4 notes before the Monday night game, in which the Panthers will wear black jerseys and silver pants and want their fans to dress in black for a "blackout" night:
-- I wrote this weekend about Jon Gruden being very bullish on the Panthers -- he believes they will win "10 or 11" games, reach the playoffs and have a shot at the Super Bowl. Another high-profile coach with a Super Bowl title in his pocket added his name to the "Panther respect" list on "Sunday Night Football." At halftime of the Kansas City-Denver game, former Indianapolis and Tampa Bay head coach Tony Dungy added his voice to the chorus, saying he thought the Panthers were the best team in the NFC right now, saying "Defense. Defense. Watch." The other members of that studio team -- Hines Ward and Rodney Harrison -- picked Seattle as the NFC's best and disagreed with Dungy. But Dungy's endorsement carries way more clout than that of those two former players.
-- One thing I didn't have room for in the story about Gruden: he said he thought both offensive coordinator Mike Shula and defensive coordinator Sean McDermott would get head coaching interviews after the season.
-- The Panthers got no help in the NFC South division race on Sunday. They could have benefited from a San Francisco win over New Orleans, but instead the 49ers mismanaged a late two-minute drill and lost to the Saints, 23-20. So no matter what happens in the New England game, the Panthers are going to be trailing New Orleans (8-2) for awhile (the Saints do still have to play Seattle, as well as the Panthers twice). If Carolina (6-3) loses to the Patriots Monday night, they still will be tied in the wild-card race and would win the tiebreaker right now on the basis of a better record in the NFC. Also, if you care about statistics, they could become the No.1 scoring defense in the league Monday night following the conclusion of Week 11 if they can hold New England to 22 points or fewer, since Kansas City had such a hard time with Denver in its 27-17 loss to the Broncos.
-- Here's my story on Mike Tolbert (above). The blocky running back leads the Panthers in both touchdowns and nicknames, and I love his unofficial philosophy on having fun while playing football. "You stress up, you mess up," he said. As well as a lot of other things -- the story also includes a list of seven of his nicknames. Check it out.
Posts
5 comments:
As a long-time Pats fan, it's good to see the Panthers finally back. That Superbowl was one of the best all-time. Despite losing Peppers, it's a great defense but Newton may not have the passing skills Delhomme once had and Smith is a step slower. Still, Pats have too many key injuries on defense. I pick the Panthers to win by at least 10 points.
You cannot speak honestly about the game yesterday with the Saints. I sat down to watch a good game so I thought but I never seen so many ignored fouls on a team in my life. You could have a 49ers player telling the ref over and over to watch the corner constantly illegally blocking him and it was ignored. They ignored the Saints fouls plain and simple giving them the game. Calls were made on SF that were not fouls costing them the game.
That game needs to be watched play by play on up close video and the game needs to be recalled and replayed. NO did not deserve that win. Then fire the refs. Sean Payton and Brees spent more time talking to refs during the game than having their mind on the game. Unbelievable game. Harbaugh needs to call foul on refs and NO to Goodell.
The Saints organization has already proven to be cheaters just like the city they are in.
There was a lot of tugging on jerseys in passing defence. the call i thought was most foul was the illegal blow to the head on Brees. It was clear that the arm hit im at shoulder level and ass brees fell backward forcing the arm upward. It was a game changing call. I think the refs sometimes afford more protecttion to the Star players than other players. This is just my opinion, not sour grapes as I am not a fan of either team. in the end it is not going to change a thing about the outcome of this one. it is in the books and final. I do worry that this type of protection might apply to Tom Brady tonight as he will undoubtedly be sacked multiple times. My hope is to let them play equally and the best team win.
guy that commented firs at 3:16 am that was stand up because we hate yall lol but seriously good perspective...
Post a Comment