We Are Underdogs Yet Again, And It Is More Perfect Than 15-0

[t96]

Initially after the loss I was so shocked and pissed that I stayed away from all things football the rest of Sunday and all of yesterday, but I've cooled off and have gone back to reading and listening to what people have to say about us now. Headlines I have seen:

 

"The Carolina Panthers have been the luckiest team in the NFL this season"

"The Carolina Panthers Are No Longer Perfect (And Never Really Were)"

"The Carolina Panthers were exposed as 14-0 frauds"

"Panthers' season falls apart in loss to Atlanta"

"Carolina Panthers Sore in First Loss, But Other 14 Games Should Worry Fans Even More"

"The Carolina Panthers Are Too Cocky"

 

Early in the season nearly everybody believed our undefeated start was more of a fluke and would end sooner than the other undefeated teams. As the season went on and we just kept on winning people couldn't really say anything but all along they never really believed that we are a Super Bowl contender even, let alone the favorite. Now the loss to the Atlanta Falcons provides them the perfect opportunity to share their real feelings. We are the underdogs yet again. Nobody believes in us. Nobody will give us a chance against the Cardinals or even Seahawks if we meet either of them. Nobody believes that we ever deserved to go undefeated. And Nobody is expecting us to win the Super Bowl now OR at any time in the future under Cam and Rivera. And this is perfect.

 

Why did we lose this game? In my opinion and from what I saw on the field with my eyes there are many different reasons. The Atlanta Falcons played their best game in years. This was their SUPER BOWL. They were pissed that they got embarrassed against us 2 weeks before and they came out and played textbook football in every single aspect of the game. On defense they wrapped up well, they covered our receivers with ease, they stopped us on third down, and they applied consistent pressure on Cam all day (something they hadn't done at all in any game this season). On offense they ran the ball well, gave the QB time to throw, the wide receivers made plays and they made big time plays on key third downs. They played damn near perfect football nearly the entire game, with the only marks being the first touchdown drive, Ryan's fumbled snap and the penalties on their final drive. The biggest thing though? Dan Quinn coached one of the greatest games I have ever seen. I was actually questioning whether he was actually coaching on Sunday while I was watching the game, I thought maybe the ghost of Vince Lombardi was calling that game. They played hard nosed football which is something we haven't seen out of the Atlanta Falcons since Matt Ryan was drafted, and they controlled the entire game. Cam was on the field for around 8 minutes in the entire 2nd half. Their tying touchdown drive early ate up the entire 1st quarter. They wore us down, and wore us down, and wore us down.

 

Which brings up another aspect... We had our bye in week 5. We've been going at it since October 18th. This was our 11th straight game, and 2nd straight on the road after a tough road win in New Jersey. The team was completely worn down, all the way through. Cam didn't look entirely like his usual self (and it has nothing to do with any of the baby nonsense (ban PU)), the offensive line looked like it did against the Eagles last year rather than the way it has played this entire year, our receivers couldn't get any separation, nobody on the defense could cover or TACKLE, and we had absolutely no pass rush juice. These things that happened in Atlanta have not happened all year, and they won't continue going forward. Do we have concerns on the team? Absolutely. Every team does. Our pass rush and secondary depth are both concerns, which I will get to later. This was not the same team that had gone 14-0. Nobody on our team is even close to 100% right now and the season has worn down on them. Going into week 16 I was 100% sure we were going to go 16-0. Unfortunately I think some of our players believed this was a given as well. There was no motivation on the field, no heart, no soul. It was just another game and it looked the team felt they could just show up and come away with a victory. This loss is absolutely not bad for us in the long run at all. But I don't believe it was good or that it was a necessary loss or anything like that. We have a playoff bye guaranteed and that will be so huge for the team to recover and recollect. We absolutely need it. But it's crucial that we can pull together and have a complete win over Tampa at home to lock up the 1 seed and get some momentum which I believe is likely to happen.

