The last time Peyton Manning made it this far, he was the driving force behind the most prolific offense in NFL history. That’s not going to be the case in Super Bowl 50 when he lines up against the Carolina Panthers. Make no mistake – the reason that the Super Bowl 50 betting line favors the Carolina Panthers so strongly is because of Peyton Manning’s inability to be the same player that’s racked up so many wins and records.

The Panthers and Broncos ranked 6th and 4th respectively in points allowed during the 2015 campaign. Both have surpassed their regular season standards in the playoffs. Each team ranks 1st and 2nd in points allowed during the playoffs. Carolina’s given up just 19.5 points against in two games, while Denver has allowed 17.0 points on average against Pittsburgh and New England.

We could wax poetic about the differences between the defenses, but the fourth and long of it is that they’re both brilliant.

The bigger concern is the offensive disparity between the two teams. Denver ranked 19th in points gained with just 22.2 on average, while Carolina led the league in this category with a mind shattering 31.2 points per game.