Scott Says ...

Want to know more about Biyombo?

2012-01-27T18:15:00.005-05:00

Bismack Biyombo stands beside the homemade goal and backboard where he learned to play basketball in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Biyombo is standing on top of a car in this picture -- the goal still stands. His father, Francois Biyombo, made the goal and said the neighbors thought he was "crazy" for doing so. (Photo courtesy of Bismack Biyombo)

The Charlotte Bobcats are in the midst of an awful season, one that may set historic lows in a lot of categories.

But one player I find fascinating is rookie Bismack Biyombo, the 19-year-old from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) who has traveled an unusual and circuitous path to become a Bobcat. I wrote a long profile column of him that can be found here.

The Bobcats are risking a lot on Biyombo -- they made a three-way trade to get him in June with the No.7 overall pick in the draft, giving up leading scorer Stephen Jackson in the process.

But Biyombo is very intriguing, not only for his 7-foot-7 wingspan but for his language fluency (he speaks four of them fluently), his family history (he is the eldest of seven children) and his basketball upside (Michael Jordan has compared him to a young, raw Hakeem Olajuwon).

And wouldn't you like to shoot a few on that basketball goal? I'd like to see how a bank shot works on it.

Stephen Curry going to be a dad and is back to playing

2012-01-24T11:30:00.003-05:00

A short Stephen Curry update for all you fans of the former Davidson Wildcat star:

-- Curry is back to playing after his frustrating ankle injury reared its head earlier this month, which didn't allow him to play Golden State's lone game in Charlotte.

Curry has now been back for two games. He played 36 minutes Monday night in Golden State's one-point loss to Memphis and scored 18 points. His father Dell said today at the Bobcats' pregame shootaround that Curry isn't experiencing any pain with the ankle.

-- Curry and his wife Ayesha have tweeted that they are expecting their first child.

"It's gonna be the husband, me and little Curry next fall -- I can't wait," Ayesha Curry tweeted last week. Stephen added in a tweet of his own: "We didn't waste any time LOL." The two were married in Charlotte in the summer of 2011.

-- Curry won't be on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team -- he didn't make the most recent cut to 20 finalists for what will ultimately be 12 spots -- but holds out hope he might be able to play on the 2016 U.S. team. Curry did play on the 2010 U.S. team that won a world championship.

An early Super Bowl prediction and other championship game notes

2012-01-22T22:48:00.002-05:00

A special "Super Bowl edition" of Scott Says following Sunday's NFC and AFC championsip games, with my prediction at the end (not saying I'll get it right, but I did pick both New England the N.Y. Giants to win Sunday -- see the blog post right below this one).

-- It was great to see both championship games stay worthy of that title, with each of them not decided until the final possession and one going into overtime.

-- Well, Cam Newton just won a trip to Hawaii and should now play in the Pro Bowl. As the first alternate at QB for the NFC Pro Bowl team, he will go in place of Eli Manning, who now has a Super Bowl to play and can't make the Jan.29th game. Newton was in danger of missing out had the 49ers won, for the other two quarterbacks picked before him (Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees) have both said in the past week they plan to play in the NFL's all-star game after losing earlier in the playoffs.

-- Had to feel for Billy Cundiff, the Baltimore kicker who missed the 32-yarder with 11 seconds left that would have forced overtime in New England's 23-20 win. Olindo Mare missed a similar field goal under almost the exact same circumstances against Minnesota this past season and the Panthers lost instead of going into OT. But although that was painful for Panther fans, the stakes were very low compared to this. The game was great, and I had no rooting interest, but I wish it had ended with someone doing something good instead of something bad.

-- Same thing regarding San Francisco punt returner Kyle Williams, who muffed one punt and then fumbled another, leading to 10 of the Giants' 20 points. Amazing the Giants never turned the ball over in that steady rain at Candlestick Park and with Eli Manning getting sacked a half-dozen times.

-- Random Panther connection: Serious Carolina fans may remember that in his 15th and final NFL season as a quarterback, current San Francisco 49er coach Jim Harbaugh was a backup to Chris Weinke for the Panthers’ 1-15 season of 2001 when George Seifert was the coach.

I talked to Harbaugh about that a year ago, days before the 49ers hired him away from Stanford.
“I didn't get in any games that year,” Harbaugh said of his season with Carolina. “I signed late, and they had eight games to go. I loved it – loved the coaches that were there and the organization. I especially loved throwing to Steve Smith. We were both on the scout team at that time. It didn't take me long to realize that he was really good. I just kept throwing the ball to him and we were making plays and having fun.”

Harbaugh, who never threw an official pass as a Panther, knew he was going to coach even then. In 2001, shortly after signing as a Panther, he said: “I think you play as long as you can, and then you coach, and then you die.”

-- OK, my Super Bowl prediction. This feels to me like a repeat of four years ago -- the Patriots will be favored (although not as heavily as they were when they entered that game 18-0) but the Giants traveled the tougher playoff road to get there. I like the Giants on Feb.5th in Indianapolis in a mild upset: New York 27, New England 23.

NFC, AFC championship game winners will be....

2012-01-19T09:07:00.003-05:00

As the NFL world awaits what should be a great Sunday, I've got a prediction:

No Harbaughs in the Super Bowl.

While the "Superbaugh" remains a possibility, I think New England and the New York Giants will ultimately each beat a brother and play an encore of their stunning Super Bowl from four years ago, when the Giants dashed New England's dreams of a 19-0 season with a 17-14 upset victory.

Remember that one? The Patriots lost when Eli Manning hit Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left. The Giants scored 14 of their 17 points in the fourth quarter to win.

This Giants team, to me, looks just as good as that one was. New York has gotten hot at just the right time, much like the Green Bay Packers did a year ago. That Packers team was seeded No.6 and this Giants team No.4, which means the Giants will be playing their third game in three weeks in these playoffs. But they have such an impressive string of victories and are playing so well I think they can go into San Francisco Sunday and upset the favored 49ers and rookie head coach Jim Harbaugh, 23-17.

As for New England-Baltimore, if it were on a neutral field I might well pick the Ravens. Given that this one is played in New England, however, where Tom Brady is nearly invincible, I think the Patriots will win over John Harbaugh and his Ravens, 31-20.

Peter King sounds off on Cam Newton

2012-01-16T14:21:00.004-05:00

In case you missed my story on whether Cam Newton's rookie year was the best in NFL history -- I eventually come to the conclusion it was -- here's the link to that.

What a lot of people apparently found interesting in this story package, too, were the comments from Sports Illustrated's Peter King about the same issue. They are below. King, one of the most respected NFL writers in the business for decades, recently wrote one sentence in his magazine's Jan.9th issue stating that Cam Newton had the best NFL rookie season ever.

I asked him to expand upon his reasoning, and so he wrote the following in an email:

To: Scott Fowler
From: Peter King

I didn't make that statement lightly. I understood, in particular, the seasons of Taylor, Sayers, Dickerson and Moss, and have a great respect for football history.
I said it because, even in light of all the great years quarterbacks had this season, there was something so different about Newton's season. He did not meet most of his teammates or the men who would coach him till six weeks before he had to play a real game. After playing one season at a junior college and one at Auburn, with no prolonged exposure to the kind of "pro style" offense that most NFL teams would ask him to use, Newton walked into Spartanburg with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Not only did he have the pressure that normally comes with being the first pick in the draft, he would have to adjust to a new team and a new staff and a new league in a far shorter period of time than any rookie in a generation - or longer.
He broke the rookie record for passing yards in a season. He broke the record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback - and he's a third of the way to breaking the career record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback. He accounted for more touchdowns than any rookie ever. The Panthers scored 210 more points this year than last. Is it a coincidence that Newton accounted for 210 points? He did - 35 touchdowns, times six. That's 210. The Panthers went from 32nd to sixth in total offense in one year.
With great respect to the other great rookies, who caught and sacked and intercepted and returned and ran their way to great seasons, Newton passed and ran and scored better than any rookie quarterback of all time. That's why I think he had the best season by a rookie ever.

Stephen Curry says it's "unlikely" he will play Saturday vs Charlotte Bobcats

2012-01-13T11:23:00.002-05:00

Golden State’s Stephen Curry understands that a lot of people in the Carolinas want to see him play Saturday night against the Charlotte Bobcats.

Unfortunately, Curry said in a phone interview we had Friday, that’s “unlikely.”

“I haven’t ruled it out,” Curry said of playing Saturday night against Charlotte in the Warriors’ only trip to play the Bobcats this season. “But I guess I’d say it’s unlikely. I’m not putting on extra pressure on the idea of playing this game just because it’s a homecoming thing. We all have to be smart about it.”

Curry’s right ankle has been giving him trouble again – the same one that he had surgery on in May 2011 and then has re-sprained several times early this season. He has been in Charlotte all week, rehabbing the ankle and planning to meet up with the Warriors when they get to town for Saturday night’s game. He said the ankle feels "great" right now but that it has been such a nagging issue he doesn't want to rush back, which has been a problem before.

Curry has sprained the same ankle more than a dozen times in his career, he said. But he had the ankle looked at this week by his doctor and it was determined it was still structurally sound, so no further surgery is required. Rest and rehab on the ankle for the former Davidson star – that’s the current prescription.

Said Dell Curry, Stephen’s father and also the Bobcats’ TV analyst: “The hard thing for him is he’s young, he wants to play. It feels good. But we’re trying to get him to look at the big picture. For his future as well as the team’s, he’s got to get healthy.”

I'll be writing a full-length column on Stephen Curry for Saturday's Charlotte Observer -- please watch for that.

Was Cam Newton's rookie year the best ever?

2012-01-12T12:43:00.005-05:00

UPDATE:

Hi everyone, it's Friday morning. I posted this blog Thursday afternoon and it drew a torrent of comments. Most of them were great -- a high-level debate on various NFL rookies -- but toward the end too many of them veered into the same, sad, profane drivel. So I have had to dismantle all the comments for this post -- sorry.

Please watch for a fuller version of this story in Sunday's newspaper -- I did read all the comments and have taken them into account while I'm writing. Also watch for this -- I asked Sports Illustrated's Peter King to defend his statement that Cam Newton's rookie year was the best ever, and he did so in an email to me at some length. It's really interesting, and we will publish it in full online and in the newspaper.

Thanks for reading,
Scott

I'm writing a column for Sunday's newspaper and online that will delve into the question of whether Cam Newton's rookie season should be thought of as the best by any player, at any position.

I haven't made up my mind myself, although Peter King of Sports Illustrated has already written that he thinks it was. I'm still researching but thought you might enjoy a look at some of the competitors for this mythical "title" (a more complete list will be in Sunday's newspaper).

In chronological order, these are six of the best rookie seasons ever.

DICK "NIGHT TRAIN" LANE, cornerback, 1952: Set an NFL record that still stands with 14 interceptions in a 12-game season.

GALE SAYERS, running back, 1965: Scored 22 touchdowns as a rookie, including six in a single game.

LAWRENCE TAYLOR, linebacker, 1981: Was named AP Defensive Player of the Year as a rookie; had 9.5 sacks before it became an "official" statistic.

ERIC DICKERSON, running back, 1983: Led the NFL in rushing with 1,808 yards; also scored 18 rushing TDs.

RANDY MOSS, wide receiver, 1998: Led NFL with 17 receiving TDs; had 1313 receiving yards.

CAM NEWTON, quarterback, 2011: Accounted for 35 total TDs (21 pass, 14 run). The 14 rush TDs set an all-time record for QBs (not just rookies).

There are a number of others -- you'd be surprised, for instance, how many running backs ran for 1,000-1,500 yards as a rookie -- but those are six of the best. Where do you think Cam stacks up??

A bo-o-o-o-ring BCS title game thanks to Alabama's ferocious D

2012-01-10T10:12:00.002-05:00

Congrats to Alabama for winning one of the most boring title games in the history of college football Monday night, 21-0 over LSU.

It's not Alabama's fault. The Crimson Tide fielded what might be the best defense in college football history and dared LSU to do anything.

The Tigers couldn't. It's their fault. They were horrible offensively, getting only five first downs and only crossing midfield once (and that was in the fourth quarter). They had 92 total yards. When announcer Brent Musburger proclaimed at one point that the Crimson Tide D was treating the 50-yard line as if it were the goal line -- well, that was it exactly.

Watching it, I felt like I was at one of those high school football mismatches you occasionally see when some 4A power plays a 1A team just to get an easy early-season win.

Now I know Alabama's D is fantastic, and the Panthers would be well-served to consider a couple of the Tide defensive players with that Top-10 draft pick they hold in April.

But c'mon, LSU. The Crimson Tide was at least allowing 8.8 points per game coming into the game. You couldn't even score once?

By the time Alabama had kicked its fifth field goal, I went to bed. That 15-0 lead might as well have been 150-0. It was an anti-climactic end to the bowl season -- but also a well-deserved coronation of an Alabama team that I can't imagine ever lost to LSU in the first place during the regular season.

Fox Ball wins in Denver for Broncos over Steelers

2012-01-08T21:03:00.003-05:00

John Fox did it again Sunday in Denver, running his career playoff coaching record to 6-3 with an electrifying 29-23 overtime victory over Pittsburgh.

While Tim Tebow will get the headlines nationally -- he outplayed Big Ben Roethlisberger and threw for 316 yards -- it's worth throwing a bouquet to Fox for this one, too.

The game reminded me more than anything of Carolina's overtime win at St. Louis in the 2003 season. That one ended on a slant over the middle, too, on the first play from scrimmage of an overtime (double OT, in that case). That time it was Steve Smith going the distance. This time the Broncos earned a trip to New England next week and have made the final eight of the NFL playoffs. They'll almost certainly lose to the Patriots, but still it's been quite a run for a team that was awful in 2010.

Some of the frustrating elements of the Fox regime were on display in this game -- the 3-man pass rush that helped Big Ben and the Steelers back into the game, the draw play on third-and-long.

But give the man and his staff credit -- they also maximized Tebow's talents and hit one long ball after another in the passing game. Kudos to Fox. As we all know around here but sometimes forget, the man can coach.

