2017 USA TODAY Super Bowl LI Preview Publication

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Why USA TodAy Super Bowl LI Preview?The Super Bowl is the single biggest sporting event in the world. An institution like none other, consumers in the U.S. spent roughly $15.3 Billion on Super Bowl 50 and an estimated 189 Million viewers tuned in, making it the most watched program ever. Super Bowl LI will be like no other, as NRG Stadium in Houston, TX, home of the Houston Texans, will play host for the first time since 2004.

The most diverse city in the U.S., Houston is a city with no equal. Considered by many to be the “Energy Capital of the World,” Houston dominates the World energy industry. Home to more than 5,000 energy-related businesses, Houston is a modern and dynamic city renowned for its hospitality.

Be part of the festivities and reserve your place in history with the official Souvenir Program for Super Bowl LI.

What’s inside USA TodAy Super Bowl LI Preview?Past editorial topics have included:

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USA TODAY SPORTS SPECIAL EDITION 5

It was January 1981, and theSuper Bowl was a mere teenager,holding its 15th game in NewOrleans.

The Iran hostage crisis endedfive days before the Jan. 25 gamebetween the Oakland Raiders andPhiladelphia Eagles. There was nooverwhelming crush of media inNew Orleans, no Radio Row, andit was easy to get around the Hy-att, the headquarters for the NFL.The media center was self-con-tained in the hotel, still a longtime before it took over conven-tion centers.

There was no Internet. ESPNwas on its fledgling legs, havingtelevised its first draft in the 1980

o�season. New York’s WFAN, thefirst all-sports radio station, wasseven years away from its in-ception. Even computers as ameans for reporters to transmitstories were several years away.

That New Orleans Super Bowlwas my first, as the pro footballeditor of The Sporting News. Italso was meaningful because thepublication was something of alifeline for those in captivity at theU.S. embassy in Tehran, the onlyone they were allowed to read.

The hostages were able to keepup with the sporting world whilealso getting snippets of informa-tion about their own plight. Infact, they learned of the Julydeath of the Shah of Iran in ourpublication. Certainly, no one wasable to tweet that piece of news.

It was a di�erent media world.Jim Steeg, who worked for the

NFL for 26 years until 2005,experienced his first Super Bowltwo years before I did as theleague’s director of special events.His titles changed over the yearswith the final one being seniorvice president, and he witnessedfirsthand the evolution of theyearly media onslaught, as did JoeBrowne, longtime executive vicepresident of communications andpublic a�airs and who still is asenior adviser to commissionerRoger Goodell.

Steeg recalls with humor hav-ing to round up 120 manual type-writers for news media membersto use and also getting two forthen-commissioner Pete Rozelleand league public relations direc-tor Don Weiss because “they weretypewriter guys,” despite comput-ers entering the mainstream laterin the ’80s.

AP FILE PHOTO

Vince Lombardi, right, receives the trophy that now bears his name from Commissioner Pete Rozelle in 1967 after the coach’s Packers won Super Bowl I.

SUPER BOWLCOVERAGENOT ALWAYSMEDIA CIRCUSBefore ESPN and Radio Row,news conferences and Twitter,big game was starved for attention

Howard Balzer@HBalzer721Special for USA TODAY Sports

RELIVING HISTORY

20 SPECIAL EDITION USA TODAY SPORTS

Old vs. newWhen Peyton Manning and

Cam Newton line up under cen-ter, they will have the largest agegap between any two quarter-backs in Super Bowl history at 13years, 48 days. Manning also willbecome the oldest quarterback tostart the game, while Newton islooking to become the only manto win the Heisman Tropy, na-tional championship, Super Bowland MVP (this assumes Newtonwill be named NFL MVP). Forwhat it’s worth, Manning didn’twin a Heisman or a nationalchampionship. A star becomesa superstar?

Newton has been a superstarall his life, even while wallowingon the bench at Florida. Someguys just have that personality —that panache. So when Newtonwent to Auburn, won the Heis-man, led the Tigers to a nationalchampionship and became thefirst player taken in the draft, it allfelt like a buildup to now, whenNewton can turn himself from astar into a legend. As young as heis, it feels like his turn.

No matter whether he wins orloses though, he’s going to beentertaining doing it and shouldbecome one of the most popularplayers in the NFL, convertingthose who don’t like him becauseall they’ve seen of him is his Su-perman celebration.

