I'm not saying that Denver didn't have a historically great defense, or that the Panthers didn't leave plays on the field. They did.
But something was definitely wrong with the officiating in that game. The Broncos had a 5-0 record with Blakeman officiating at that time. The replay assistant was a Denver local. You can see Blakeman and the dudes wife celebrating after the game.
Cotchery caught the ball. Von Miller illegally batted the ball on the "fumble." Talib committed an ejection able facemask because it was intentional harm on another player. There was also non call hold on Ted Ginn just before the Cam's fumble too I believe.
It was not a fairly called game, and the NFL allowed Denver to put their stamp on in 2016 when they let Cam get headhunted with no consequence.
That game and the rematch was really when I lost a lot of faith in the NFL product. They don't care about making the game better.