Downbeat Silas?! Something's wrong

2012-01-07T22:44:00.002-05:00

I didn't see a minute of the Charlotte Bobcats' 22-point loss to Indiana Saturday as I was too busy flicking around between the NFL playoffs and college basketball and honestly forgot it was on.

But by happenstance, I did catch most of Paul Silas's televised postgame news conference. And I was stunned at how sad or angry or annoyed or a combination of the three he was.

Silas, as Rick Bonnell notes in this game story, doesn't think the Bobcats were tough enough Saturday. He pointed to the way Tyler Hansbrough and others banged the Bobcats around in the second half. He declined comment when asked to expand on Boris Diaw, who has been very inconsistent for the past week and had terrible numbers Saturday.

He looked nothing like the Silas we usually see -- cheerful, always looking for silver lining.

This was a different Silas, and it says to me the coach must think something is really wrong with the Bobcats and better get fixed quick.

Silas and I live fairly near each other, and when he was a retired NBA coach there for a few years he did some assistant coaching on a volunteer basis at a recreational Optimist basketball league. I coach in the exact same league now. It's a blast, win or lose -- kids sprinting up and down the court, skidding after loose balls, playing with total effort.

Now I know Silas gets paid very well for what he does now, and he does a very good job with what he has with the Bobcats. But for a day anyway, I think after watching his downbeat press conference Saturday, Silas would agree that I had a lot more fun coaching Saturday than he did -- and I bet he would have gladly traded places.

If you can't say something nice...

2012-01-05T15:06:00.004-05:00

My colleague Tom Sorensen had a great interview with Panthers owner Jerry Richardson Wednesday. In the Q and A segment, Tom asked Richardson for some word associations with certain players on the team. Richardson praised players like Steve Smith, DeAngelo Williams, Thomas Davis and others in the Q and A, but was uncharacteristically silent when asked about Panther safety Sherrod Martin. The exchange went like this:

Q: Sherrod Martin?

RICHARDSON: What about him?

Q: What do you think about him?

RICHARDSON: I think he plays safety.

In another part of the interview, Richardson said he wished the Panthers would tackle better. No one missed more obvious tackle opportunities than Martin. I think in that part of the interview, Richardson clearly was under the "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" philosophy.

And if I were Martin, I'd be worried.

On Cam, Polian and the NFL

2012-01-04T10:54:00.005-05:00

A few NFL-related notes and opinions in the aftermath of Carolina's 6-10 season and the beginning of the playoffs this weekend:

1) There are several "Rookie of the Year" awards, but the biggest and most respected are those presented by the Associated Press. They won't be announced this year until Feb.4 in a live TV special on the eve of the Super Bowl. Along with Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year, the NFL and AP will announce the league MVP and other awards that evening.

I've said it before and will again -- Cam Newton should be a lock for Offensive Rookie of the Year. If he doesn't win it, that's crazy. I know Andy Dalton at Cincinnati had a fine year, too, and got the Bengals to the playoffs with a lot more defensive help than Newton had. But Newton had one of the best rookie years -- and possibly the best -- of any NFL player in history. He deserves it.

Incidentally, two rookie QBs will face off in Saturday's Cincinnati-Houston playoff game when Dalton faces T.J. Yates (who is supposed to be healthy again, although Jake Delhomme will be ready if not).

2) I mentioned in today's column that I thought Bill Polian got a raw deal in Indianapolis, where he and son Chris Polian were fired Monday. I still do. Polian was remarkably good at what he did -- he was the architect for Buffalo's Super Bowl teams, the Panthers' playoff team in 1996 and the Colts' decade of excellence.

Polian could also be a prickly character, and there's no shortage of stories about his temper and his on-and-off relationship with the media and others. While I got along pretty well with Polian -- I found that he would complain about a story you wrote, but also was one of the few NFL front-office types I've ever met who would also seek you out to compliment you on one -- some in the media did not, as this blog from an Indianapolis Star sportswriter attests.

3) The Panthers' inability to finish games was striking in 2011, and ultimately the reason they aren't in these playoffs. They really aren't that far away from a wild-card spot -- I think Carolina could give the 4,5 and 6 teams in the NFC a decent game (N.Y. Giants, Atlanta and Detroit). But check this out.

For the season, Carolina outscored its opponents in the first quarter (plus-13) and in the second quarter (plus-31). But they were minus-7 overall in the third quarter and then a staggering minus-60 in the fourth. There's the difference in the season.

Did you know that 49 percent of NFL games this season were decided by seven points or fewer? The fourth quarter, ultimately, makes the difference between 6-10 and 10-6, and the Panthers just didn't play well enough in the final 15 minutes of games this past season.

4) I recommended a couple of books in my column today but failed to note one thing about "The Last Great Game: Duke vs. Kentucky," which chronicles the 1992 NCAA tourney classic between Duke and Kentucky. Author Gene Wojciechowski will be signing copies of the book Thursday, Jan.12 at the Duke basketball museum/hall of fame adjacent to Cameron Indoor Stadium from 6-7:30 p.m. and on Friday, Jan.13th at The Regulator Book Shop in Durham.

Saints blast Panthers, who end season 6-10

2012-01-01T16:57:00.002-05:00

There wasn't much good news for the Panthers in their final game of the season, as they ran into the red-hot New Orleans Saints and got eviscerated, 45-17.

The game was 17-17 at one point until Panther safety Sherrod Martin made the most obvious bad play of the game, letting Marques Colston get behind him with 15 seconds left in the first half and New Orleans on the Carolina 42. Colston scored, the Panthers went into halftime down 24-17 instead of tied and it got worse from there.

"That took the wind out of our sails," Panther coach Ron Rivera said.

The Panthers' offense then couldn't score a single point in the second half and the defense just kept getting worse. Drew Brees ended up with five TD passes before being taken out in the fourth quarter. The Saints never punted while he was in the game, scoring six TDs in Brees' eight possessions.

Carolina ended the season 6-10 and with some obvious gaping holes on defense. Brees can make anyone look bad, but too often this year the Panthers gave up too many points and big plays. They have a playoff-caliber offense already; the defense and the special teams need to catch up.

Still, Panther fans have to feel a lot different right now than one year ago, when the team was 2-14, the coaching and quarterback situations were uncertain and the Panthers were generally regarded as the worst team in the league. This is a team with a future -- if it can get its defense improved.

Halftime blog: Brees dissecting Panthers

2012-01-01T14:30:00.003-05:00

The New Orleans Saints have the best offense in the NFL right now, and it's been on full display in the first half as the Saints lead Carolina 24-17 at halftime.

The Saints have a staggering 360 yards at halftime and are on pace to easily shatter the record for the most the Panthers have ever allowed (493). Carolina's patched-together defense, combined with Brees' surgical skills as a quarterback, have made for three long Saints TD drives, one field goal by John Kasay and one surprising interception by Carolina's R.J. Stanford.

The Panthers' worst mistake was with 15 seconds to go and the game tied at 17. New Orleans had no timeouts left and the ball at Carolina's 42. The Panthers basically just had to keep everything in front of them -- at worst they were going to allow a field goal. But Sherrod Martin allowed Marques Colston to get behind him for a 42-yard TD pass.

On offense, Carolina is running the ball beautifully (134 yards already on the ground). Cam Newton has one nice TD pass to Steve Smith and a bad interception he threw in the Saints' end zone on an awkward-looking jump pass. Jonathan Stewart has a 29-yard rushing TD.

Can Panthers upset Saints?

2011-12-30T08:28:00.003-05:00

If I'm New Orleans head coach Sean Payton, I don't do a lot of scoreboard watching Sunday. The Saints may ultimately be playing a meaningless game in terms of playoff seeding, but it's going to be very hard to tell with San Francisco and St. Louis playing at the same time.

The Saints need a win over Carolina (pretty likely) and a St. Louis upset of San Francisco (very unlikely) to get the No.2 playoff seed and a playoff bye. If I'm Payton, I don't even let anyone tell me the 49ers score until halftime. And I don't pull Drew Brees and company until the fourth quarter and maybe not at all, depending on what the 49ers are up to.

If the 49ers are up by 20 or more going into the fourth, though, I'd get Brees out of there no matter the score. He's too valuable to risk in that scenario, even if New England's Tom Brady does catch him for the single-season yardage record.

-- The Panthers have a chance Sunday if they run the ball well. Remember, they got a 69-yard DeAngelo Williams touchdown in the teams' first meeting (won 30-27 by New Orleans). The Superdome is a very difficult place to convert third downs consistently because of the noise level, but running the ball effectively is how coach John Fox often beat the Saints in Louisiana. The New Orleans defense, however, allowed only 35 yards rushing to Atlanta last week.

-- The Panthers' defense had quite a time trying to defend Jimmy Graham last time, as the tight end had eight catches for 129 yards. Graham does that against just about everyone, which is why the Saints decided Jeremy Shockey was expendable. You can bet Shockey will be involved in some sort of extra-curricular activity Sunday playing his former team.

-- The Panthers have a chance, but New Orleans has one of the best homefield advantages in the NFL and the hottest quarterback, too -- and I think Brees will play most of the game.
My prediction: New Orleans 34, Carolina 24.

D-Wade, Cam, LeBron and the Superman pose

2011-12-28T23:04:00.004-05:00

If there was any doubt how big Cam Newton's Superman pose has gotten, it was erased Wednesday night during the Miami Heat's visit.

Dwyane Wade won the game over a gritty Charlotte Bobcats team, 96-95, with a six-foot bank shot with 2.9 seconds left. Then he did Newton's "Superman" gesture right at Newton, who was seated courtside (Cam has now come to both Bobcats' games this season and sat front and center).

LeBron James did the ripping-the-shirt-off Superman thing, too, standing slightly behind and to the right of Wade, after Wade's game-winner. Newton laughed when he saw it, Wade said, adding that he wasn't making fun of Newton with the gesture.

"That was a show of respect to him," Wade said. "Not showing nobody up."

It was a tough ending for the Bobcats, but they still have had a great first three days of the season. A Bobcats team that was supposed to be awful edged a good Milwaukee squad by a point in the season opener and then had a very good chance to beat the Heat two days later.

But Wade -- even though he said he wasn't jumping well off his sore foot -- still won it at the end. He had noticed Newton sitting courtside earlier in the game.

"First of all, the guy is huge," Wade said of Newton. "... I've seen him play a lot. He's entertaining. He had one of the best rookie years of any player to ever play the game."

Perhaps imitation really is flattery. I suppose it is a tribute to Newton that an athlete of Wade's stature was doing Newton's move after a game-winning shot. But this one still hurt Charlotte.

The Bobcats had a great chance for a signature win Wednesday night. But ultimately, they couldn't quite find their own superhero when it mattered most.

Cam got robbed and other Pro Bowl notes

2011-12-28T14:11:00.004-05:00

Cam Newton will almost certainly end up in Hawaii, playing in the Pro Bowl for the NFC, but the rookie quarterback wasn't selected outright to the team.

That, my friends, was a bad decision. Cam got robbed. I have no argument whatsoever with Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees going in ahead of Cam -- Rodgers should be the NFL MVP this year and Brees just broke Dan Marino's single-season yardage record.

But Newton should have been the third choice over the New York Giants' Eli Manning, winning his spot cleanly rather than having to wait for either Rodgers or Brees to make the Super Bowl (no Super Bowl players play in the Pro Bowl now, since the game is the week before the Super Bowl) or someone to pull out with an injury. (Newton is the first alternate at QB, and first alternates nearly always end up playing at that position).

Let's look at the numbers. Manning has more passing yards (4587 to 3893) and his team has more wins (8 to 6). His quarterback rating is slightly higher (90.3 to 85.0). Interceptions are equal (16 each).

But Newton was responsible for far more TDs, and that's the category that truly separates these two. Manning had 26 passing TDs to Cam's 20, but Cam had 14 rushing TDs to Manning's one. That makes the overall TD total 34 for Cam and 27 for Eli. Manning also had the benefit of playing in a weaker division (I'm not sure anyone in the NFC East really deserves a playoff berth).

In fact, the way I would have ordered the NFC quarterbacks would be like this:

1: Rodgers
2: Brees
3: Newton
4: Matthew Stafford (36 passing TDs and a playoff berth)
5. Manning

As for Panther center Ryan Kalil making it again, I don't judge offensive linemen very well but those who do for a living say he's great at what he does and I believe them. Steve Smith was an absolute shoo-in and should have been voted in as a starter in front of Larry Fitzgerald (I have no quarrel with Calvin Johnson as the other starter).

OT Jordan Gross and RB DeAngelo Williams may both end up in Hawaii, too -- they were selected as alternates. One player who should have been picked at least as an alternate but wasn't -- Carolina cornerback Chris Gamble, who has had an underrated, really good season.

7 quick opinions about Bobcats' opening-night win

2011-12-26T23:21:00.004-05:00

Seven quick thoughts about the Bobcats' 96-95 home win over Milwaukee to open the season:

1) Kemba Walker can get his shot off against anybody, but what's even more impressive is his toughness and his quick hands. He scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds in only 20 minutes -- his play and his burgeoning friendship with Panther QB Cam Newton (who was seated courtside) are the subject of my column for Tuesday's newspaper.

2) Stephen Jackson was obviously pressing while playing for the Bucks against his former team. He has rarely played a worse game -- six fouls, a technical and only six points in 17 minutes. And three of those points came on a didn't-mean-to-bank-it three. I know you'll be stunned that Jackson criticized the officials after the game, although he also said there's "no bad blood" between he and the Bobcats.

3) D.J. Augustin was very impressive in the game's final minute, scoring five "had-to-have-em" points after the Bobcats had lost all of the eight-point lead they held with 3:02 to go. Augustin and Walker combined for Charlotte's final seven points.

4) Who knew Byron Mullens, the seven-foot backup Bobcats center, could shoot that well? Wait, who knew Byron Mullens was even on the team? He tied his career high with 10 points.

5) How did the shorter Bobcats out-rebound Milwaukee by 13? By outhustling them. Boris Diaw did some really good work (11 rebounds, nine assists, nine points).

6) Corey Maggette had only 12 points (and six turnovers) and yet the Bobcats nearly got to 100. That won't happen that often -- Maggette needs to score more than that and get to the line more often (only one free throw attempt Monday, which he missed). Still, he's obviously a positive leader on the floor anytime he's out there.