(This is what I don’t get whenpeople say they don’t like Newton.I can see not liking the bravadoand whatnot. But everything else?Are you against fun? Are you thepreacher from Footloose? C’mon.)Newton and the Panthers havefun, and that alone is reason towatch Feb. 7.

No. 1 vs. No. 1There’s a whole lot of No. 1s

from which to choose. This is thethird consecutive year the twoNo. 1 seeds have played in theSuper Bowl (one game was a clas-sic, the other not so much). It alsopits the No. 1 scoring (and overall)defense against the No. 1 scoringo�ense. (Carolina was 11th inyards, which speaks to its defen-sive strength and a special-teamsunit that creates short fields fromNewton and Co.)

The last time this happened, itinvolved Manning and the Bron-cos. The team’s high-poweredo�ense entered the game as aconsiderable favorite against theSeattle Seahawks’ dominant de-fense. But with the shoes flipped,those record-breaking 2013 Bron-cos were embarrassed by RichardSherman and the Seahawks’ top-notch defense in Super BowlXLVIII. Defense has won the lastfour Super Bowls (at least). Willthe old football cliché continue?Newton and media day

Super Bowl media day is theworst, most overrated day in

sports, but it’s even worse whenyou have unwilling participants.Of the four title-game contenders,here’s how they’d have ranked interms of media day interest:

No. 32 — New EnglandNo. 31 — DenverNo. 26 — ArizonaNo. 1 — CarolinaThe di�erence between New

England and Denver is negligiblebecause neither quarterbackwould say anything of note andBill Belichick is like talking to ahooded wall. Carson Palmermight have a personality, but I’mnot sure. There was only one teamthat could have made media dayinto something worth watching,and that was the Panthers withNewton, Josh Norman, Ron Rive-ra, a group of receivers who thinkthey’re far better than they are,Luke Kuechly (good for some “awshucks” moments) and just ateam that is feeling “it” right now.

Newton won’t let his teamcome out like entitled idiots —everything he said after beatingArizona in the NFC title game, atime to celebrate if there ever wasone, was geared toward remind-ing everyone the job wasn’t done.But with his thousand-watt smile

and media savvy, we’re due for agood line or two.Two championshipgames

Everything we saw in the titlegames sets up for a tremendousgame. The Panthers were an of-fensive juggernaut and, along witha tenacious defense, set a confer-ence championship scoring rec-ord. Denver played one of thegreatest defensive games in con-ference championship historyagainst Tom Brady and the NewEngland Patriots. Carolina’s de-struction of Arizona builds theidea that it’ll happen again in theSuper Bowl, but even given Man-ning’s well-documented playo�woes, it’s hard to see the Broncoso�ense playing even remotely asbad as Arizona did and impossibleto imagine the defense not at leastgiving Newton and JonathanStewart some resistance. The 50th

The NFL does a lot of thingswrong and a lot of things right,but celebrating itself is in thelatter category. Though the leaguehasn’t revealed all that’s in storefor Santa Clara, I’d imagine a

grand celebration of Super Bowlmemories that includes famousstars and coaches of the game,plus Super Bowl MVPs, will be inthe cards. Thanks to the relativeyouth of the game, there’s a sur-viving MVP from all 49 previousgames. (Harvey Martin was anMVP of Super Bowl XLII alongwith Randy White, the only timethere have been co-MVPs in aSuper Bowl. Martin died in 2001.)

Pomp and circumstance areevery bit as much a part of theSuper Bowl as throwing and run-ning, but this time it’ll be de-served and should be a great tripdown memory lane. Oh, and therewill be montages — montages asfar as the eye can see.The best teams

Forget No. 1 seeds, they’re onlybarometers of how a team playedin the regular season, which hasno bearing on play in the postsea-son. So while both the No. 1smade it, what’s more important isthat the team playing the bestfootball in the AFC is facing theteam playing the best football inthe NFC. They happen to also bethe top seeds. And, really, whatmore could you want than that?

GAME HAS MAKINGS OF A CLASSIC Story lines o�erpotential for history, drama

USATODAYSports’Chris Chase

offers his reasons why thisSuper Bowl 50 matchupshould be so much fun,with an eye toward eventsboth on and off the field:

COMMENTARY

STREETER LECKA, GETTY IMAGES

Cam Newton, left, and Peyton Manning faced o� for the first time in November 2012, with the Broncos prevailing 36-14.

12 SPECIAL EDITION USA TODAY SPORTS

Something old, something new.What better way for the NFL tocelebrate the 50th year of itssignature event?

