Panthers’ Davis, Harper, Kalil leave game with injuries

Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis had surgery to fix his broken arm this morning, and coach Ron Rivera said the expectation is that their spiritual leader will be on the field against the Broncos in 13 days.

The linebacker was injured midway through the second quarter of Carolina’s 49-15 rout in the NFC title game as he broke up a Carson Palmer pass to Arizona Cardinals tight end Darren Fells.

While his tenacity is admirable and his toughness is unquestioned, the reality is that Davis being physically prepared to play two weeks removed from fracturing his arm may not be realistic. He finished this season with 105 tackles, 5.5 sacks, four interceptions and four forced fumbles.

Davis’ teammates praised his toughness and said it’s hard to imagine anyone trying to tell him he couldn’t play in his first Super Bowl after spending his entire career trying to reach this pinnacle. Before he went out he had made six tackles including two tackles for loss of Cardinals running back David Johnson at times when Johnson looked like he was gaining some momentum with the ground game.

It seems clear that as long as pain tolerance is the only issue, Davis will not be missing a game of this magnitude for his team.

Carolina quickly ruled him out, along with veteran safety Roman Harper, who suffered a first-half eye injury. “You know me, right?”

He added: “I believe in our training staff, I believe in our doctors and I believe in the process, so I know that if it’s at all possible, they’re gonna get me back”.

THE SHERIFF: Newton dubbed Manning “the Sheriff” when asked about the Super Bowl 50 matchup in two weeks in Santa Clara, California.

The Panthers will take on the Denver Broncos, who beat the 2015 Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, 20-18 Sunday afternoon.

“I don’t put it past Thomas”, Short said. “Three ACLs and broken fingers hasn’t stopped him yet”. “I believe in me”, Davis said. Some of my experiences in coaching, you get to certain situations like the playoffs, sometimes there’s a little bit of – I won’t say panic, but a little self doubt.

It is uncertain if Thomas heals before the Super Bowl and be ready to play during the championship game, but he promised that he would not miss it.

And centre Ryan Kalil (knee) “is fine”, Rivera said.