 

The last two paragraphs may look like excuses for the loss. They aren't. But there are reasons for concern going forward that showed themselves and contributed to the loss. Particularly the pass rush and the secondary. Every Panthers fan knows about these but why are we struggling in these areas now? Charles Johnson and Jared Allen have been "JAGs" the past few weeks. I don't like that phrase and I don't like criticizing our players, but I haven't seen anything at all out of those two. Fortunately though I don't believe that this will continue into the playoffs. It looks to me like Big Money is still getting over his injury and isn't 100%. Allen truly doesn't have much left in the tank and at 33 wasn't going to go the full season without fading. This may seem like a big concern in the playoffs but I believe that the bye will be like magic for these guys, maybe even as good as that recovery water. Allen absolutely needs the bye and once he gets it I think he'll go back to looking like the solid contributor he was just after we traded for him. Same goes for CJ. He's been rusty recently and as I said isn't 100%. Will Allen go back to looking like 22-sack 2011 Allen? No. Will CJ go back to looking like 2013 Big Money? No. But we don't need that to happen for the d-line (particularly the ends) to step up. What I think we should consider doing is re-inserting Ealy into the starting lineup. Since CJ came back Ealy has zero sacks. While CJ was out, Kony had 4 straight games with a sack. We need to get Ealy more involved and get his production back because he was key earlier this year.

 

As for the secondary they are absolutely our biggest concern right now. Tillman still doesn't look fully healthy and can't cut well enough to stay with quicker receivers on intermediate routes. I'm hoping to bye will help him as well. Josh played easily his worst game of the season and I don't expect that to continue so not worried there. Harper has looked bad recently though and I think we should seriously consider getting Boston some more snaps or even putting him back into the starting lineup. We need the youth injection here. Finnegan looked great early but has faded and I don't think he's the answer at slot but unfortunately he's the best we've got. One last big reason we lost.... CAP had a 9.8 yards/carry average. And only had 5 carries. That was absolutely unacceptable. We completely abandoned the run and were stupidly calling predictable Cam runs. CAP should've had 25 carries that game, especially after Fozzy went down. We should've rode him like we have done with Stew because he absolutely looked capable of carrying the offense that game. The pass protection was crap, receivers couldn't get open and we weren't even down so much that we needed to pass the ball. I don't know what to make of this going forward since that was so completely unlike the team I watched for the first 14 games. Stew coming back will probably make this irrelevant but I don't like that Shula kept trying to pass when it wasn't working without switching to the run which was working with CAP was running wild.

 

We are in a good situation right now. The best situation in the NFL. Nobody believes in us and the team thrives off of that. We have an extremely important bye locked up and the best record in the league still. We need to lock up the bye against Tampa which won't be easy but I think we should absolutely be able to get it done. I'll be honest, I wanted 19-0 real bad. I wanted to be able to shut up Cowgirls, Steelers and Cheatriots fans by just saying 19-0, period. It wasn't meant to be this year and that is completely alright. Floyd Mayweather is likely ending his career undefeated. Rocky Marciano did as well. But are they the greatest fighters of all time? No, that belonged to the undisputed greatest Sugar Ray Robinson. Sugar Ray Robinson was undefeated as an amateur and started his professional career 40-0 without any titles. His next fight he lost to Jake LaMotta. His next loss didn't come until he had 128 wins and had been world champion for years and had cemented his place as the greatest fighter to ever live. That loss to LaMotta did not matter one bit at all (and he went on to beat LaMotta 4 more times after the loss), and neither did the other 18 losses he ended up with when he finally ended his career. Just as that loss didn't matter, neither does this one. Our 18-1 will be a million times better than the Patriots' 18-1 season where they went 16-0. And we'll have many more chances to go 19-0 going forward with Gettleman, Rivera, Cam and Luke at the helm.

[UpstatePanther]

37 minutes ago, thomas96 said:

Our 18-1 will be a million times better than the Patriots' 18-1 season where they went 16-0. 

Pie for effort and for a well thought out post. But honestly thus was the best point you made. If the 2007 Patriots are in the conversation as one of the best teams ever with a Super Bowl loss to give them an 18-1 record, then the 2015 Panthers would also be in that conversation with an 18-1 record capped off by a Super Bowl victory. 