7) Does it amaze you that some tickets are still available for the Miami Heat's only appearance this season in Charlotte on Wednesday night? It does me.

Picking the Panthers to win again

2011-12-23T08:37:00.003-05:00

Two rarities about Saturday's game -- it's being played on Christmas Eve and the Panthers are favored.

Because of the schedule, it will be interesting to see how many Panther fans actually show up for this one (or stay for the whole thing). Lots of people are traveling or involved with Christmas events. Any scalper who manages to make a lot of money Saturday is one fine scalper. If you've never seen a Panther game before and want to go see Cam Newton play without spending a fortune, this is the day. Just show up and make a deal.

One guarantee, though -- it will be more crowded at Bank of America Stadium than it was in Tampa three weeks ago. I was there for Carolina's 19-point win that day, and Raymond James Stadium looked about half full for most of the game and was far less than that in the fourth quarter.

-- If ever there was a chance for Newton to commit a turnover and still win a game, this is it. Even with Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Freeman returning -- Josh Johnson played three weeks ago -- the Bucs aren't very good.

One of the most startling statistics about this year's Panthers is that the team is 5-0 when Newton doesn't make a single turnover and 0-9 when he commits one or more. That's too much pressure on Newton -- it's not realistic for a quarterback to have one turnover-free game after another, as much as the ball is in his hands. The unraveling Buccaneers, though, have lost eight games in a row and are a team that can be had even with some errors.

-- Hard to imagine that the Bucs on defense will do anything but stack up the middle of the line in all short-yardage situations Saturday. Newton ran for three touchdowns in the first meeting -- a 38-19 Carolina win -- and they were all from one yard away.

-- The Panthers won so convincingly the first time in part because they were the best in the red zone that they have been all year. Five times Carolina's offense got inside the Tampa Bay 20, and all five times the Panthers scored touchdowns. Carolina's run defense was also surprisingly good against the Bucs and will need to be again Saturday. Freeman has a better arm than Johnson, too, so he will likely attack deep against Carolina's injury-depleted secondary.

-- I misfired on Carolina's upset win over Houston Sunday, incorrectly picking the Texans to win. I'll try to get back on track with this prediction: Carolina 32, Tampa Bay 23.

Shockey rips Texans' anthem etiquette; then Ryans rips Shockey

2011-12-18T23:32:00.002-05:00

Here’s a hot-button topic to debate:

Jeremy Shockey had another good game for Carolina with a touchdown and a key 26-yard catch late in the 28-13 road win over Houston, but he was more interested in talking postgame about what he perceived as a lack of national anthem etiquette on the Texans’ part. And then my friend John McClain of the Houston Chronicle got a reaction Sunday night from Texans linebacker DeMeco Ryans about Shockey’s original comments in which Ryans fires back at Shockey.

First, Shockey’s comments: “Myself, I was pretty upset they weren’t showing respect to America during the national anthem,” Shockey said, unprompted, about the Texans when he began talking to reporters in the locker room after the game. “There were about 10 players who didn’t put their arms across their chests….. This is America. They should at least give respect to America…. Maybe they just forgot to do it or something. I don’t see how you can forget something like that.”

Shockey’s comments came fairly late in the open locker room period. He repeated them almost verbatim twice. The second time they were prompted. I asked him about the issue again to make sure I had heard him correctly.

McClain got a reaction for the Houston Chronicle from Ryans about Shockey’s comments. Said Ryans: “If he’s so patriotic, why was he looking at our bench instead of the flag? Where did he come up with the number 10? Was he counting? Why was he paying attention to us during the national anthem? Of course our players are patriotic. We respect the flag and America and our soldiers that are fighting for our freedom.”

I’ve had many readers already send me the official code for national anthem etiquette, which indeed does include holding your hand over your heart (if you’re a civilian).

I have seen hundreds of athletes, fans and media members not follow this code, though, including Panthers on the current team, fans in Bank of America Stadium and myself. I stand silently at attention, look at the flag and sometimes sing along, but usually I have my hands behind my back. Perhaps I should reconsider this posture – a number of readers certainly think that I should.

Those with a long Panther memories may recall that Panther running backs Fred Lane and Tshimanga Biakabutuka were correctly criticized in 1998 when they sat down and talked with each other during one national anthem at home. A number of fans noticed. The players apologized and always stood after that.

Shockey, incidentally, twice mispronounced Ryans' name in that same interview. He was asked about the play in which he scored a touchdown and said it was a "simple play" in which he had beaten Ryans. Ryans later made a huge hit on Shockey, jarring a pass loose.

Panthers finally win a big one

2011-12-18T17:04:00.003-05:00

Carolina got its biggest win of the season Sunday at Houston, avoiding the second-half blahs just enough to win, 28-13, on the road against a team that has already clinched a playoff berth. (Here's my column about the victory and what it means).

One more link, too: Here is a "Scott Says" I wrote for the newspaper about Jeremy Shockey ripping the Houston Texans for their national anthem etiquette.

The Panthers were up 21-0 at halftime. Houston creamed Carolina in the third quarter to cut the lead to 21-13. But the game's key drive came after that, when Carolina went 80 yards in seven plays to take a 28-13 lead with 9:54.

After James Anderson stopped Houston's next march by intercepting rookie T.J. Yates in the end zone, Carolina ran out the game's final 7:25 with "downhill football," as left tackle Jordan Gross called it. They went from their own 3 to the Houston 28 to end the game convincingly.

This is the sort of game that should give any Panther fan hope for 2012. Yes, the Texans are down to their third-string QB, who had two bad picks Sunday. But the Texans still had the NFL's No.1-rated defense, and Carolina shredded it for four TDs. Newton didn't have a turnover -- the Panthers are now 5-0 when he doesn't and 0-9 when he does -- and even a trick-play handoff through the legs to Richie Brockel worked for a seven-yard TD.

If Carolina had lost yet another big lead -- after blowing a 16-point margin to Atlanta and a 17-point lead at Detroit -- this could have been awful for the team's confidence. Instead, the Panthers got what is easily their biggest win since 2009.

A near-perfect half for Panthers

2011-12-18T14:26:00.002-05:00

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.

Super Bowl memories and a Texans-Panthers prediction

2011-12-16T10:18:00.004-05:00

It has been almost eight years since the Panthers visited Houston, where the Carolina Panthers played and lost a remarkable Super Bowl against New England on Feb.1, 2004. It's ironic that on Sunday the architect of the Panthers' final three fourth-quarter touchdowns -- quarterback Jake Delhomme -- will be on the field as a backup quarterback for the Houston Texans. Only wide receiver Steve Smith and offensive tackle Jordan Gross remain from that Panthers' Super Bowl squad as active Carolina players.
I was there in Houston, watching one of the best games in any sport I've ever seen in person. A few notes that I still find interesting:

-- John Kasay's much-discussed kickoff out of bounds once the game was tied at 29-all with 1:08 left likely netted the Patriots only 13 yards. Their average drive start after kickoffs had been the 27 on the game's previous kickoffs; Kasay's errant kickoff instead meant they began on the 40.

I have always maintained Kasay's kickoff made little difference. Tom Brady had such control over the Panthers' defense at that point I think he could have gotten New England to a winning field goal even starting on his own 2.

-- Team owner Jerry Richardson gave each Panther employee two free airplane tickets, four hotel nights and two free Super Bowl tickets for the game.

-- Julius Peppers became the first athlete to ever play in both a Final Four and a Super Bowl in the game. He was generally ineffective against the Patriots, though. The Panthers' defensive line sported Peppers and an in-his-prime Kris Jenkins yet couldn't get a single sack.

-- At one point in the first half, Delhomme was 1-for-9 for one yard and had been sacked three times. He ended up with 323 yards, three TD passes and a quarterback rating of 113.6 (higher than Brady's 100.5).

-- Many remember the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" of Janet Jackson, but how many remember a streaker wearing only a jockstrap held up the second-half kickoff?

-- On a far different note, I totally agree with Smith's assertion this week that Tim Tebow is not as good a quarterback as Cam Newton. Tebow's recent streak in Denver has been remarkable, but he has so much more help on defense and special teams than Newton does.

-- As for Sunday's game in Houston, Newton and the Panthers have quite a challenge facing the NFL's top-ranked Texan defense. The Panthers can stay in this one for awhile -- they almost always do -- but Houston has quite a team and rookie quarterback T.J. Yates (formerly of North Carolina) has already shown he's cool under pressure. I've gotten the Panthers' outcome correctly the past five weeks in a row in this space.
My prediction: Houston 30, Carolina 20.

A wiser, more realistic Jordan

2011-12-14T17:06:00.001-05:00

The contrast was striking.

A little more than a year ago, just before the 2010-11 NBA season began, Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan was full of bravado. In a town-hall type meeting with 700 of the team’s best customers, he said: “At minimum, we should make the playoffs. And I think we should go deep in the playoffs.”

But on Wednesday, when Jordan met with Observer reporters and editors just before the 2011-12 Bobcats season, he came across more as a wiser and more world-weary NBA owner who has taken a couple of lumps over the past year.

There was the NBA lockout. There was the fact the Bobcats didn’t make the playoffs at all last season, ending with a 34-48 record. There was the reality that Jordan, despite his undeniable magnetism, has not been able to stem the red ink flowing from the Bobcats and has yet to attract the superstar player the team so badly needs.

A year later, Jordan remains optimistic – he wouldn’t rule out the playoffs for this bunch and compared rookie Bismack Biyombo to a young Hakeem Olajuwon -- – but also sounded more realistic. He told us he wanted to win “today” but tempered that quickly by saying “there are certain things you have to take into consideration, like (salary) cap space.”

Since Jordan made the “deep in the playoffs” remark in October 2010, the team has changed coaches (Larry Brown to Paul Silas) and traded away its two best players (Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson).

The Bobcats are going young this season, with two top-10 draft picks joining Gerald Henderson and D.J. Augustin. They will absorb losses by the dozen this season, and although Jordan won’t say it, I will: If these Bobcats make the playoffs, it will be an utter miracle.

Still, it’s apparent Jordan has a plan. He wouldn’t say it like this, but ultimately to get better, the Bobcats are first going to have to get worse.

Their ceiling with Jackson and Wallace at the forefront was never high enough to win a single playoff game. So Jordan is trying to do something different, and I commend him for that. He still believes he can fly.

But he also now understands how difficult – although not impossible -- it is to build a pair of wings big enough to lift an entire franchise.

No-o-o-lindo Mare and the confidence question

2011-12-14T09:17:00.001-05:00

So the Panthers have signed another kicker to compete with Olindo Mare following Mare's second huge fourth-quarter miss under 40 yards of the season -- last Sunday in a loss to Atlanta.

Good for them. Sticking stubbornly with Mare just because they paid him so much money to replace John Kasay would be silly at this point. The question is how much confidence Mare has lost and whether it can be regained, and we won't know the answer to that one until when (and if) he puts some of these misses far in his rear-view mirror.

Kunalic is not a household name in his own household -- he didn't even kick field goals in college, but was a kickoff specialist at Nebraska. So he's not all that different from Mare -- who remains on the roster -- except that he's younger and would be cheaper to employ.

Like Mare, Kunalic has a strong leg that can reach the end zone for touchbacks but is far from a sure thing with a game on the line.

At least the Panthers are doing something to try and answer the "No-o-o-lindo" question. Releasing Kasay has long been the 2011 team's most questionable offseason move. Kasay has made 98 percent of his field goals from under 40 yards over the past four years -- they are like extra points to him -- and he is now flourishing in New Orleans.

No, Kasay couldn't reach the end zone on kickoffs any longer. But the Panthers had another option there if they were dead set on not having two kickers on the roster as they did for the latter part of John Fox's tenure. They could have kept Kasay, released punter Jason Baker instead and gotten a punter who could also kick off like some other NFL teams do.

You can see why the Panthers would try to get a two-for-one roster spot special in Mare, who was paid a $4 million signing bonus as part of a $12-million, four-year deal. But he hasn't been performing in the clutch.

I think the early-season blocks may have affected him (Mare has had two field goals and an extra point blocked) and he's now trying to get the ball off too quickly, which makes him yank kicks sometimes. That's just a layman's opinion.

But whatever the reason for Mare's miscues, at least the Panthers are trying to tinker with this critical position now -- again -- after they tried over the summer to fix a position that was never really broken.

Panthers by the numbers after 13 games

2011-12-13T13:22:00.001-05:00

Some significant numbers for the 4-9 Panthers:

1: In the past four seasons, the number of field goals from 40 yards or less that John Kasay has missed (out of 54).

7: In the past four seasons, the number of field goals from 40 yards or less that Olindo Mare has missed (out of 71), including two critical fourth-quarter misses in Panther home games this season.

12-40: The combined record of the four teams the Panthers have beaten this season.

16 -- Cam Newton's interceptions in 2011. Only Tampa Bay's Josh Freeman (18) and San Diego's Philip Rivers (17) have more.

26 -- Total number of sacks for Panthers' defense this season. Charles Johnson has nine sacks, which is at least six more than the rest of his defensive teammates.

28 -- Newton's total TDs in 2011 (15 passing, 13 rushing).

139.1 -- The Panthers' average rushing yards per game, which is No.5 in the NFL.

274.9 -- Total yards allowed per game by Houston, the Panthers' next opponent. That ranks No.1 in the NFL (Carolina ranks No.5 in yardage gained, with 399 per game).

1217: Steve Smith's reception yardage this season, good for second in the NFL to Wes Welker. Smith's career high is 1563. He would need to average 116 receiving yards per game over the Panthers' last three contests to surpass it.

Thoughts on Charlotte's 1-0 loss to UNC in soccer championship

2011-12-11T21:10:00.003-05:00

It was quite a scene today in Alabama, where Charlotte lost 1-0 to North Carolina in the national championship for men's soccer.

Like a whole lot of other people from Charlotte, I made the 400-mile trek down to Hoover, Ala. (just outside of Birmingham) to watch the 49ers try to win their first-ever national championship in a team sport. And although they fell short, they certainly won the crowd battle and played a really good game despite the loss.

