumble, clearly struggling with the 24-10 defeat.
“They just outplayed us, that’s what it comes down to,” he said. “We gave up sacks, we had inaccurate throws. They had a great pass rush.”
Newton, whose presence made the Panthers six-point favorites going into the game, walked out during his postgame interview.
“I don’t know what you want me to say, I’m sorry,” Newton said, before walking off.
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Newton won a national championship at junior college and at Auburn, but the Broncos were his Kryptonite on the night of America’s biggest sporting event. The Broncos sacked him seven times and pressured him a season-high 18 times.
Newton had a few shining moments, but there were no dramatic end zone leaps, no opportunities to dab or strut in the end zone.
Although he passed for 265 yards, he completed only 18-of-41 passes, was intercepted once and lost two fumbles. His passer rating was a Clark Kent-like 55.4.
“All this week, all we heard was Cam, Cam, Cam,” Broncos safety T.J. Ward said.
But it was the Broncos who were strutting late Sunday night.
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“The game plan, the whole time, we knew, was that we had to contain Cam Newton,” Broncos linebacker Demarcus Ware said. “He got away sometimes, but we ended up puttling it off and doing what we needed to do.”
Said Broncos coach Gary Kubiak: “We didn’t give up any big plays, and we made the (defensive) plays in the red zone. That was the difference.”
Linebacker Von Miller, the game’s MVP, set the tone early with a huge play in the first quarter. He strip-sacked Newton then the loose ball bounced toward the end zone. Malik Jackson recovered for a Broncos touchdown.
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Miller finished with 2½ sacks, two forced fumbles and six tackles. Newton — a touchdown machine in the regular season, with 45 (35 passing, 10 rushing), looked off his game early Sunday, throwing high and wild.
When asked if the bigness of the game affected his quarterback, Carolina offensive coordinator Mike Shula paused before answering.
“I’m not sure, but I think so,” he said. “We didn’t do a lot of the little things right and that made a big difference. Plus, we faced a lot of third-and-long plays, and that was a lot to overcome.”
Panthers coach Ron Rivera repeatedly said the Panthers missed too many opportunities. He credited the Broncos for Newton’s off night. “It was a factor, obviously, because we turned the ball over,” he said.
One of the lasting images of the game will be of Newton failing to dive after his second fumble late in the game, a play the led to Denver’s game-clinching touchdown.
The first thing Newton said to the media after the game was, “We’ll be back.”
But on a night when he took a beating, he didn’t sound very convincing.
Patrick Saunders: psaunders@denverpost.com or @psaundersdp