The microcosm of that themeheading into Super Bowl 50’smatchup between the DenverBroncos and Carolina Pantherswill be inevitable comparisonsbetween Peyton Manning (thefive-time MVP is 39) and CamNewton (the about-to-be-first-time-MVP is 26).

Manning is the embodiment ofthe throwback quarterback: oper-ating from the pocket on the field,generally o�ering up vanilla con-tent o� of it (commercialsnotwithstanding).

Newton is new age. He throwswith laser precision, whether onthe move or not, is just as com-fortable tucking the ball and bolt-ing as looking for a second orthird read, all the while Dabbingand playing to the cameras in aselfie world.

Newton, who already has aHeisman Trophy and collegenational championship on hisrésumé, was not the least bitsurprised to be back on the gran-dest of stages and was as colorfulas ever in describing the journey.

“Long time it feels like, but yetwe’ve still got a long way to go,” hesaid after the Panthers’ NFCChampionship Game victoryagainst the Arizona Cardinals,when he passed for 335 yards andtwo touchdowns while runningfor two more.

“I said it then, and I’ll say itnow: I’m excited. It was a process.It wasn’t going to be — what did Isay — instant grits, quick grits. Itwas going to be a process, likelong-cooked collard greens. Ithink those collard greens arebrewing right now. You can smell

it from 100 miles away.”Manning, who might be down

to the final game of his sterlingcareer, can smell that elusivesecond ring he has chased for nineseasons — one that would makehim the 12th starting quarterbackto taste victory multiple times onSuper Sunday.

Yet after an injury-plagued,turnover-marred season that was,by far, the worst statistically of his18 NFL campaigns, No. 18 is con-tent to be a spoke in Denver’swheel rather than the hub. It’s amind-set that worked quite wellfor his boss, Broncos generalmanager John Elway, when hefinally won the Super Bowl twiceat the end of his 16-year career.

“You try to do your part andcontribute,” said Manning, whohad averaged 33 touchdownpasses a season before throwing acareer-low nine in 2015.

“My role has been di�erent,and my contributions are di�er-ent. I’m fortunate and gratefulthat I have the opportunity tocontribute still in some way, andit’s a great honor going back to theSuper Bowl, playing in SuperBowl 50. I’m really looking for-ward to it. It’s going to be a funtwo weeks.”

In the league’s youngest venue,high-tech Levi’s Stadium, Man-ning will surpass Elway as theoldest quarterback to start a Su-per Bowl. He is backed by a veter-an-laden, top-ranked defense, ledby 33-year-old linebacker De-Marcus Ware, but must solve atakeaway-minded Panthers unithelmed by linebacker LukeKuechly, cornerback Josh Nor-man and defensive tackle KawannShort, none of whom has been inthe league for more than fouryears.

The mental jousting betweenManning and Kuechly, who bothdevour game film, should be a funone to monitor.

“When I was growing up,” said

Kuechly, 24, already a one-timeNFL defensive MVP, “(Manning)was the guy and still is the guythat everyone looks at. It’s goingto be a lot of fun. It’s going to befun to get a chance to play againsthim on that stage, so we’ve got tobe ready to go, because they’regoing to bring their A game.”

Denver fans will be used to theanticipation. The Broncos, one ofthe AFL’s founding franchises in1960, are going to their seventhSuper Bowl in the last 30 seasons,a stretch of success only the NewEngland Patriots can match. Con-versely, just the Baltimore Ravensand Houston Texans have playedfewer NFL seasons than the Pan-thers, who are seeking their firstchampionship to cap their 21styear of existence.

But as new kids on the block,Carolina probably has more time.The Broncos know they don’t.

“I think the big thing is we haveto win it,” Elway said. “It’s goingto be a tremendous add to Pey-ton’s legacy, but also to the Bron-cos’ legacy.”

TEAMS, QBSOFFER STUDYIN OPPOSITESManning likely chasing final shotat glory; Newton’s future bright By Nate Davis@ByNateDavisUSA TODAY Sports

BOB DONNAN, USA TODAY SPORTS

The Panthers’ Cam Newton, an MVP favorite, is prone to speak his mind and break into dance.

MARK J. REBILAS, USA TODAY SPORTS

Broncos veteran Peyton Manning is rather reserved, though hisrésumé speaks as loudly as anybody’s in the history of the game.