"We were first in almost every category but the one that wins the game," said Charlotte coach Jeremy Gunn, whose team outshot the Tar Heels 19-10 and earned six corner kicks compared to North Carolina’s two. "That’s the cruel part of soccer."

One thing I really liked: When the game concluded, the Charlotte soccer players walked en masse toward their fans.

Rather than sulking in their misery, the Charlotte players strode toward their fans and applauded them. The fans, in turn, gave the players a standing ovation for a dream season that included five straight victories in the NCAA tournament but fell one win short of a championship.

Thanks to six busloads of Charlotte students and untold numbers of others making the six-hour drive from Charlotte, the 49ers probably had 7,000 fans among the 8,777 in attendance.

"It was phenomenal," Charlotte defender Isaac Cowles said. "I couldn’t even hear a Carolina fan. All I heard was Charlotte."

Many of those 49er students will take final exams Monday. I talked to one who had two final exams scheduled Monday, had attended the Charlotte-Davidson basketball game Saturday night and still made the 400-mile trip to Alabama Sunday. There were many others just like her. It was cool to see all of the support and to watch both teams play a taut, entertaining game.

My column on the game will be in Monday's newspaper and online, and Observer soccer expert David Scott will also have a couple of stories about it.

Can Panthers beat a 'real' quarterback?

2011-12-09T13:22:00.003-05:00

Now the Panthers get to see if they can beat a big-time quarterback.

If you're keeping count, the 4-8 Panthers' four wins this season have come against starting quarterbacks named Curtis Painter, Josh Johnson, Blaine Gabbert and John Beck. That's not exactly a murderers' row -- you could argue, in fact, that only Gabbert has any sort of future among the four. The rest are basically backups who were temporarily thrust into a starting role.

But the Panthers have come close to beating a couple of big-time quarterbacks this season, and they'll get another chance Sunday when they face Matt Ryan and the Falcons.

Ryan is smart enough to avoid major errors -- especially when he's simply handing off to Michael Turner. In the teams' first game this season, Ryan only threw 22 times, Turner ran 27 times and the Falcons won by a couple of touchdowns.

Ryan isn't having a great year by his standards, but he was plenty good enough to lead the Falcons to 17 unanswered fourth-quarter points against Carolina on Oct. 16. How Carolina fares on third down against Ryan -- and how they tackle the bowling ball that is Turner -- will likely determine this game's outcome.

-- Don't forget that you can contribute to the Marine's "Toys for Tots" drive by bringing a new, unwrapped toy to the Panthers' game Sunday. Marine representatives will be at each gate to collect the toys. Fans can also visit ToysforTots.org/touchdown through Dec.24th to sponsor a child.

-- If it seems like the Panthers rarely beat the Falcons these days, it's true. Atlanta holds a 21-12 edge in the series and current Falcons coach Mike Smith is 5-2 against Carolina, including three wins in a row.

-- I've picked the Panthers' outcome correctly the past four weeks in a row in this space. This week I think Carolina's two-game win streak comes to an end. My prediction: Atlanta 27, Carolina 20.

Cam damage from interview? Slight, avoidable

2011-12-08T17:22:00.005-05:00

Cam Newton has made very few false steps in his rookie season, but he took one in a videotaped interview with ESPN The Magazine that has caused a lot of comment in the Carolinas.

Newton said during the interview of the Panthers’ organization: “The house that I’m in is somewhat of a tarnished house where losing is accepted.”

And he also said some teammates don’t take losses seriously enough. Newton is known for taking losses particularly hard – the Panthers are 4-8 at the moment. He has sometimes isolated himself from teammates – and everyone else – for a relatively long time after games and once snapped at tight end Greg Olsen when Olsen was trying to console him following a defeat.

I thought most of what Newton said in his interview was just fine. And a “want-to-win-so-bad-it-hurts” demeanor, let’s remember, is part of what got Michael Jordan to where he ended up.

But occasionally what Newton said struck me as odd. Newton’s analogy in the interview where he said he was a “lion” that someone was trying to make a “house pet” was just downright confusing. And then he sounded for a second like he would consider leaving the Panthers – where he is in the first year of a four-year, $22-million contract -- before backtracking.

“But I’m trying to change that [losing attitude],” Newton said at one point, continuing his lion analogy, “if I’m going to have to turn that house into a safari [where a lion could thrive, presumably] or I’m just going to have to get out of that house. Now I’m not saying – hear me out, what I’m saying now – I’m not saying I’m trying to leave this place, I’m just trying to get everybody on my level.”

As a player, that’d be a great thing. If everyone was on Newton’s level, the Panthers would be headed to the playoffs.

In other ways, though, it’s not such a great thing. Newton is 22 years old and sometimes he sounds a lot like it. This interview was one of those times.

As for Panther fans suddenly panicked that Newton will leave, don’t be. He’s not going anywhere at least through the 2014 season, when his original rookie contract runs out. And he’s so good the Panthers will break the bank to keep him after that – or, alternately, use their franchise tag to make sure he stays in Charlotte for many more years to come.

Bottom line: this interview wasn’t Newton’s best work. But while the damage was avoidable, it was also slight -- and will be forgotten before long.

(UPDATE: I had to disable the ability to post comments to this blog on Friday, Dec.9th -- sorry. As is too often the case on any Cam Newton-related blog, after awhile too many of the comments deteriorated into a bunch of cursing and name-calling. I left up the comments that weren't out-and-out obscene. If you feel strongly that you want to express your opinion on this post to me, please feel free to email me at sfowler@charlotteobserver.com.)

Cam Newton jersey mania

2011-12-08T10:05:00.004-05:00

Cam Newton's NFL replica jersey can be difficult to find in stores these days.

A word to the wise if you are planning to give somebody a Cam Newton jersey for Christmas.... don't wait any longer to find it.

I had heard a number of stories from Panther fans about No.1 Newton jerseys being out of stock completely at local stores, or only available in certain sizes or colors (I'm talking about the basic jersey, in either blue, black or white, which usually retails for $85).

So I made a few calls, visits and checks to websites Wednesday and confirmed it. Some stores are out of Newton jerseys entirely and don't know when they will get more.

"We get them in," one local sales clerk told me, "and they basically sell out instantly."

The Panthers' store inside Bank of America Stadium has some jerseys for their star rookie quarterback, but only in certain sizes and colors (704-358-7158 if you want to check with them). The Panthers.com website lists only a few adult-sized jerseys for $85, and they are mostly in 4X and 5X. They do list a number of youth Newton jerseys ($60) as available.

NFLShop.com -- the league's official supplier of jerseys -- has a very limited supply of Cam jerseys and is completely out of many popular sizes. Several other national websites I checked out told a similar story.

But the Dick's Sporting Goods store in Northlake Mall -- at least as of Wednesday night -- had a surprisingly good selection when I stopped by.

I'm sure other stores around the Carolinas have some in stock -- especially the youth sizes, they seem to be a bit easier to find -- but it's very hit or miss.

Your best bet seems to be the old-fashioned way -- calling your local sporting-goods store directly before you drive out there. While websites often list the Newton jerseys as "sold out," some stores do have a few left in stock.

As I mentioned in this blog in October, Newton's jersey had already risen to No.16 in overall sales among all NFL players. After this Christmas season, I can't imagine it won't be in the Top 10 or Top 5 the next time those rankings are released.

And no, I wasn't looking for a Newton jersey for myself. The last NFL replica jersey I owned was when I was 10 years old and wore my Roger Staubach jersey every Sunday, and I'm going to keep it that way.

If you've got a story to tell about searching for a Newton jersey this Christmas -- or any other Panther-related item -- add a comment below. And please keep it clean.

Panthers by the numbers after 12 games

2011-12-06T15:13:00.006-05:00

Some significant numbers for the 4-8 Panthers, winners of two straight heading into Sunday's home game against Atlanta:

0 -- Steve Smith's number of 100-yard receiving games out of the past four. He had five 100-yard days in Carolina's first nine games. Still, he is tied for second in the NFL in receiving yardage (1,092).

1.5 -- Take away Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Johnson's scrambles and that's what the Bucs' running backs averaged per carry Sunday (22 carries, 33 yards). It will be tough to do that to Atlanta's Michael Turner.

3 -- Times in a row Atlanta has beaten the Panthers, including a 31-17 win on Oct.16.

4 -- Years since an NFL quarterback had run for three TDs in a single game until Cam Newton did Sunday in the Panthers' 38-19 win over Tampa Bay. Daunte Culpepper had most recently done it in 2007.

13 -- Cam Newton's TDs this season (all rushing), which ranks him third among all NFL players in that category. The only players who have scored more: Philadelphia running back LeSean McCoy (15 TDs -- 12 running, three receiving) and New England tight end Rob Gronkowski (14 -- 13 receiving, one rushing).

18 -- Touchdown drives that the Panthers have had of 80 or more yards this season. The team hasn't had many short-field TD drives at all -- it is averaging 70.2 yards per TD march.

44.6 -- Cam Newton's quarterback rating the first time he played the Falcons, when he threw for 237 yards but had zero TD passes and three interceptions in the Panthers' loss.

72 -- The Panthers' number of offensive plays that have gained 20 yards or more this season, which is first in the NFL in that "big play" category. Oakland (67) is second. The Panthers were tied for last in 2010 in the same category with 44.

139 -- Rushing yards Atlanta's Michael Turner put up against Carolina in the first game this season at the Georgia Dome. He had 62 rushing yards in the first half and 77 more in the second as the Falcons gradually wore down the Panthers.

Panthers' bests and worsts from 38-19 Carolina win over Tampa Bay

2011-12-04T17:11:00.003-05:00

Thoughts on the Panthers’ 38-19 win over Tampa Bay Sunday, in which Carolina played its most complete game of the season while improving to 4-8. (UPDATE: And here's my column from Tampa on Cam Newton and his dazzling performance).

Best start: The Panthers scored on their first two drives, taking a 14-0 lead before the game was 10 minutes old. Tampa Bay never got closer than eight the rest of the way.

Best run defense: Surprisingly, the Panthers played superbly against the Bucs’ LeGarrette Blount, who was held to 19 yards in 11 carries after averaging 105 yards in his previous two games.

Best rushing quarterback in the red zone: Cam Newton may be the best the NFL has ever had at this. He scored three touchdowns from one yard out Sunday, setting a new NFL record for quarterbacks with 13 for the season (Steve Grogan had 12 for New England in 1976).

Best break: The Buccaneers are a far different team with Josh Freeman at quarterback compared to Josh Johnson. With Freeman out due to a shoulder injury, the Panthers dared Johnson to beat them. He couldn’t.

Best undrafted free agent: Thomas Keiser, the rookie defensive end from Stanford, had a sack and an interception for Carolina as he continues to show up at opportune times.

Best trend: After losing 12 road games in a row, the Panthers have now won two straight.

Best throwback uniforms: While others may differ, I’m a big fan of the Bucs’ Creamsicle orange jerseys that they broke out for a throwback day Sunday.

Worst crowd: Raymond James Stadium in Tampa looked about half full for most of the game and was far less than that in the fourth quarter, when the Panthers led by as many as 26 and the fans were anxious to get out and salvage the rest of a glorious afternoon.

Best single play: Lots of choices, but I’d pick the pass from Legedu Naanee to Newton for 27 yards just for the dazzling creativity of it.

Best breakout performance: Naanee threw that pass, caught a touchdown pass, picked up a key first down on third-and-14 and threw a number of good blocks.

Best red-zone efficiency: The Panthers got inside the Buccaneers’ 20 five times and scored touchdowns every single time.

Worst Newton throw: Newton was close to flawless – the Panthers are now 4-0 when he doesn’t commit a turnover. But he was bemoaning after the game a long pass to Steve Smith that he underthrew and that ended up incomplete. Newton thought Smith might have scored had he thrown the ball better.

Best overall performance: The Panthers played their most complete game of the season, setting season highs in points (38) and victory margin (19).

A pass to Newton?! Really?

2011-12-04T13:58:00.003-05:00

(UPDATE: Besides the pass described below, Cam Newton had one of the best games of his short career today. Newton had three touchdown runs -- all of a yard apiece -- and also threw a 19-yard TD pass to Legedu Naanee as Carolina crushed Tampa Bay, 38-19, for its second straight win).

It wasn’t a touchdown, but the Panthers ran one of their most notable plays of the season Sunday in the first quarter – one that will be sure to make the season-ending highlight film. It was a testament to creativity – one of those plays that looks like it was drawn up haphazardly in the backyard but actually had a lot of thought put into it.

On first-and-10 from the Tampa Bay 29, the Panthers put three receivers wide on the right. Then running back DeAngelo Williams motioned out of the backfield to put four receivers on the right. The defense made a corresponding shift.

Quarterback Cam Newton took the snap and immediately threw what looked like a screen to Legedu Naanee. But it was actually a lateral. The other three receivers blocked as Naanee, who was briefly a college quarterback, lofted the ball back to Newton.

Newton hauled in the first reception of his NFL career and took off behind a wall of blockers. He looked like he would score but didn’t, gaining 27 yards to the Tampa Bay 2. Carolina scored shortly after that to take a 14-0 lead.

Overall, it was a gorgeous play on a gorgeous afternoon – and the kind that bolsters offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski’s resume.

Carolina Panthers to win at Tampa Bay

2011-12-02T10:35:00.004-05:00

The Creamsicles are back!

Tampa Bay will wear its throwback Creamsicle orange uniforms Sunday when the Panthers play the Bucs in Tampa, harking back to those glorious days when the Bucs once lost 26 games in a row and head coach John McKay, when asked about his team's execution, quipped that he was in favor of it.

It's actually part of a whole throwback theme. The loudspeakers will be blaring music from the 1970s and the Bucs will induct former tight end Jimmie Giles from their early days into their Ring of Honor.

I've always liked Tampa Bay’s Creamsicle uniforms myself – they are among the weirdest uniforms in sports history, joining the uniforms of the 1970s-era Pittsburgh Pirates (remember the caps?) and the 1980s-era Houston Astros. And being dressed like an ice-cream popsicle fits these Bucs, because Tampa Bay has again become one of the NFL season’s biggest disappointments.

