The 5 most disappointing losses in Panthers history

[Goondal]

Honestly, the game in '08 that I remember is the Giants game.  I was flying home to visit family that afternoon and through the beauty of the flex schedule the game had moved to the evening so my bro and I could watch it together.  We believed it was our time all the way up to Kasey's missed FG.  That was totally deflating and at that point overtime just felt like we were watching a predetermined result.  After the lackluster showing the following week I sort of knew the Arizona game was not going to go well.  I did not think it would be as bad as it was, but I did not have the confidence going in that would have made that loss as demoralizing as some others.

 

As for the Seattle game.  That team was so beat up I was just happy to be there.  I never expected to beat Chicago to be honest.

 

The SB is obviously #1, but that '08 Giants game is an easy #2 for me and the aforementioned Saints game in '04 that kept us home in January is #3.  The Arizona playoff game is probably still fourth, due ot the stakes. 

 

My #5 would be a toss-up from two games last season.  First is the Chicago game.  Not sure what it was about that game that pissed me off so much more than all the other close losses, but the following two weeks I did other things on Sunday.  They were only the second and third games I had ever missed.  The next game was the home loss to Tampa.  We took my brother to the game as part of his Bachelor Party.  Our family had moved to the Tampa area in '96 and this was our first trip back for a game.  What seemed like a perfect end to a great weekend turned awful.  The fact that two members of the group were Tampa fans and the Bucs are the one team we hate more than any other made it worse.

[!stUp]

I think a lot of people over look, or don't remember the first loss in Panther history. 1995 week 1, inaugural season loss to Mylanta. Overtime thriller. I remember Willie Green catching a pass in the corner of the end zone to send the game in overtime. Just to have our hearts broken in OT. We have forever lived up to the moniker of Cardiac Cats.

would have won too....freaking false start cost of the game.

[Fiz]

Sorry for the delay. I've recently accepted a new job and will literally be moving to the other side of the world. It's been a little hectic to say the least. Additionally, if anyone has any experience selling a car while abroad, please PM me. 

 

First, a similar game that isn't on this list. 

 

Not That Disappointing Big Loss: Cardinals @ Panthers 2008

 

The 2008 season was really fun and weird. Seemingly out of nowhere the Panthers evolved in the second half of the season into one of the best running teams in NFL history. Good running offenses are fun to watch. There's nothing quite as exciting as watching someone get run over, and especially the second Tampa game had ton of those moments.

 

 

Every game heading into the Panthers first round bye was an exciting barn burner complete with last second stands, big scores, score changes, etc. 

 

The season also had two of my favorite individual moments in Panthers history. The first came, of course, on the last second Jake Delhomme pass to Rosario Dawson, fresh off her role in Sin City, to beat the Chargers in week 1. What a lot of people don't remember about that game is Steve Smith didn't play, and Carolina actually should have won that by about 10, but San Diego pulled some ridiculous bullshit to require that final play.

 

the other was a fun moment against Kansas City when Tyler Thigpen threw the worst interception I've ever seen. Ken Lucas settled under the ball like a punt. They could have called intentional grounding if we had dropped it. 

 

Anyway, back to my point. There were two critical points that no one on here (and I was just as guilty) was seeing at the time. First, the defense was falling apart. Remember, this is a huge running team. Even adjusting for how prolific DeAngelo was at long TD runs that season (tied Jim Brown's record), you should be in shoot outs if you're moving that well on the ground. In the second half of the season, the Panthers gave up 22, 28, 31, 23, 28, and finished giving up 31 points to the Giants. that was a game where the defense might as well have no been on the field. 

 

on top of that, Jake was already starting to melt down. Jake was always prone to games where he couldn't really do that much, but coming out of the bye he had two of the worst games of his career. They were against the two worst teams in the league that year, so the Panthers were able to grit it out, but we should have seen what was coming after Jake came off the first round bye. 

 

Additionally, the Cardinals and Panthers had already played that year. 

 

So, let's recap this. 

 

1. Defense is falling apart. Ken Lucas might as well not take the field.

2. Jake has struggled mightily coming off a bye already this year, and is showing signs that it's almost over.

3. The offense is centered around running and play action.

4. John Fox is notoriously stubborn against a creative play caller that has already seen them in the year. 

5. Arizona was showing serious buzz saw potential after their game with Atlanta

 

Guess what! All of those things came to bite the Panthers in the ass! Jake melted down famously. Fox refused to move Gamble around to follow Larry Fitzgerald, who victimized whomever he wanted. The run game was taken out of the equation. Forced to play catch up, Jake imploded further. the Arizona offense and defense gameplan was on point. after halftime <shocking> chris gamble was shadowing fitzgerald but it was too late. 

 

John Fox came into the press conference, shrugged, and said "we picked a bad day to have a bad day." I know people on here like to pretend we're better than most countries but in Soviet Russia he would have been handed a gun with a chambered round after saying that. 

 

We didn't realize it was over then but we were already dead. The final blow would come months later at the Eagles game, like I already mentioned. I'm not going over points again I've already mentioned, especially since this one isn't actually even on the list. This writeup ended up much longer than i planned.

 

I know this was a disappointing loss. I know most of you haven't been following the team this long and there aren't much worse than this. I know you actually wanted me to keep going with this list and I didn't. My bad. I'm waiting for a lunch meeting and had a free twenty minutes. by the end of all this, I think you'll agree with my assessment of this game in the grande scheme of things. It sucked but we should have seen it coming. The team was a scarecrow. 

 

Also a week prior my girlfriend of 4 years had dumped me so at that point i was basically fug IT ALL LET IT BURN MUAHAHAHAH THROW ANOTHER PICK JAKE IT MAKES ME SO HARD PAIN IS ALL I KNOW

 

i swear ill write more later i promise

[smash_n_dash]

So have fun in another country, don't forget to take your depression with you

[Fiz]

thanks. i'll probably get malaria too so maybe i'll poo it out.