The Panthers broke open a close game in the fourth quarter at home Sunday, whipping the New York Jets, 30-20, and raising their record to 10-4. And with New Orleans losing on the road to St. Louis, it couldn't have been a better Sunday for the Panthers. The Panthers can win their last two games (home against New Orleans, on the road vs. Atlanta) and win the NFC South with a 12-4 record. Here's my column about the possibilities Sunday opened up.
And here are 5 performances I really liked Sunday:
1. Brandon LaFell. Not only did LaFell have a big-time 36-yard catch in traffic when he held onto the ball while getting drilled, but he also threw a big-time block on DeAngelo Williams' 72-yard touchdown run with a screen pass (that's DeAngelo above, running down the right sideline as Jets coach Rex Ryan looks on).
2. Captain Munnerlyn. Two sacks, one interception returned for a TD to break Mike Minter's pick-six team record?! Promote this man to general.
3. DeAngelo Williams. That 72-yard scamper showed us the speed that we sometimes forget DeAngelo has, and he also had some key tackle-breaking runs as he rushed for 81 yards on 15 carries.
4. Cam Newton. Threw for 224 yards in the first half alone (and 273 altogether), repeatedly putting the ball on target to tight end Greg Olsen in particular. Seemed to take a hard hit at end of first half and was slow coming out for the second -- he had wound up stubbing his toe, but in a pretty painful way -- but didn't miss a play and didn't have a turnover. In the picture at the bottom of this post, he's celebrating Mike Tolbert's touchdown.
5. Jason Williams. The genial, behind-the-scenes special teamer came up with what may have been the biggest play of the game, blocking a punt with the score 16-13, Carolina, early in the fourth quarter. That set up Mike Tolbert's touchdown and gave Carolina breathing room in what was a close game for a long time. The Panthers are now 6-1 at home and about to face the Saints in a 1 p.m. game Sunday that WON'T be flexed, although I keep getting emails and tweets wondering if it will be.
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7 comments:
Suffering and enjoying with the Panthers.
From Buenos Aires, Argentina.
http://www.facebook.com/nopuedojuegan.lospanthers.aesahora
I was looking at espn playoff machine to see how panthers can make playoffs without winning either of the next 2 games which is scary because the arizona cardinals trail them by one and have the one to one tiebreaker.
For panthers to go in with 10-6 loss to playoffs.
the following has to happen
both chicago & detroit have to win all their remaining games AND arizona has to lose at least one of its 2 remaining games
Here is the remaining schedule
carolina vs saints, falcons
detroit vs bal, giants, vikings
chicago vs eagles, green bay
arizona vs seahawks, 49rs
Rex's head must weigh 50 pounds...
Good win, but still concerned issue of settling for Field Goals rather than scoring Touchdowns. Plus, can we get Cam to practice throwing a screen pass? Keep Pounding PantherNation!
I'm as big a Panthers fan as there is. But you know what was funny about Holmes comment? It was true. The weakest link of the excellent defense IS the secondary. It didn't take a genius to see that week in and week out. Fortunately, the Panthers are functioning well as a team so they have been able to manage the weak spots. In other words, they do what they need to do.
And here's another thing. After the game, Captain Munnerlyn said that the comments fired him up to play. Guess what? The great teams show up to play EVERY GAME. If that's the potential, why not bring that effort every game, every play? Until the whole team gets to that point, the line between good and mediocre will always be tenous.
Go Panthers!
BINGO Cliff.
Arizona plays san francisco......we hold the tie breaker over san francisco. unless you think arizona is beating seattle, we're covered there. we have better NFC record than green bay even if we lose the last 2. detroit has to win all 3 and that would probably put them in the division lead and we have a better conference record than chicago.
only scenario we don't make the playoffs is losing both, arizona winning both.
only scenario we get a 1st round bye is by beating new orleans sunday.
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