After starting 4-2, Tampa Bay has lost five straight games. Head coach Raheem Morris was asked by reporters about his job security this week – that’s never a good sign. Only Indianapolis (11 games) and San Diego (six) are currently limping through longer losing streaks.

-- The Bucs will start a Josh at quarterback Sunday, but it's unclear which one. Josh Freeman has started the past 36 games in a row for Tampa Bay, but he suffered a throwing shoulder injury on the last play of the game last week. If Freeman can’t go – and he's been very limited in practice this week – the Bucs will go with backup Josh Johnson. Like Freeman, Johnson can run, but he’s not as physical and his arm isn’t quite as good.

-- The Bucs are very banged up on the defensive line, which makes it even more imperative that the Panthers use a run/pass ratio similar to the one last week in the win over Indianapolis (35 runs, 27 passes).

-- I've picked the Panthers' outcome correctly the past three weeks in a row, including getting the spread right against Indianapolis last week (I picked Carolina to win by eight points).

I think that the Buccaneers (4-7) are in a freefall and have had a spate of recent injuries. Carolina (3-8) will win this game as long as it runs the ball well and its defense doesn't blow it. I think the Panthers will prevail, 28-24.

Jake Delhomme returns to the NFL -- to Houston, a much better team than Panthers this year

2011-11-29T20:59:00.004-05:00

Former Panther quarterback Jake Delhomme has returned to the NFL -- finally -- signing a late-season contract with the Houston Texans Tuesday.

I can't think about Delhomme and Houston without remembering the Super Bowl following the 2003 season. Delhomme played one of the most stunning fourth quarters any Super Bowl quarterback ever has at Reliant Staduim in Houston -- and lost. He led the Panthers to touchdown drives on their final three possessions, threw for more than 200 yards in the fourth quarter alone and was still outdueled by Tom Brady and New England, which won 32-29 on a last-second field goal. Delhomme would have undoubtedly been the Super Bowl MVP had Carolina won that one.

So time marches on. Delhomme, 36, now will serve the injury-depleted Texans -- at least for now -- as a backup for T.J. Yates, the rookie and former North Carolina quarterback suddenly thrust into the lineup after season-ending injuries to Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart. He can help serve as Yates' mentor and sounding board, certainly, and Jake is only about five hours from his Louisiana home and the horses he loves and has been helping with around there. (He and his family are into the horse business pretty heavy).

I think it's a fine move by the Texans (8-3), who are in a fairly desperate situation but would be the AFC's No.1 playoff seed if the season were over. Houston's defense and running game are so good that the QB can be a game manager -- although Schaub certainly was better than that -- and still win some.

I believe before it's all said and done Delhomme will get some meaningful snaps in Houston, and it will be interesting to see then whether his arm is shot or whether he can still summon up some magic. I'm glad he's back in the league, however, at least for awhile. Delhomme's one of the best guys to ever grace an NFL locker room, and if he wants to do it again, more power to him.

Panthers by the numbers after 11 games

2011-11-29T15:59:00.002-05:00

Some significant and weird Carolina Panther numbers entering Sunday's 1 p.m. game at Tampa Bay:

minus-4: What you get when you subtract Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Freeman's interceptions (16) from his touchdown passes (12). If you want one reason why the Buccaneers went 10-6 in 2010 and are 4-7 this year entering their game against Carolina Sunday, Freeman last year was plus-19 in the same category (25 TD passes, six interceptions).

3-0: Carolina's record when Cam Newton doesn't commit a single turnover (the Panthers are 0-8 when he does, which really isn't all Newton's fault. A good team should be able to survive a miscue or two by its starter).

5.1: The Panthers' average on rushing yards per attempt, which places them second in the NFL behind Philadelphia (5.6).

10 -- Out of 11, number of games in which the Panthers (3-8) have held a lead this season. The only exception: their 30-3 loss to Tennessee.

14 -- Just a guess, but this is the number of rushing TDs I think Newton will end up with this season to set an NFL record. Steve Grogan holds the current mark with 12, in 1976 for New England. Newton has five games left to try and get at least three more.

30 -- Combined interceptions for the starting quarterbacks in Sunday's game. Besides Freeman's 16 (No.2 in the NFL behind only San Diego's Philip Rivers), Newton is tied for third-most in that category.

34 -- NFL receivers who have surpassed the 10,000-yard mark in their careers. Steve Smith can become No.35 Sunday if he catches at least 56 yards worth of passes.

70 -- The number of consecutive games in which both Smith and Wesley Walls caught at least one pass for the Panthers. Smith goes for No.71 Sunday.

8269 -- Carolina's total rushing yardage since the beginning of the 2008 season (when Jonathan Stewart joined DeAngelo Williams in the backfield). That ranks No.1 in the NFL in that span, with the New York Jets just 31 yards behind.

Bests and Worsts from Carolina Panthers' 27-19 win over Indianapolis Colts

2011-11-27T17:12:00.002-05:00

Going to extremes after the Panthers (3-8) edged the Colts (0-11) by a 27-19 score in Indianapolis:

Best Panther road trip in the past year: This one. The Panthers (3-8) don’t have much to choose from besides Indianapolis – they had lost 12 road games in a row until Sunday.

Worst tackle: Panther safety Sherrod Martin whiffed badly on Reggie Wayne’s 56-yard touchdown catch that got the Colts back into the game.

Best tiptoe: Martin then made the play of the game in the final minute, catching a deflected ball when Indianapolis had second-and-goal at the 3 and keeping his tiptoes just inside the back of the end zone to clinch the game for Carolina.

Worst near-calamity: The Panthers looked for a few moments like they were going to lose Greg Olsen in a pre-game collision when the tight end tried to chase down a long pass that Cam Newton had actually intended to throw to Seyi Ajirotutu. Olsen and Ajirotutu ran into each other and both stayed down for several minutes.

Best low-profile Cam game: Newton had a very efficient day, completing 20 of 27 passes for 208 yards and no touchdowns or interceptions. He also scored on a 14-yard rushing TD and never turned the ball over.

Best trend: The Panthers rushed the ball 35 times for 201 yards, which allowed them to control the time of possession (they held the ball more than 12 minutes more than the Colts).

Worst close-out: While the Panthers never trailed in this game, they kept letting Indianapolis back into it. The Panthers had two shots at closing the Colts out late in the fourth quarter but didn’t get a first down on either possession, which necessitated Martin and Chris Gamble making interceptions in the last five minutes to seal the win.

Best sack (Carolina): Charles Godfrey came on a safety blitz, faked out running back Joseph Addai and hit Curtis Painter from the blind side, causing a fumble.

Best sack (Indianapolis): Dwight Freeney might have been the first defensive end not to get fooled by Newton’s spin move all year, playing it perfectly and taking Newton down for a 20-yard loss.

Worst locker room teasing: It’s going to be coming to Panther kickoff returner Kealoha Pilares, who went 76 yards in the fourth quarter but was knocked out of bounds by the Colts’ kicker. In Pilares’ defense, he had hurt his quad on an earlier return.

Best lock: The Indianapolis Star is going to write a whole lot about Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck – the Colts’ likely pick at No.1 in the 2012 draft – between now and April. The Star had one of its writers ask Newton several questions about Luck, whom Newton called an “underrated athlete.”

Halftime thoughts on a 10-10 tie between Panthers and Colts

2011-11-27T14:21:00.004-05:00

UPDATE: The Panthers have gotten two rushing touchdowns from DeAngelo Williams in the second half to take a 24-13 lead over Indianapolis with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Nothing is coming easy for the Carolina Panthers this season, and even a game with 0-10 Indianapolis isn't a guaranteed win.

The Panthers scored the game's first 10 points, but then Indy responded with 10 of its own and blocked Olindo Mare's 45-yard field goal on the last play of the first half to keep the game tied.

It's pretty loud in here at Lucas Oil Stadium -- especially given the fact the Colts haven't won all year. The Panthers' offense has had some trouble getting untracked in its last few possessions against the defense allowing the most points in the league (30.0), and Carolina's defense has been good against the pass but again not very good vs. the run (as usual).

The Colts' Peyton Manning is on the sideline -- he hasn't played all year. Marvin Harrison is being inducted into the Colts' Ring of Honor, but he's not playing either.

I keep thinking that if the Panthers can just make Curtis Painter beat them, he won't. He's not very good at all. But the Colts are smartly trying to keep the ball on the ground as much as they can, and they're getting enough pass-rush push to bother Cam Newton (who has taken a 20-yard sack and a 12-yard sack already).

Panthers to win in Indy

2011-11-26T12:55:00.003-05:00

It doesn't quite seem fair, does it?

The Indianapolis Colts -- one of the NFL's best teams for the past decade -- have fallen apart this season just in time to acquire their next franchise quarterback.

Peyton Manning hasn't played all season because of injury problems and his absence has shown just how vulnerable the Colts are without him. Now 0-10 Indianapolis is two games clear of the rest of the field in the Andrew Luck sweepstakes, assuming the Stanford redshirt junior comes out for the 2012 draft.

Most teams stumble through a succession of mediocre quarterbacks when they have to replace a star. Green Bay is an exception with Aaron Rodgers succeeding Brett Favre, but Miami's dry run after Dan Marino and Denver's after John Elway are more of the rule.

But not the Colts. As bad as they are this season, they won't be for long, because either Luck or Southern Cal's fast-rising Matt Barkley is destined to replace Manning at some point.

-- It has been eight years since the Panthers have played the Colts in Indianapolis. I remember covering that 2003 game vividly in large part because it was so darn loud -- I didn't know until then what a passionate fan base the Colts really had. The Panthers won in overtime, 23-20, on a long John Kasay field goal. My ears rang coming out of the stadium like they do after a really loud concert -- although it was totally silent after Kasay's kick. Somehow I don't think it will be quite that loud Sunday.

-- If there was ever an offense for the Panthers' defense to get well against, it's this one. Indianapolis has scored 10 points or fewer in its past four games. The Panthers average giving up 28.6 points per game -- second-worst in the NFL to the Colts' 30 (that number being somewhat skewed by the 62 points the Colts gave up to New Orleans).

-- Should be a nice battle Sunday between Panther left tackle Jordan Gross and Indianapolis right defensive end Dwight Freeney. Freeney, the Colts' all-time leading sacker, needs 1.5 sacks to get to 100 for his career.

-- I've gotten back on track picking the Panthers' outcomes, predicting them correctly the past two weeks. On Sunday, Carolina will notch its third win of the season. Final score: Carolina 31, Indianapolis 23.

Happy Thanksgiving -- and a story

2011-11-24T10:28:00.004-05:00

Hello, everyone. First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. I am thankful for many things today -- most of all for my family, but also for all the folks who check in on this blog occasionally.

I wrote something a little different today for Thanksgiving -- a story about a J.C. Smith student assistant coach who has cerebral palsy but has become a key part of the Golden Bulls' football program this year. Here's the link.

You might also want to check out Joe Person's story on Panther defensive back Darius Butler, whose 3-month-old daughter has had some serious health problems but who got out of the hospital Wednesday and went home.

Matt Moore leads Cam Newton in QB rating (and other numbers)

2011-11-22T12:27:00.003-05:00

Some significant Panther numbers after 10 games:

5.8 -- Matt Moore's lead over Cam Newton in the quarterback efficiency ratings. Moore, the former Panther quarterback, has won three straight games starting for the Miami Dolphins and has improved his rating to 85.8. Newton, after his four-interception day Sunday against Detroit, now sits at 80.0.

8 -- Yards Steve Smith needs for the sixth 1,000-yard receiving season of his career, but the first since 2008.

9 -- Rushing TDs for Newton so far this season, which has already set the NFL record for most rushing TDs by a rookie quarterback.

12 -- Consecutive Panther losses on the road, with the last win coming in December 2009. The Panthers' next game -- at 0-10 Indianapolis Sunday -- will be their best chance to break that streak. Of the 2-8 Panthers' final six games this season, four come on the road.

14 -- Interceptions thrown by Newton through 10 games. The team record for a season? Kerry Collins threw 21 in 1997, a season in which the Panthers went 7-9.

22 -- Losses for the Panthers over their past 26 games. The future can't get here fast enough, can it?

28.6 -- Points the Panthers are giving up per game, which is second-worst in the NFL.

30.0 -- Points Indianapolis is giving up per game, which is worst in the NFL. Maybe we're in for another shootout on Sunday.

Bests and worsts in Carolina Panthers' 49-35 loss to Detroit

2011-11-20T17:55:00.003-05:00

Highlights and lowlights from Carolina’s 49-35 loss to Detroit Sunday, which dropped the Panthers to 2-8:

Worst waste: The Panthers scored 35 points and still lost by 14? Are you kidding me? As coach Ron Rivera said afterward, he would take 35 points any day of the week. It was a season high in points for Carolina, and the second-most points the Panthers have ever scored in a loss.

Worst blown lead: The Panthers led 24-7 in the second quarter and 27-14 at halftime, but then got blasted in the second half as Detroit outscored Carolina, 35-8.

Worst personal career high: Rookie quarterback Cam Newton threw four interceptions, his personal high in his short career.

Best silver lining: Rookie Kealoha Pilares bolted a franchise-record 101 yards on a kickoff return for a touchdown, helped by some superb blocking from the beleaguered special teams.

Worst franchise career high: The Panthers’ defense gave up 495 yards, most in the team’s 17-year history.

Best former Panther: Chris Harris, who used to start at safety for Carolina, grabbed one of Newton’s four interceptions.

Worst road warriors: The Panthers have now lost a franchise-record 12 straight games on the road. Their last win came on Dec.27, 2009, when they thumped the New York Giants, 41-9.

Best diversionary tactics: Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford threw five touchdown passes, and not one of them was to Calvin Johnson. As the Panthers looked for Johnson time and again near the end zone, Stafford simply hit the open receiver, over and over. And there was always someone open.

Best Panther unit: For once, you have to hand it to the special teams. They actually outplayed the Lions’ special teams this time. Olindo Mare had two field goals and four touchbacks. Pilares had his 101-yard return. Armanti Edwards had a couple of decent punt returns and the Panthers allowed only one big return for Detroit (a 31-yarder when you added the return and the penalty yardage for a horse-collar tackle).

