After an eight-game winning streak, a 31-13 loss to New Orleans on Sunday night snapped the Carolina Panthers back to reality.
The Saints played with the skill of a Super Bowl-bound team, and the Panthers played dismally. But for Carolina, there’s something different in the air this year. There’s hope.
As the final seconds of the game ticked down, fans’ cries of “the Panthers were supposed to win!” were followed by “we’re still better than last year” and “we can still make the playoffs.”
Fans must also acknowledge that Carolina is a changed team. That one loss won’t ruin the season. That there’s always next week, because this isn’t the Calamity Cats of old. The door to the playoffs is still open, a wild-card designation still possible.
There’s hope the Panthers can win in two weeks when they meet New Orleans here in Charlotte. There’s hope they can win all of their remaining games.
In the past, the Panthers would lose and there’d be cries of “what else is new?” or “what did you expect?” This year, my Facebook wall is instead flooded with shouts of “keep pounding!” and “ice up!” Fans haven’t lost hope, and that’s the biggest change of all.
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This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2013.
I too, know that our Panthers played dismally on Sunday…
But,but,but,but,but….They didn t snap back to reality !…
They experienced a lesser one though, for the reality they were in in the past games was real too…….!!!!!…
ie., implication of your statement is that Panthers were living in a dream world before….no, no, no, no,no…….
Fell through the cracks more like it……
S.O.
I’m not concerned that they lost. No team wins them all, and this was a really strong opponent. What concerns me is how they played. It looked like Fox and Jake were back. Almost every play, the Saints threw a pass of at least 10 yards. Most were completed because, just like in the old days, the closest Panther was at least 3 yards away from the receiver. On the other side of the ball we observed the obsessive compulsive disorder of repeatedly handing the ball to a running back to blast into the middle of the line for a 2 yard gain, or even worse. Most of the passes were screens or less than 5 yards. If they play the same way in two weeks they will get the same result.