I hated it when everyone kept saying "maybe it would help them to lose a game." I still don't believe losing is better than winning in any situation ever. The chance at history alone was made every win valuable. That said, now that there is a single blemish on our record, I think it can be used to strengthen this team. I am so glad I will be at the game this weekend. I'm eager to see how this team responds.

[csx]

"The Carolina Panthers were exposed as 14-0 frauds

 

The article that this headline goes to actually explains why a loss will help. It's not a dig on the team at all. Not to nitpick but your quoted headlines aren't the actual headlines and have been edited to make them not what they were meant to portray in some cases.

[CPF4LIFE]

The youth injection is what fueled our playoff run last year and I absolutely do not understand why none of those guys are playing now. Delaire had 3 sacks last time we played TB and couldn't be stopped but probably wont even play sunday. 

[Carl Spackler]

If we lose again this week it will tell us a lot more about peaking too soon

[motocross_cat]

Seattle and pitt, the two "scariest" teams in the nfl just lost to poo teams.  But we are a fraud?  All any of this means is any team can lose to anyone and division games are a mother fuger.

[Montsta]

I just want that first championship. Then we can talk dynasties and best Evers and undefeated seasons and all that good stuff. But we NEED that first title or nothing else matters. 

*Warrior Talk Alert*

Its like my Dubs last year had a historically great season, and people kept on with the yeah but who did you play stuff? Well they won the title and now are cruising through a historic season. 

But the first title is all that matters. After that it's gravy!

[Paa Langfart]

Nice write up.  

[Wolfpredator]

26 minutes ago, Montsta said:

I just want that first championship.

This.  It's why no one has taken our season seriously up to this point.  If we had won the SUPER**Bowl back in 2003-04 people would have a different tune this year toward us.  People do not think we have earned the right to say we are a good team, even at now 14-1.  Once we have that Championship Ring our weight will go a little further with everyone else.  Until then......we will have to just sit back and take it at times from fans who say we haven't done anything.  An undefeated season would have been amazing but I would much rather have a ring to brag about.  

[KSpan]

1 hour ago, CPF4LIFE said:

The youth injection is what fueled our playoff run last year and I absolutely do not understand why none of those guys are playing now. Delaire had 3 sacks last time we played TB and couldn't be stopped but probably wont even play sunday. 

Delaire hasn't done a thing since then and played 17 snaps against the Falcons, though he has been inactive for some games in between. Additionally, Boston is the only member of the 'youth injection' (Bene and KB are hurt, Jones has not looked good this year) not regularly seeing the field, so while I agree that he should be getting more PT in Harper's spot your overall premise is flawed.

[ctrcat]

After the league screwed us over the Hardy situation it was pretty obvious-people don't WANT us to win.  The VAST majority of fans worldwide do not cheer for the Panthers and/or Auburn.  Can't wait to serve up that tasty $hitburger.  4 games, 3 at home, one on a neutral field.  The rest is hot air.

[Jangler]

1 hour ago, Carl Spackler said:

If we lose again this week it will tell us a lot more about peaking too soon

I think it would say more about the team in general. Got a bloody nose and we fold like a cheap suit. The one lesson the Panthers can take from this loss, and it's from the Falcons. We embarrassed them, and they came back at us and got revenge. 

Never forget Atlanta!

Sorry in advance Tampa Bay. not really.

[The Lobo]

Great post, sir. No way we are frauds or lucky. No team goes 14-0 and is a fraud. If people think so, then they don't know football. We will be fired up Sunday. Let's get this win

[CPF4LIFE]

4 hours ago, KSpan said:

Delaire hasn't done a thing since then and played 17 snaps against the Falcons, though he has been inactive for some games in between. Additionally, Boston is the only member of the 'youth injection' (Bene and KB are hurt, Jones has not looked good this year) not regularly seeing the field, so while I agree that he should be getting more PT in Harper's spot your overall premise is flawed.

NOBODY HAS DONE ANYTHING SINCE since those 3 sacks except for KK, so you are flawed on that. And even if he was playing like its already been stated everybodies snaps are down significantly because of CJ and Allen getting the most. No its not the same players from last year but some young guys showed early in the season this year they could be really resourceful and we have slowly taken away there snaps and put more on the vets and its showing. THATS the premise of what im saying.