Best Newton stat: Even on a four-interception day, Newton did a few spectacular things as usual. This time he scored two rushing touchdowns, setting the NFL rookie record for a quarterback with nine on the season.

Panthers blow 17-point lead, lose to Detroit

2011-11-20T15:12:00.003-05:00

The Panthers lost leads of 24-7 and 27-14 in Detroit today, ending up losing 49-35 to the Lions in a wild game at Ford Field. The Panthers' defense gave up the most yardage and first downs in franchise history -- 495 and 29, respectively.

Afterward, disappointed Carolina quarterback Cam Newton said the Panthers had "put on a clinic" in the second half of how to lose a game. Newton threw a career-high four interceptions, but also ran for two touchdwowns and threw for another.

It didn't take long for the Panthers to blow a 27-14 halftime lead. In fact, it just took nine minutes and 3 seconds -- Detroit went ahead 28-27, with 5:57 left in the third quarter.

Detroit QB Matthew Stafford had five touchdown passes after two early interceptions and the Lions had five TD drives of 66 yards or longer. By the end, Carolina's defense looked almost helpless.

The Panthers' defense actually grabbed three turnovers on the first three Detroit possessions, but Carolina was outscored 35-8 in the second half. Detroit clearly out-adjusted the Panthers after halftime.

Panthers off to a great start and 27-14 lead at halftime

2011-11-20T13:40:00.012-05:00

A week after playing their worst game of the season in a 27-point home loss to Tennessee, Carolina started with one of its best halves of 2011 against Detroit and led 27-14 at halftime.

The Panthers led 10-0 at the end of the first quarter, in large part due to their suddenly feisty defense. The Panther D caused three Detroit turnovers in three possessions in the first quarter -- an interception by linebacker James Anderson, an interception by Charles Godfrey in the Panthers' end zone and a fumble recovery by Andre Neblett.

The first one of those led to no points, as Cam Newton threw his own interception. But the last two did. Carolina went 73 yards on one drive before stalling inside the Detroit 10, with the key play a 29-yard run by DeAngelo Williams. That led to an Olindo Mare 27-yard field goal.

Then, after a fumble recovery, Newton hit Steve Smith in the end zone on a 15-yard touchdown pass to give Carolina a 10-0 lead.

Disgruntled Detroit fans have booed the Lions offense several times. Quarterback Matthew Stafford, playing with a broken finger on his throwing hand and a glove to cover it, had now thrown six interceptions in the past five quarters for Detroit.

Stafford and Detroit cut the margin to 10-7 early in the second quarter however with a lightning-fast, three-play, 80-yard drive. On consecutive plays, running back Kevin Smith ran 46 yards straight up the middle and then took a screen pass 28 yards for a touchdown, as the Panthers' defense suddenly cooled off.

But then Panther rookie Kealoha Pilares took the kickoff return back 101 yards for a touchdown. Boos rained down again in Detroit, and the Panthers quickly led 17-7 with 13:50 still to go in the second quarter. It was the Panthers' first kickoff-return TD in eight years.

And then Carolina added to its lead. Following a Detroit punt, Carolina got a key Detroit penalty to get a fresh set of downs, followed quickly by a 26-yard run from DeAngelo Williams and an 11-yard TD scamper from Newton. That put Carolina up, 24-7, before a stunned Detroit crowd.

But Detroit came back quickly, with Stafford leading another TD drive capped by a short pass. That cut Carolina's lead to 24-14.

Remember, Detroit has already come back from two deficits of 20 or more points to win this year. The biggest Carolina lead so far has been 17 points.

But the Panthers weren't content to sit on the ball. Starting at their own 14, they drove all the way to the Lions' 14 in a 13-play, 72-yard march. Mare hit a 31-yard field goal as time expired at the end of the first half, giving Carolina a 27-14 lead at halftime.

Pregame Lions-Panthers notes

2011-11-20T12:46:00.003-05:00

I'm sitting in Ford Field, awaiting the start of the Panthers-Lions game. A few notes:

1) Here's my column from today's newspaper on the future for the Panthers, who I believe may be on a similar pattern as they were about nine years ago.

2) Detroit QB Matthew Stafford will likely play with a glove on his throwing hand today because he has a fractured finger on that hand. Remember when David Carr of the Panthers used to play with a glove on his throwing hand, too, but not due to injury? That didn't work out so well.

3) The stands aren't exactly full a few minutes before kickoff. This game is sort of serving as an appetizer for the Lions-Packers tilt, which will also be in Detroit on Thanksgiving Day.

4) This is a good story on former Panther Kris Jenkins, talking about the violence of football, to the New York Times.

Can Panthers pull the upset at Detroit?

2011-11-18T08:53:00.004-05:00

Some pregame notes -- and a prediction -- for the Panthers' game Sunday at Detroit:

First, who said this after last Sunday's huge loss?

"We can't get off to a slow start. We have to start faster and not rely on the fact that we can come back. It's just one of those games where nothing went right, and it happens. But I think we have the right people, and we'll respond next week."
Ron Rivera? Jordan Gross? Cam Newton?

No, that came from Detroit defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch, who was talking about the Lions' 37-13 loss to Chicago a week ago. That game bore a notable resemblance to Carolina's 30-3 loss to Tennessee, with both teams getting way down early and never coming back.

So while the 6-3 Lions and 2-7 Panthers are in a far different place in the NFL standings,, they are in the same place mentally. They just got embarrassed and they are determined to make it right Sunday.

-- I think we'll see the two starting wide receivers in the next Pro Bowl Sunday for the NFC. Steve Smith and Detroit's Calvin Johnson have both had stunning seasons so far. The yardage is similar (951 to 885 in Smith's advantage) but Johnson is the best end-zone target in the NFL right now. He has a startling 11 touchdowns already. Smith has four.

-- And if you think Newton throws to Smith a lot, check this out. Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford threw at Johnson 19 times last week. Nineteen! Johnson caught seven of them. Newton usually targets Smith around 8-10 times per game.

-- While Detroit's front four is fearsome, the Lions' rushing defense is pedestrian, with numbers very similar to Carolina's rushing defense. In the teams' most recent meeting, the Panthers beat Detroit in 2008 by getting both DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart to rush for more than 100 yards while setting a then-franchise record of 264 rushing yards.

-- After missing the Panthers' outcome for three straight weeks, I finally got them right again a week ago when predicting them to lose to Tennessee. I'm 17-7 over the past 24 Panther games. Sunday's prediction: Detroit 31, Carolina 24.

Fox, Tebow working out surprisingly well

2011-11-18T08:47:00.004-05:00

I watched some of the Denver-N.Y. Jets game Thursday night, seeing former Panther coach John Fox relentlessly chomp his gum as the Broncos punted -- and punted -- and punted.

But then here came Tim Tebow, saving the night once again at the end, as the Broncos won 17-13 on a 95-yard drive deep in the fourth quarter.

I have to admit I didn't think Fox and Tebow would be able to work it out as well as they have. The Broncos are now 5-5, and Fox has managed to minimize Tebow's bad points (the guy can't hit an open receiver about half the time, and that's being generous) and maximize his good ones (Tebow is a fine running quarterback).

Best of all for Denver, Fox has exactly the type of defense he likes. The Broncos just blasted Mark Sanchez time and again Thursday night. Tebow was only responsible for one TD; the other was a pick-six off of Sanchez by the ball-hawking Broncos' defense. That's the biggest reason Denver is winning; that defense has greatly improved and is keeping the Broncos in the game.

It's conceivable the Broncos might even win the AFC West and get into the playoffs, because that division is all full of teams around .500. Not likely, but conceivable. And if they do, get this: Fox might get some votes as Coach of the Year.

Does Cam need a better sideline attitude?

2011-11-17T09:34:00.005-05:00

In the absence of much other news involving the Carolina Panthers, the attitude of Panther quarterback Cam Newton continues to be a hot-button issue for Carolina fans.

Before we get into the towel Newton puts over his head when things aren't going well, let me say this: Newton is the best thing to happen to this team in a long time. He has made them relevant, interesting and dangerous. If he's not the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, that's crazy.

But as for the way Newton isolates himself on the sideline when things aren't going well, I'm not a huge fan of it. Whether he's got the towel on his head or not doesn't make a difference to me, but I would like to see him trying to inspire his teammates more and less involved in his private pain, alone on a corner of the bench.

I think this will come with maturity. Newton is so dynamic it's easy to forget he's a rookie, sorting out his emotions on a far more public stage than most 22-year-olds have to do.

Newton said Wednesday he wasn't about to change his behavior, saying of losing: "This is something that I'm not used to and it's something that I'm not going to get used to. So you look at it as poor leadership. You look at it as a sore loser. I'd rather be a sore loser than anything."

He also said: "I want to win. So I'm going to try to win. And if I don't win, I'm going to pitch a fit."

Right now, as another writer once joked, he is more like "Cam Neton" because the "W's" are missing. The Panthers are 2-7 and about to go on a three-game road trip. Newton, unfortunately, is going to get a lot more chances to practice losing before this season is over.

As I wrote five weeks ago about Newton on this subject:

A good leader grabs his team by the shoulder pads and pulls them up when everyone is down about a loss. But Newton is so involved in his private pain after losses that he has a hard time letting anyone else inside.

There's so much to like about Newton. Don't misunderstand me - he's the biggest reason this team has hope again. He has both Super Bowl and hall of fame potential. I love watching him.

He knows how to win. How to throw. How to run.

But Newton has got to get better at three things - how to learn from losing. How to lead. And how to finish.

When Newton gets those three down pat, there's no limit to what he will do.

I still believe that. And I think he will learn all three of those things and, eventually, become a great NFL quarterback. But, like all rookies, he's a work in progress.

Panthers by the numbers after 9 games

2011-11-15T09:52:00.005-05:00

Some significant numbers for the 2-7 Panthers:

0-3 -- Carolina's road record. The Panthers are one of only two NFL teams (along with Indianapolis) that has yet to win a game on the road. They are about to get a lot of chances. Five of Carolina's final seven games are on the road, including the next three.

2 -- Carolina's rank in total penalty yardage this season. The Panthers have been penalized a total of 659 yards. Only the perennial bad-boy Oakland Raiders (775) has been flagged for more yardage.

7 -- Points the Panthers need to surpass their total number of points for the entire 2010 season. They scored 196 last year in 16 games. This year, even with a horrible game Sunday, they have scored 190 in nine games.

9 -- Scoreless possessions for the Panthers Sunday before they finally scored against Tennessee in that 30-3 loss. Those first nine possessions went like this: punt, lost fumble, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, missed field goal and punt.

49 -- Yards Steve Smith needs for the sixth 1,000-yard receiving season of his career. He's at 951 now. His career high of 1,563 was set in 2005.

137.6 -- Rushing yards per game the Panthers' defense is now giving up after allowing Tennessee 172 Sunday. That average ranks 28th in the NFL.

289.4 -- Cam Newton's average number of passing yards, which is now sixth in the NFL. Newton has been as high as No.2 in that category this season but has fallen off a bit lately in production.

Rivera "embarrassed" by game's final minutes

2011-11-14T13:40:00.003-05:00

Panthers coach Ron Rivera said Monday in a news conference he was “embarrassed” by Carolina’s 30-3 loss to Tennessee Sunday, and particularly by a couple of things. (Here's my column on what he said -- the shorter version is below).

“Oh absolutely, I was embarrassed,” Rivera said. “I really was. I was embarrassed with the penalties. I was embarrassed the last 2 ½ minutes of the game, the way it went.”

When I asked what he meant by that, Rivera said: “Well, I think all the chippiness that went on between both teams. You know when a game is in that situation, just play it out. Don’t start talking. If you’re winning, great. If you’re losing, stop being frustrated. Do your job. And it goes for both teams. And I don’t want to speak for Coach [Mike] Munchak [of Tennessee], but I think both teams got chippy at the end.

“To me, this is professional football,” Rivera continued. “Act like a professional on the football field whether you’re winning or you’re losing. And that really bothers me. It really does. Because this game is about competition and competing and being the best, it’s not about all that other stuff that goes on. That’s a bunch of bull. It really is. There should be more pride in winning and losing than I saw yesterday from both teams. And that’s just my opinion.”

The Panthers got called for three penalties in the game’s last two minutes and Tennessee was called for two. On the final penalty – a holding call against Steve Smith – a scuffle broke out that involved Smith and several other players from both teams. Rivera then pulled Smith out of the game for the final play. (Smith would later get testy with me when I asked him about this sequence in the postgame locker room).

“I just think Steve was frustrated, as was everybody else,” Rivera said. “Steve went to make a physical block, the guy reacted and they got into a little bit of a skirmish. I just wanted to alleviate the situation. I’d have done that to anybody at that point. I did that with Charles [Johnson] when Charles got his penalty [earlier in the game]. After being head-butted, the referees didn’t see the head butt [on Johnson], they got him…. We can’t have that on the football field. And I hope our guys understand why I asked them to come off the field.”

The Panthers were penalized 12 times for 99 yards in the game and remain among the league leaders in the major “most-penalized” categories.

Frustration with Panthers showing everywhere

2011-11-14T09:16:00.004-05:00

It's Monday, and everyone associated with the Panthers seem to be either angry or depressed.

I wrote my column today on the Panthers' embarrassing performance in their 30-3 loss to Tennessee Sunday, but what seems to be drawing more attention on our website is my postgame exchange with Steve Smith.

You can read the whole thing here, but a couple of points first since I keep getting asked questions similar to these in emails:

1) I wasn't trying to bait Smith with a question about what happened at the end of the game. I honestly wondered -- and still wonder. Why was Smith so angry at that point in the game? Why did the coaches pull him out following the play? What exactly happened? That's what I wanted to know.

2) I've gotten a number of comments basically in the vein that I shouldn't be asking players hard questions like that when they haven't had much time to cool off. I understand the point there, but there is a 10-15 minute "cooling off" period before the media is allowed inside the locker room to talk to players. And these types of questions are asked literally after every game, by the dozens. When the Panthers win, reporters ask what happened on the plays that went well. When they lose, reporters ask what happened on the plays that went poorly.

Anyway, here's the transcript. It wasn't the first time Smith has gotten testy with me and it certainly won't be the last. I've covered all of his 11-year career for the Panthers, and to me he remains the best player the team has ever employed.

