They say defense wins championships. Well, whichever team wins, they will be right: The Broncos and Panthers are No. 1 and No. 2 in ESPN's defensive efficiency metric, which measures a team's per-play contribution to its scoring margin. Denver's D may have single-handedly taken out Tom Brady, but they'll surely need more help from their listless offense against Carolina. When Peyton Manning was on the field during the regular season, the Broncos turned the ball over 18 times. That's bad news against a Panthers D that forced a turnover on 19.4 percent of drives (nearly three percentage points more than the next-best team) and allowed 17 points or fewer in eight of its games this season (tied for third-most). The wild card for the Broncos? They scored six defensive/special teams touchdowns (tied for second overall), helping swing the result in four games this season.