SAN FRANCISCO — Wade Phillips has been coaching football since 1969, but ask him about defending Cam Newton and he starts to sweat.

“You’re giving me nightmares now, right?’’ said the Broncos’ 68-year-old defensive coordinator. “Yeah, I’ve never seen one like him — and nobody else has.’’

The NFL is celebrating its past all week at Super Bowl 50, but Newton is the league’s future, if not its present.

Newton is Robo-Quarterback, a physical specimen never before seen at his position — a 6-foot-5-inch, 248-pound tank with nimble feet and a huge arm.

Now in his fifth season, he is blossoming into everything a team dreams of when it picks a player No. 1 overall in the draft. Newton became the first quarterback in league history with 30 passing touchdowns and 10 rushing touchdowns in the same season (35 and 10). He’s the heavy favorite for the league MVP award, and more importantly, has led the Panthers to a 17-1 record and a spot in Sunday’s Super Bowl against the Broncos.

“They got this freak athlete that just shakes guys off and runs over people. It’s really amazing,’’ former Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason said. “It’s like a combination of Daunte Culpepper and Randall Cunningham.’’

“He’s like the LeBron James of quarterbacks,’’ former Jets linebacker Bart Scott added. “We haven’t seen anything like this. The closest was Randall Cunningham, but Randall Cunningham was like 40 pounds smaller.’’

Newton and the Panthers led the NFL in scoring this year (31.2 points per game), and the Broncos were only 19th (22.2), so Phillips certainly has his work cut out to keep the Panthers off the scoreboard.

Experts say that Phillips will likely need to scrap the game plan that worked so well against Tom Brady and the Patriots nearly two weeks ago and instead do pretty much the exact opposite. The Broncos held the Patriots to 18 points by rarely blitzing and instead dropping seven and eight defenders into pass coverage.

But Newton is too dangerous of a runner to sit back on defense and give him space to operate up front. More likely, the Broncos will need to not only constantly mix up their blitz packages, but keep an extra defender in the box to stop the Panthers’ dangerous rushing attack, of which Newton (636 yards, 4.8 yards per carry) is a major factor.

“It’s no different than playing the Wildcat,’’ Scott said. “The only difference is the quarterback can throw, the quarterback can actually go through his progressions. If you only rush three, then he’s going to take off, or he has the ability to buy time with his feet. So it has to be a totally different game plan [from the Patriots game]. Going to have to bring up eight in the box.’’

Newton has been a physical specimen since entering the league, but only now in his fifth year has he blossomed into a proficient pocket passer. Critics point to Newton’s 59.8 completion percentage and 239 passing yards per game as signs that he still hasn’t developed as a passer, but they’re focusing on the wrong stats. His 35-to-10 touchdown-to-interception ratio was second best in the league behind Brady (36-7), Newton finished seventh among starting quarterbacks at 7.8 yards per passing attempt (which means that the passes he does complete go for big chunks of yards), and he finished eighth with a 99.4 passer rating.

“A lot of it is just reps,’’ Panthers quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey said. “He had the one year at junior college, one year at Auburn, so it’s not like he was the four-year starter in college. The more reps he gets the more comfortable you are, the more you react and the less you’re thinking about stuff.’’

At the same time, Newton won’t ever be confused with Brady or Peyton Manning as far as throwing from the pocket. Considering how dangerous Newton is as a runner, experts disagree on the best way to limit his abilities.

“I think you try to keep him in the pocket. Coach [Bill] Cowher thinks you let him outside of the pocket, maybe he’ll make bad decisions,’’ former All-Pro tight end Tony Gonzalez said. “But that’s the thing about it. Coach Cowher coached longer than me, and I had 17 years, and we’re both disagreeing on how to stop this guy. And this is why he’s so effective.’’

Newton isn’t just a scrambling quarterback or a read-option quarterback. The Panthers will run the triple option with Newton and running backs Jonathan Stewart and Mike Tolbert, or even a basic off-tackle run that is normally reserved for running backs.

“He’s one of those guys where he’s sort of two players in one,’’ Broncos linebacker DeMarcus Ware said. “You go against a typical quarterback and they don’t really run the ball, so if you beat the tackle, you’re going to get the sack or make the big play. But, with Cam, first of all you have to beat the tackle and then he’s quote unquote, the running back also, that can run ball, string plays out, and make those throws down the field deep that the great quarterbacks do.’’

Scott said the Broncos have to get physical with Newton to discourage him from running the ball.

“If you want to get into that read-option stuff, fine and dandy, I’m going to hit your quarterback every time, and I’m going to throw those body blows to get you out of it,’’ Scott said. “You make him pay the price. You put your best shot on him. If he keeps it, I’m telling all my DBs, chop his legs out. You saw last week when [Rob Gronkowski] was getting cut, it started to affect him later in the game. So it’s all about sending those body blows.’’

Only the Falcons defeated the Panthers this year, holding Newton and the Panthers to 268 total yards in a 20-13 win in Week 16. They just hit Newton three times (two of which were sacks), but took away his deep threat, Ted Ginn (one catch for 9 yards), double- and triple-teamed tight end Greg Olsen (four catches, 40 yards), and constantly spied on Newton to keep him from breaking big runs.

“I think our speed overall on defense helps, obviously,’’ Phillips said. “I’ve had teams before that you couldn’t put somebody spying the quarterback because the quarterback was faster than them. And we’ve got some guys that can spy the quarterback if we need to. I feel like we’re in good shape.’’

Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @BenVolin