The Panthers' first stinker of the season

2011-11-13T15:43:00.004-05:00

One thing you could say about the Panthers -- until today -- was that they made every game exciting even though they lost most of them.

Not today, though. Tennessee was up 14-0 before the game was 10 minutes old, and the Panthers never made any sort of run as the Titans absolutely blasted the Panthers, 30-3. There were maybe 2,000 fans watching at the end of the game.

Every phase of the Panthers team -- offense, defense, special teams, coaching -- looked awful most of the time and mediocre at best.

The stadium was almost empty with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter -- the first time it's been that way all year. It was like that all the time in 2010, when the Panthers were nearly always out of the game in the fourth quarter.

This felt like a return to last season. Tennessee became the first team to truly make quarterback Cam Newton look like a rookie, and the Titans' 79-yard punt return a minute into the game set a tone that was never altered.

Newton, who had been averaging about five passes per game of 20 yards or more, never had one longer than 19 on Sunday. He threw for 212 yards and ran for 55, but he also threw an interception and couldn't get his team into the end zone.

I asked him after if he had ever quarterbacked a game in which his team didn't score a touchdown. "Never," he said sternly. "Ever. Ever." He also used the word "embarrassing" over and over to describe the Panthers' performance.

And it was nasty. On a day the sun never came out, the Panthers (2-7) never showed up either. A 27-point loss to Tennessee? C'mon.

Bad mistakes early for Panthers in 1st quarter

2011-11-13T13:19:00.002-05:00

Carolina started its game against Tennessee very poorly. The Panthers were behind 7-0 only 64 seconds into the game and 14-0 before it was 10 minutes old.

The Panthers went three-and-out on the first series of the game, and then Jason Baker's 56-yard punt was run back 79 yards for a touchdown down the sideline by Marc Mariani.

The coverage was horrible on the play -- Mariani basically went straight up the sideline after one juke.

Then Carolina did put together a nice drive -- a Cam Newton interception was nullified when Tennessee had a defensive holding call -- and got inside the 10. But on the play that got them there, tight end Greg Olsen fumbled the ball away and Tennessee recovered at its own 8.

The Titans immediately went on a 92-yard TD drive from there that took only six plays, with the final 43 coming when the Panthers' secondary let Damian Williams turn a short pass into an easy touchdown with some awful tackling by Sherrod Martin and others.

Boos are sounding in Charlotte, as Tennessee leads 14-0 with 5:45 still left in the first quarter.

Cam Newton and injury scares

2011-11-12T19:19:00.005-05:00

It is a testament to the starpower of Cam Newton that this is a fact:

On Saturday, Cam Newton was added to the Panthers' injury report -- he is now listed as probable due to some soreness in his throwing shoulder. As I write this, that story is now headlined on ESPN.com's homepage, on a busy college football Saturday and with all the attendant news to Penn State returning to the field without Joe Paterno.

Of course, this is thought to be news because of fantasy-football folks, I suppose. But still -- probable is probable. Newton practiced all week. He should play against Tennessee Sunday -- that's what "probable" means.

Still, it's a bit scary for any Panther fan. That's the No.1 concern, isn't it? Keep Newton healthy.

As much as he does for this team -- he has been a part of 18 of the squad's 21 touchdowns -- to lose him for any length of time would take the bloom off the rose to a large extent. I know some would say what kind of rose is a 2-6 team, anyway, but if you went to any Panther games in 2010, you know what I mean. This season has felt so much different, and a whole lot of that is due to No.1.

Panthers-Tennessee notes -- and a prediction

2011-11-11T08:50:00.003-05:00

The Panthers seem like they haven't played a game in forever.

It feels like that when you go into your bye week losing to a team you shouldn't have lost to. I remain convinced the Panthers are better than Minnesota, but Olindo Mare's hooked field-goal attempt and Steve Smith's questionable holding penalty Oct.30th ended the Panthers' final drive on a sour note that has been ringing in the air around here for the past two weeks.

So on Sunday here comes Tennessee. The Titans' best player -- running back Chris Johnson -- has been having a horrible season by his standards. And yet the Titans are still 4-4 and in the playoff hunt. While this game is winnable, it will require a far better performance than the Panthers gave against the Vikings.

-- When Cam Newton talked about the Tennessee defense this week, the name he mentioned first and foremost was Titan cornerback Cortland Finnegan. Newton said he believed the strength of the Titans' defense is its secondary, with Finnegan the headliner of that bunch. It will be interesting to watch Finnegan (No.31) when he's matched up with Steve Smith Sunday.

-- In the four games Tennessee quarterback Matt Hasselbeck has started against Carolina (all while he was with Seattle), he has won three of them. One was the NFC championship game in 2005, when the Panthers got blown out in Seattle and the Seahawks advanced to the Super Bowl.

-- A shudder-worthy memory: The last time these two teams played against each other, in 2007, the quarterback matchup was Carolina's David Carr against Tennessee's Vince Young. Tennessee won, 20-7.

-- I'm going to do Panther fans a favor. I started off OK early in the season picking Panther outcomes, but I've gone totally off the rails over the past month. I'm 0-3 predicting the past three Panther games, and so based on recent history my pick today is almost guaranteed not to turn out right. So here's an early Thanksgiving present for all you Panther fans.

My pick: Tennessee 27, Carolina 24.

One of Charlotte's own writers and the book he plans on Paterno

2011-11-10T12:34:00.006-05:00

Sports Illustrated writer Joe Posnanski, who graduated from UNC Charlotte and began his journalism career at The Charlotte Observer, has been in State College, Pa., this football season working on a book on Joe Paterno.

Posnanski, who recently moved back to Charlotte, is now trying to figure out the direction his book goes after the scandal surfaces this week. I will tell you this -- he will figure out something, because Posnanski is one of the most gifted sportswriters in America. But he is wrestling this week, as so many are, with all the twists this dark story has taken.

In his SI.com blog, Posnanski explained what drew him into writing about Paterno:

"A few months ago, I began working on a book about Penn State coach Joe Paterno. I have spent the last few months living in State College, Pa. Paterno gave me permission to write the book, but plays no editorial role in it. I decided to write about Paterno for a hundred reasons, but mostly because I’m fascinated — fascinated by a 60-year coaching career, fascinated by the Grand Experiment, fascinated by his motivations and values and the apparent and interesting contradictions of his personality. There have been other books written about Paterno, good books. It seems to me that there is more to say…"

Posnanski also included his thoughts on where the book is headed and why he will hold off on writing his opinion on what's happened with Paterno this past week, writing: "I need time. This story, for me at least, needs time. This thing is so vile, so grotesque, that it is human nature to want everyone to pay. Innocent children were hurt, scarred, and as a parent this is something so horrible that I cannot even think of a penalty harsh enough. There is no way to see this thing clearly now, not for me, anyway.

"Writing about Joe Paterno is a challenge for many reasons, but probably the greatest challenge is that his personality attracts extremes. He is called saint. And he is called hypocrite. He is a hero. And he is a villain. He is real. And he is a phony. And I believe deeply that he is none of these things… it wouldn’t be much fun or a challenge to write about him if he were a simple label or a simple man. I came to State College to write about a real man. I won’t tell you anything surprising: This terrible, evil story has made it harder. But I do buy into Tom Hanks’ line about baseball. It’s supposed to be hard …"

In Posnanski's personal blog , he refered to the Sports Illustrated blog and said that's all he planned to write on the situation for now:

"I know there are people who believe that I have a responsibility to write more, to have an opinion, to come out strong, I know this because many, many people have written to tell me that in no uncertain terms.

"I respect their opinion. But I disagree with it. The way I see it: I have a responsibility to write the best, most insightful and most honest book I can possibly write about Joe Paterno. That's what I signed up for. I'm not backing down from that because of this awful, evil situation. I'm also not walking away from a life and a man. When something this horrible happens, it's hard to hear yourself think -- it's impossible for me to hear anything. I won't add to the noise. If you want to read instant and strong opinions about Penn State and Joe Paterno, I can assure you there is no shortage of howling there."

Penn State does the right thing

2011-11-09T22:25:00.006-05:00

Penn State -- finally -- has done something right in the child-abuse sex scandal that has rocked the football program. The school fired Joe Paterno, its football coach for the past 46 years, on Wednesday night. This action came only a few hours after Paterno, 84, had announced he would retire -- but at the end of the season.

As I wrote in my column for Wednesday's newspaper, Paterno didn't fulfill his moral obligation when he was told of an eyewitness account of an alleged sexual assault committed by his longtime former assistant, Jerry Sandusky, on a 10-year-old child in the Penn State football facility's showers in 2002. (At the time, Sandusky was retired but still had the run of the Penn State facility -- the eyewitness was a Penn State graduate assistant).

Paterno said in a statement Wednesday that in hindsight he wished he had done more -- he told the school's athletic director about the alleged 2002 incident but not the police. As of early Wednesday, Paterno planned to coach the Nittany Lions against Nebraska Saturday.

Penn State's board of trustees, however, didn't think that was enough and severed ties with Paterno immediately. The school's president, Graham Spanier, also was fired Wednesday night. The athletic director Paterno reported the alleged sexual assault to was already gone.

The fallout will undoubtedly continue, but this was a necessary step. I was in the studio of WFNZ's excellent afternoon radio show with Taylor Zarzour and Marc James Wednesday afternoon, talking for an hour mostly about Paterno. It didn't matter that it wasn't a local topic per se; it seemed to be what every caller wanted to weigh in on.

When the co-hosts asked me point-blank if Paterno should be coaching Saturday against Nebraska -- if retiring at the end of the season was really enough -- I had to think about it for a second. I had just wanted him out; I hadn't thought as much about the timing of it.

Then I said I hoped Paterno wouldn't be coaching Saturday, that when you want to clean house, you might as well get started sooner rather than later.

Penn State's house is badly stained, and it needs to be cleaned up. This was a beginning, but in no way is it the end.

Paterno retires -- and he should

2011-11-09T11:10:00.002-05:00

I wrote my controversial column for Wednesday's newspaper about Joe Paterno, who in my opinion didn't fulfill his moral obligation in the Penn State scandal and therefore should retire.

Paterno has released a statement today saying he will retire at the end of the season.

I have received a ton of phone calls and emails today, and there are close to 100 comments below the column itself. This is a deeply divisive issue -- it wasn't Paterno who allegedly committed these heinous crimes, after all, it was his longtime trusted assistant Jerry Sandusky. But Paterno didn't do enough to report one particular horrific alleged incident when it was brought to him in 2002, and that's why I think his time has come and gone.

I take no pleasure today in the fact that Paterno -- who is 84 and has 409 victories, the most of any major-college coach -- is retiring. But it is the right thing for him to do.

Panthers make right move after marijuana charge

2011-11-08T17:28:00.003-05:00

I think the Panthers did the right thing today releasing rookie linebacker Lawrence Wilson, who had marijuana in his car last week when he was stopped on Interstate 85 near Salisbury for speeding.

Wilson admitted he had the pot in his car in an interview with our Joseph Person Monday, but disputed that he had as much as Rowan County sheriff's deputies said he did. Still, as Wilson said: "Weed's weed, no matter how much you've got."

Indeed it is. "Weed's weed" is one of those quotes I think is going to stick with me for awhile, but luckily Wilson won't be sticking with the Panthers.

Look, the guy was on the practice squad anyway -- it's not like the Panthers are releasing a star. Still, though, the Panthers are trying to do the right thing here. As Panther coach Ron Rivera said Monday: "We don't need distractions like this."

No, they don't. I do feel some sympathy for Wilson, who started crying after he was stopped. Obviously, he knew he messed up.

But Wilson and the rest of the Panthers had been warned only hours ago by Rivera to behave during the bye week. He didn't, and he paid the price.

Panthers by the numbers entering Tennessee game

2011-11-08T11:11:00.005-05:00

Some interesting Panther numbers as the team prepares for the start of the second half of its season, vs. 4-4 Tennessee Sunday at home:

1 -- TDs scored by Tennessee running back Chris Johnson, who has had a terrible year so far by his standards after getting a huge contract (3.0 rushing average, 366 yards -- only 47 more than Cam Newton).

3 -- NFL teams with fewer wins the 2-6 Panthers (0-9 Indianapolis, 1-7 St. Louis and 1-7 Miami)

7 -- Charles Johnson's number of sacks through eight games, which ties "Big Money" for sixth in the NFL in that category.

27 -- The Panthers' defensive rank in rushing yards allowed per game. They are giving up 133.2 per game and will try not to be the defense Chris Johnson gets well against Sunday.

42 -- Yards that Steve Smith trails New England's Wes Welker by for the overall NFL receiving yardage lead (960 to 918).

299.1 -- Newton's average passing yards per game, which now ranks him fifth behind the four quarterbacks averaging 300-plus (Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers and Philip Rivers).

Should Panther fans stand or sit and when?

2011-11-06T21:19:00.005-05:00

(UPDATE from Scott: This subject proved to be so divisive and drew so many comments Monday that I wrote an extended column about it for Tuesday's newspaper, including what the Panthers' official policy is on the stand-vs.-sit debate. Here's the link).

I got an interesting email from Eileen, who sits in Section 115 at all the Panther games, the other day. Since the Panthers have another home game next Sunday against Tennessee, I thought I'd share it and see what you think. Eileen believes, basically, that most fans at Bank of America Stadium -- and the stadium staff -- want people in their seats most all the time, and she takes exception to this.

Here's Eileen's letter:

"Longtime Panther fan here who has gone to just about all home games since the very beginning. I've noticed lately, that more and more fans are yelling at other fans to sit down during the games.

"Now, I'm not talking about excessive standing or inconsiderately blocking the view of a small child, senior citizen, or handicapped person. I'm talking about that they don't seem to want you to stand AT ALL. Not even when we are on D and it's third down? Or when we score? Stadium staff seems to be enforcing this as I have seen them tell fans to sit down!

"Just curious if you have had anybody else comment about this or what the majority's opinion might be? I want to be a courteous fan but I can't help but think that If you want to sit down for the whole game... STAY HOME ON YOUR COUCH and watch it on TV." (End of letter)

OK, I'm back.... Well, as that the old fight song says, "Sit and Cheer for the Panthers." No wait, that's not it. Anyway.... So what do yall think of Eileen's letter?

