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On the eve of yet another, here are the five biggest disappointments in team history

Fiz

By Fiz,
in Carolina Panthers

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Fiz

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These are games where there was huge amounts of excitement and expectations that were poo all over.

I'm doing this from memory exclusively, but I almost certainly know more about this team than you so you should take my word for it.

5. 1996-7 NFC Championship Game

The Panthers went undefeated at home in 1996 and didn't give up a second half touchdown. They trounced the Cowboys in the divisional round, and Charlotte was caught up in it's first (and last for nearly a decade) taste of NFL playoff fever. However, they went up against a much better team in Green Bay. The Panthers were probably the 2nd best team in the NFL that year, but unfortunately the best was also in the NFC. Panthers fans suffered a bleak, stark reality check as their team was methodically destroyed by Favre and Reggie White.

It's okay though because the Panthers had a foundation for success, one that would favor them for years to come.

4. 2004 Saints-Panthers week 17

While starting 1-6 the Panthers lost half their team to injury and looked dead in the water. Then, thanks to the return of Mark Fields (and a ridiculously easy stretch of schedule) they improbably charged into striking distance of the playoffs. The team lost a heartbreaker against the Falcons, but that wasn't going to be a problem. As week 17 approached, all they had to do was beat the poo ass saints to make the playoffs.

Then Jake Delhomme completed less than half of his passes, Nick Goings came back to earth, Aaron Brooks played the game of his life and the Panthers lost three fumbles. It ended with a blocked field goal. It was the worst possible ending to what had been an incredible second half of the season.

3. 2005-6 NFC Championship Game

The Panthers were widely regarded as the favorites to win this game, in case anyone has forgotten. They'd already travelled to better teams to win games, dismantling the Giants and winning an improbable shoot out with the Bears.

However, what no one seemed to realize at the time was the Panthers were beat up and the Seahawks were far better coached. When the Panthers lost Deshaun Foster against the Bears, they also lost their second leading receiver. Peppers had a badly hurt shoulder too and was ineffective. The Seahawks destroyed us, dominating us on both sides of the ball. The game was over before the coaching staff could even adjust (not that they would have but still)

2. 2008 NFC Divisional Game

Honestly we should have seen this one coming in. The Panthers defense was falling apart. Kemo'eatu and Ken Lucas were decaying before our eyes. Fox's defense had become stale and unresponsive, having been gashed through the air by the Saints and on the ground by the Giants in consecutive weeks. Still, Panthers fans were confident they could beat again a team they'd bloodied during the regular season.

The story is well known from this point out. Jake Delhomme's career effectively ended on this night. I always tell people it wouldn't have mattered because the Panthers defense had no answer for the Cardinals passing attack. The game would send the Panthers into a 2 year death spiral that we're maybe not out of yet, and lead to a number of mind numbing personnel/coaching decisions. It likely ended the John Fox regime, in hindsight.

1. 2003 Super Bowl

duh

Fiz Note: I strongly considered including the 2009 season opener on this list, because that's when we knew the Panthers were fuged. Hurney came on the radio after Jake's meltdown and sounded horrified, saying "this is our worst case scenario."

I was like you and thought the Cardinals game was just a Jake game. After that loss, however, it was clear Jake was done.

Fiz Note 2: I notice that most of these are playoff losses, and originally I didn't intend for them to be. However, as I was writing the list, the Panthers have only been in position to disappoint in single games a handful of times. the 2006 and 1997 seasons were horribly disappointing, but there was no singular moment.

Additionally, no, the 1999 finale against the Saints was not a disappointment. They needed a fuging miracle to get in (one they wouldn't have gotten anyway since the cowboys won later in the day) and who came away from that game anything but massively entertained?

WHY THIS THREAD?

Because the expectations for Cam Newton are so high right now that we're inevitably going to be disappointed. We had a magical week where the national media loved everything about us and Cam highlights were replayed ad nauseum everywhere we looked.

the Cam bandwagon isn't just going to crash; it's going to be fired from an orbital rail gun platform into the fuging hoover dam and create natural fission from the strength of its impact. The Packers are going to rape us.

What Cam did last week was an anomaly.

When he poos the bed tomorrow though, and you want to make a thread cursing cam/praising andrew luck/wanting to fire rivera/calling kurb a nazi sympathizer, keep in mind you shouldn't have had high expectations to begin with, and there have been much worse times for this team.

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Fiz Newbie

Fiz

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I'm prepared for cam to have a not so good day. The only thing I'm not looking forward to are the cam trolls ready to pounce and declare how much cam sucks tomorrow.

So just block Mr. Scot and improve your forums browsing experience as a whole.

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cdandi1 Newbie

cdandi1

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Cam doesn't have to throw for 400 plus for us to win. We need our defense not have blown coverage, no special teams goof-ups, and much fewer penalties. If we fix those issues we can be very competitive and win football games. So even if cam doesn't have the same game, we can still be competitive.

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Fiz Newbie

Fiz

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Cam doesn't have to throw for 400 plus for us to win. We need our defense not have blown coverage, no special teams goof-ups, and much fewer penalties. If we fix those issues we can be very competitive and win football games. So even if cam doesn't have the same game, we can still be competitive.

you're precious.

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