OVERVIEW

18 SPECIAL EDITION USA TODAY SPORTS

Super Bowl 50’s matchup is setwith the Carolina Panthers andDenver Broncos squaring o�Feb. 7. Here are five story lines towatch:

1. Manning Bowl: Thedominant subplot in the NFL’sgolden Super Bowl celebration issure to be Peyton Manning’squest to become the 12th quarter-back to win multiple times onSuper Sunday. (The most recentpasser to join that list was Man-ning’s brother Eli four years ago.)A second ring would comfortablyvalidate Manning’s place amongthe greatest quarterbacks in NFLhistory. His five MVP awards aretwo more than his closest pursuerowns, and he has all of the league’ssignificant passing records. Butthe knock on Manning in thedebate about QB legends — espe-cially in comparison with TomBrady — has been his relative lackof jewelry. One more win wouldchange the equation, especiallywith Manning improving to 3-1against Brady in AFC Champi-onship Games.

2. New school vs. oldschool: Super Bowl 50 alsocould be a referendum on stylepoints. Manning is your classicdrop-back pocket passer, viewedas the ultimate field general whoallows his play to speak for itself.Panthers counterpart Cam New-ton is the deserved MVP front-runner, even if his “look at me”dab TD celebrations and cockypersona have drawn the ire of foesand opponents’ fans. Newton’sskill set is also a huge contrast toManning’s. Newton never hasbeen better in the pocket than he

is now — and his development hita new level in 2015 even after helost No. 1 receiver Kelvin Benja-min to a knee injury in trainingcamp — but his linebacker size(6-5, 245) combined with 4.6-second speed in the 40-yard dashmake him one of the most formi-dable running quarterbacks of alltime and perhaps the most dan-gerous ever in the red zone. New-ton’s 43 career rushingtouchdowns tie him with Hall ofFamer Steve Young for the mostamong quarterbacks, and Newtonhas played in 91 fewer games. Thepersonalities of their leading menare also indicative of each team’spersonality. Denver has a veteran-laden roster that largely takes itcues from team leaders such asManning and outside linebackerDeMarcus Ware. The Panthers’brash persona — dabbing, bring-ing baseball bats on the field,taking group photos on the side-line before games end — largely

stems from Newton and all-procornerback Josh Norman.

3. Strength vs. strength:The NFL is about matchups, andthis game should be full of com-pelling ones. No team scoredmore points in 2015 than thePanthers. No team allowed feweryards (overall or through the air)than the Broncos, who also weremurder on opposing groundgames. Manning might be thegame’s grand chess master, yetPanthers middle linebacker LukeKuechly will be a worthy adver-sary on defense even if he’s 15years his junior. Norman andBroncos wideout DemaryiusThomas should wage a compel-ling game-within-the-gamematchup that also might proveindicative of the final outcome.Linebackers Ware and Von Millerwill present quite a threat o� theedge to ever-mobile Newton.However, Denver’s formidable

pass rush (NFL-high 52 sacks)could be o�set by a Carolina of-fensive line that has performedfar better than expected.

4. The supporting casts:Both teams are studded with starsfar beyond the marquee names.The Broncos start a pair of ProBowl cornerbacks in Aqib Taliband Chris Harris Jr. They promiseto be more than a match for Caro-lina’s receivers, not the most for-midable group without Benjamin.That likely means Newton will beleaning on another Pro Bowl duo,Greg Olsen, whose 1,104 receivingyards led NFC tight ends, andrunning back Jonathan Stewart,who has appeared rejuvenated inthe playo�s after missing a monthwith a foot injury.

5. Protect the ball: Teamsthat win the turnover battle in theSuper Bowl have gone 36-4. Noteam had more takeaways in the

regular season than the Panthers’39. They added nine in two playo�games and victimized the ArizonaCardinals seven times in the NFCChampionship Game. That has tobe a point of concern for theBroncos, who watched Manningget picked o� on 5.1% of his passesin the regular season, easily theleague’s worst figure. But Man-ning wasn’t alone in his careless-ness — only two teams had moregiveaways than Denver’s 31,though the 27 turnovers the de-fense forced help them nearlybreak even. Newton’s career-low10 interceptions helped feed thePanthers’ NFL-best plus-20 turn-over di�erential. One other twistCarolina showed in the NFCChampionship Game: stayingaggressive. The Panthers never letup in their dominant 49-15 winafter frittering a few large leadsduring the course of the season.The Broncos should expect noquarter if they get careless again.

5story linesto watch

JOHN DAVID MERCER, USA TODAY SPORTS

Middle linebacker Luke Kuechly returned an interception for a touchdown in each of the Panthers’ two NFC playo� victories.

Nate Davis@ByNateDavisUSA TODAY Sports

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