This may be a very unpopular opinion in New England, but it seems like the Carolina Panthers, the NFL's Cinderella story, have a very good chance of taking home the Super Bowl XXXVIII trophy.
It all starts with John Fox. What were the New York Giants thinking letting this man walk two years ago? They sure could use him now. John Fox has taken over the reigns in Carolina and turned them into a championship-caliber team in two years.
He has taken the hard-nosed defense that he had made work so well in New York and turned Carolina around from a perennial top-10 draft pick team, to one competing for a Super Bowl Championship. Fox has worked really well with Marty Hurney, the team's general manager, to help build this team in a two-year span.
They realized that the combination of Chris Weinke and Rodney Peete was not going to take them anywhere and brought in Jake Delhomme to take over the reigns at quarterback. Fox and Hurney have gone away from poor cap decisions under past regimes and focused more on strong drafting. They have added Julius Peppers and Ricky Manning Jr. who have solidified their defense on both the front and back ends. Manning was amazing in their last win against Philadelphia as he manhandled the Eagles receivers and came away with three interceptions in the game.
But Manning is definitely not the biggest impact on that team. A forgotten guy from New Orleans, the aforementioned Delhomme has carried Carolina. He is one of the most unassuming NFL quarterbacks and although he is not the best or most accurate, he hasn't made any mistakes that have cost his team.
This has followed the Super Bowl winning quarterbacks of the last couple of years Brad Johnson, Tom Brady and Trent Dilfer, who have not been the best quarterbacks in the league, but have been able to lead their teams through the playoffs on great defenses to a Super Bowl. Although Delhomme may not be Mike Vick in the pocket, he can move if he needs to.
It seems pretty ridiculous, but Jake Delhomme's biggest offensive weapon may be his defense. This defense is ferocious: they hit and they hit hard. This is a defense you don't want to go across the middle against. Nine players on defense have been drafted during Fox's tenure in Carolina making them either rookies or second-year players. But this unit has come together and worked really hard. They play every down and show a bunch of coverages. And they're not scared of anyone.
At one point in the game against Philidelphia, up by 11 points and knowing the Eagles had to throw, the Carolina defense stayed with one-on-one man defense, sending blitz packages from all over the field including corner and safety blitzes.
Mike Trgovac, the defensive coordinator, does a great job mixing up packages and creating a lot of pressure for the quarterback. This is a defense that creates a lot of turnovers and great field position for Delhomme and the offense. Without a real running game, New England may have a lot of trouble opening up the defense for Brady to throw.
While Delhomme may greatly benefit from his great defense, the player that really helps Delhomme run the offense is Stephen Davis. Davis was signed as a free agent this past off-season and helps create a great run/pass tandem with Delhomme. When Davis is not running over the opposition, DeShaun Foster, the back-up running back is in their flying past tacklers. Their duo at running back is about as good as any one that has made it through the playoffs the past couple of seasons, including Tiki Barber/Ron Dayne and Mike Alstott/Warrick Dunn. When he does go to pass, Delhomme's number one target is Muhsin Muhammed followed by Steve Smith.
Carolina has the players and attitude to win this game. Copy catting the format of the championship New England team of a couple of years ago, Carolina has emerged from the pack with stellar defense, a surprising offensive attack, solid special teams (including Rod Smart-also known as 'He Hate Me' from the now-defunct XFL), and very accurate kicking from John Kasay.
If Carolina can control tempo through their running game, it should open up the attack for Delhomme and the rest of the offense to go to work. Watch out for Steve Smith, wide receiver for the Panthers, who has already been a hero once before in these playoffs, to come out huge.
The defense will come up huge, but it's up to the offense to get through New England's secondary to make a difference in this game. New England is not in its familiar territory; there is no snow on the ground in Houston. Carolina is infamous this season for late comebacks and heartbreaking endings.
The same should be true for the game this Sunday. If the offense can come out and play smart, mistake- and turnover-free football, coupled with their hard-hitting, no-nonsense defense, the Carolina Panthers can bring home Super Bowl XXXVIII.