Sunday, December 18, 2011

A near-perfect half for Panthers

Carolina just played a holiday gift of a half for its fans here in Houston -- the Panthers lead, 21-0, at Reliant Stadium over the playoff-bound Houston Texans.

It has been a startling half, with the Panthers scoring three times (on a 26-yard pass to Steve Smith, a shorter pass to Jeremy Shockey and a hidden-ball trick run by H-back Richie Brockel) and Houston getting shut out.

While the Panthers' offense has been huge, the defensive shutout has to be the biggest surprise so far. Carolina forced a turnover on the second play from scrimmage -- a fumble James Anderson recovered -- and got an interception from Jordan Senn to snuff a Houston drive. They have forced Texans rookie T.J. Yates to look very much like a rookie thus far.

While Newton's two passing TDs were good stuff, the takeaway from this game has already occurred -- Brockel's 7-yard run on the trick play. The Panther linemen all stood up on the play to block what was happening, as Newton took a shotgun snap and slipped the ball between Brockel's legs before faking as if he were running an option to the right.

Then Brockel went left and, behind good blocking, scored untouched. It was perfectly executed and undoubtedly lifted offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski's stock.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Get real.

Houston is in the playoffs and won the AFC South. The Texans were using all scrubs to save their starters for the playoffs. Yates is their 3rd string QB.

Loser celebration. They gave the pussycats an early Xmas present.

Anonymous said...

Hmm your #1 defense gave up 28 points to a rookie QB on the road. Get ready to exit the playoffs in the first round

Anonymous said...

Houston played for home field advantage
said that we do know the panthers have the best offense
in the league
they will fix their defense in the draft
next year they will be among the best

Anonymous said...

all week Houston was talking crap and trying to draw Cat fans into a chatter. ..now you making excuses. remember, your PLAYOFF team was beaten by a ROOKIE, a near his end WR,& 3RD....hear me 3RD STRING LBs and DBs....oh hell a 3rd string DEFENSE....and FOSTER, RYAN, DANIELS, and Co. are not scrubs. Scrubs don't make PRO BOWLs & sign MULTI-year deals....It call eating crow and being HUMBLE!!!

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