Would you rather sit, stand, or somewhere in between for the three hours of a normal Panthers game? Have you had experiences, good or bad, with people standing or sitting too much around you at a Panther game?

Please keep the comments clean, and if you will, when you do comment include the section where your PSLs are if you have them.

A TV show Panther fans shouldn't miss and other Friday notes

2011-11-04T08:54:00.007-04:00

This is the day I traditionally post my forecast of Sunday's Panthers game. But for the only time in a 17-week period, the Panthers don't play Sunday due to their bye week. This is something of a relief, since I can guarantee for once I won't miss the outcome -- I've misfired on the last three Panther games in a row. In the meantime, a few notes:

1) If you missed the "Turning Point" NFL Films show Thursday night on Versus, you need to tune into it Saturday at 5 p.m. if you are a Panther fan. It will re-air on NBC that day, so whether you have cable or not, you can see it, and you should.

NFL Films had coach Ron Rivera miked up for the game -- there's a cool conversation he has with one NFL official in the pregame about Cam Newton -- and also caught some good sideline dialogue involving Steve Smith and others for the Panthers-Minnesota game.

The first 20 minutes or so of the hour-long show focuses mostly on last week's game. I was impressed by Rivera's sideline demeanor. The coach mutters "He missed it" when Olindo Mare hooks the 31-yarder that would have sent the game into overtime, but quickly rebounds and tells Mare "Keep your head up" as he comes off the field. He mostly tells players "Do your job, Do your job" as they head onto the field and comes across as calm and in charge.

The slow-motion highlights, though, are reason enough to watch -- practically every big play Newton and Smith have had all season is shown, and that's a lot of big plays. It's really good stuff. Again, Saturday at 5 p.m. on NBC -- tape it or watch it (the Panther section only lasts about the first 20 minutes).

2) Here's my column from today on the verbal jabs from UNC interim football coach Everett Withers and N.C. State head coach Tom O'Brien, in which I call Withers' words silly and short-sighted.

3) Pro Football Talk has an interesting story today about how the Panthers drafting Newton No.1 ended up paying off for Buffalo quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who just signed a big contract. Buffalo had its eye on Newton at No.3, see, and Fitzpatrick then wouldn't have gotten a new deal.

4) Our Rick Bonnell has a nice piece in today's Charlotte Observer about what might have been had the Bobcats opened their regular season as scheduled vs. Milwaukee tonight. I still think there will be an NBA season this year, but I don't think they'll try to squeeze in 82 games anymore -- maybe more like 60-70.

Withers doesn't have a leg to stand on -- and O'Brien is understandably furious

2011-11-03T08:45:00.009-04:00

Oh c'mon, Everett Withers. Really?

Withers, who is serving as North Carolina's interim head football coach, took some verbal shots at N.C. State Wednesday in a taped radio interview with Joe Ovies of Raleigh's 99.9 "The Fan."

N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien responded angrily to what Withers said today -- read on for some of those comments or listen to them here.

But first, the setup: Particularly, Withers questioned the "academic environment" at N.C. State, which is laughable considering the Tar Heels are the ones who fired their coach Butch Davis just before the 2011 season due to the fallout of an academic scandal. In fact, UNC is waiting right now to hear word from the NCAA as to what its punishment is going to be after an investigation into the football program.

Yet Withers said in the radio interview: "When you have as many schools in this state as we have, and the recruiting base gets watered down a bit, I think the kids in this state need to know the flagship school in this state. They need to know it academically. If you look at our graduation rates, as opposed to our opponent's this week [N.C. State], graduation rates for athletics, football, you'll see a difference.... If you look at the educational environment here, I think you'll see a difference."

Withers was apparently referring to the fact that, according to data provided by the NCAA for the freshman class of 2004, UNC's football team had a graduation success rate of 75 percent compared to 56 percent for N.C. State. UNC's federal graduation rate, which doesn't count transfers or players who left early, was at 58 percent compared to 50 percent for N.C. State.

All of which is well and good, but again.... UNC has been involved in an NCAA investigation that includes what the NCAA defined as academic fraud!! Jennifer Wiley, a former university tutor and once an employee of Davis's, was accused of three major violations herself! It was only last Friday that UNC officials had to go to Indianapolis for a hearing held by the NCAA's Committee on Infractions.

In other words, Withers doesn't have a leg to stand on in this argument. The Tar Heels have long claimed the academic high ground. But for now, because of the actions of a few, that claim has to be forfeited as far as the football program is concerned. N.C. State fans and players are likely incensed by these comments.

O'Brien certainly is. When asked about Withers' comments Thursday, O'Brien responded by referring to UNC officials’ trip to Indianapolis last Friday to appear in front of the Committee on Infractions to answer charges of nine major violations in an ongoing NCAA investigation of impermissible benefits and academic fraud

“Here is a guy that’s on a football staff that ends up in Indianapolis,” O’Brien said. “. . .If you take three things that you can’t do in college football, you have an agent on your staff. You’re paying your players. And you have academic fraud. That’s a triple play as far as the NCAA goes. So I don’t know that he has anything to talk about or they have anything to talk about. If that’s what people want in their flagship university in North Carolina, then so be it.”

After being asked what he meant by “paying your players,” O'Brien indicated that he was referring to the impermissible benefits players received.

“They had players accepting money from somebody,” O’Brien said. “I mean, money is being given from someone to somebody, that’s been documented, right? I don’t know how it got there. Maybe I’m wrong saying that. But those are no-nos as far as the NCAA goes.”

And there was one more shot from O'Brien, too.

“At our school, A number one, all classes have a syllabus,” O’Brien said. “Our guys go to school. They’re not given grades, and they graduate. It’s a little tougher here, if you have to go to school and you’re expected to have a syllabus and go to class. So I think all our guys earn everything they get here. Certainly our graduates earn everything at this university."

How can Panthers' stadium experience be improved?

2011-11-03T08:37:00.004-04:00

I wrote my column today on whether Cam Newton should make the Pro Bowl -- expanding my blog post from Wednesday into a full-length column.

My bottom line was that if I had to vote today, I wouldn't vote Newton for the Pro Bowl. You can pick three quarterbacks from the NFC, and I would pick Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Matthew Stafford. But Newton would be my fourth choice -- and the No.4 quarterback actually gets to play in the Pro Bowl a majority of the time, because one of the top three is either gearing up for the Super Bowl or hurt.

As for other Panther news, the team has decided it's time to renovate Bank of America Stadium and has hired an architectural firm for a year-long study on how best to do that. "The major emphasis will be on improving the fan experience," Panther president Danny Morrison told our own Joe Person about this. But Morrison offered few other details.

OK.... so if that's the case, how would YOU like to see the fan experience improved at B of A Stadium? The stadium opened in 1996, so it's 16 years old and showing its age a bit, although still plenty good enough I think to host the team for decades to come.

I would certainly think the stadium needs a technological upgrade, however. The "new" video boards were an improvement four years ago, but still not to the level of what I see at many stadiums around the country. And the scoreboard could use some work and expansion, for sure. I am sure there are other things you can think of that I can't.

Again, a warning to keep the comments clean. They stayed mostly that way for yesterday's blog post on Cam Newton -- thanks to the 95 percent of you who had thoughtful things to say -- but by the end degenerated too far and I had to hide all the comments as a result of that.

Should Cam Newton make the Pro Bowl?

2011-11-02T08:41:00.007-04:00

The NFL's official website is already taking fan votes on who should make the Pro Bowl this season (here's the link if you want to vote).

And while it seems too early, you have to bear in mind that both the NBA and MLB basically select their all-stars based on a half-season of play as well. In the NFL, the fans' vote counts for one third of the total vote, with coaches' votes and players' votes counting a third apiece as well (the players and coaches won't vote for about a month -- the game is in Hawaii the week before the Super Bowl, meaning anyone who is about to play in the Super Bowl won't go and an alternate will be selected).

So my question to you today is:

Should Cam Newton make the Pro Bowl?

Here are the facts as I see them:

The NFC will have three quarterbacks on its roster for the Pro Bowl (often, the fourth quarterback in voting ends up playing, since one of the three often is hurt or in the Super Bowl).

There is one shoo-in. Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers not only should be selected as the starter but should end up being this season's NFL MVP. He's quarterbacking an undefeated team, he has 20 touchdown passes and only three interceptions -- he's smack in the middle of his prime, playing better than anyone in the league.

For No.2 quarterback I'd pick Drew Brees. He's had some interception problems this season (throwing 10) but he still is a surgical quarterback and one of the best in the league. While it's been somewhat of a down year for Brees, his standards are so high. Having watched him firsthand for a number of years I still think he's all-star worthy, and he leads the NFL in passing yardage.

But you could argue for a number of quarterbacks other than Rodgers for spots 2 and 3. Here are the primary contenders besides Brees:

Eli Manning, NY Giants: 13 passing TDs, 5 interceptions, a QB rating second only to Rodgers in NFC.

Matthew Stafford, Detroit: 19 passing TDs, 4 interceptions, leading Detroit to a breakout season.

Michael Vick, Philadelphia: 11 passing TDs, 8 interceptions, leads all QBs in rushing yardage per game at 60.3 (Newton is slightly under 40 per game).

Alex Smith, San Francisco: 9 passing TDs, 2 interceptions, modest numbers but the 49ers are 6-1.

Tony Romo, Dallas: 11 TDs, 7 interceptions, has made some big plays and big errors so far this season.

Cam Newton, Carolina: 11 passing TDs, 9 interceptions, 7 rushing TDs (tied for third in the NFL among all players), 2393 passing yards (second only to Brees in the NFL), leads NFL in pass plays over 20 yards (40), but Carolina is only 2-6 -- a worse record than any of the other QBs I'd put under consideration.

The Panthers will definitely have some offensive representation at this year's Pro Bowl. Steve Smith is a lock. Jordan Gross and Ryan Kalil are likely -- both linemen played in the game last year.

But what about Newton? Too much, too soon? Too many turnovers? Not enough wins? Or is his dazzling talent worthy of a Pro Bowl slot in his rookie year?

Remember, you can vote here. NOTE: I've had to disable the comments for this blog post -- thanks to the 95 percent of readers who kept it clean, wrote thoughtful posts and remembered that this blog is also read by many young students. Unfortunately, about 5 percent of the commenters were so profane -- and those popped up so frequently -- that I eventually had to shut them down.

Oh, if only the 49ers would do this too...

2011-11-01T16:46:00.004-04:00

That's great news today about the new football field for the Charlotte 49ers being named for sports and corporate icons Hugh McColl and Jerry Richardson. That the 49ers' field will be called McColl-Richardson Field sounds cool -- and very "Charlotte-y."

Both men have done so much for this community and I'm glad they have thrown their collective weight behind the 49ers' new venture (the school starts actually playing football in 2013).

Now I'm sure the press conference was very nice (I wasn't there), but here's something I also wish that McColl, Richardson and the 49ers could combine on a hilarious rap video like this one, which Bowling Green put together in a very similar situation to celebrate its new basketball arena called the Stroh Center that opens later this month.

The video is worth watching, I promise. But if you don't have time, let's just say that Bowling Green (which put all this together in an official but very entertaining sort of way) had a whole lot of fun and has garnered more than 100,000 hits on YouTube by doing the video.

The video disrespects no one, makes you laugh aloud at least a few times and has gotten a fairly obscure college like Bowling Green all sorts of good publicity. It has been featured on ESPN, in USA Today and a number of other places.

If the 49ers could do something similar at some point and it ended up going viral -- Richardson and McColl would have to play along of course -- it would be something else. Surely there is a rapper as talented as this guy -- he's a sophomore at Bowling Green -- on the Charlotte 49ers' campus somewhere.

Panthers by the numbers after Week 8

2011-11-01T09:51:00.005-04:00

Some significant numbers for the 2-6 Carolina Panthers halfway through the season (my "midpoint of the season" column can be found here):

0 -- Number of Panther running backs in the top 30 in the NFL in rushing yards per game (DeAngelo Williams ranks highest, at No.32, with 45.4 yards per game).

11 -- Passing TDs for the Panthers this season. Carolina had nine passing TDs in all of 2010.

14 and 31 -- The Panthers' longest punt return and kickoff return, respectively, this season. The opponents' corresponding numbers are 89 (punt) and 78 (kickoff).

25.9 -- The number of points per game the Panthers have allowed. That is fifth-worst in the NFL. The Panthers have held an opponent under 20 points only once in eight games.

40 -- Number of passes Cam Newton has completed that have gone for 20 or more yards in the Panthers' vertical passing attack. That's No.1 in the NFL. The next highest is Houston's Matt Schaub, with 34.

65 -- Penalties called on the Panthers through eight games. This is second-worst in the NFL only to Oakland, which has 69. Some of the blame must go on the coaching staff for this stat. (Carolina is also second in yards penalized, with 560 compared to Oakland's 600).

2289 -- Total number of passing yards for Carolina last season in an entire 16-game season.

2393 -- Total number of passing yards for Cam Newton through eight games this season.

Bests and worsts from Panthers' loss to Vikings

2011-10-30T17:37:00.005-04:00

Going to extremes as Carolina drops another heartbreaker, 24-21, at home to Minnesota Sunday. The Panthers dropped to 2-6 entering their bye week (also, here's a link to the video Panthers beat writer Joe Person and I did following the game to recap the painful loss):

Worst yank: Olindo Mare missed a 31-yard field goal that would have tied the game and sent it into overtime with 29 seconds to go.

Best fourth-down play: Facing a fourth-and-15 from his own 35 with 1:09 to go, Cam Newton fired a strike to Brandon LaFell, who turned it into a 44-yard play to set up the final dramatics.

Worst offensive run: The Panthers had three straight three-and-outs in the second half, which helped wear down their defense and also meant that their 21-14 lead disappeared.

Best run defense: Carolina did a fairly admirable job on Adrian Peterson, who got 86 yards in 21 carries but never had a run of longer than 15 yards. On the other hand, Peterson hurt Carolina several times in the passing game, gaining 76 more yards on five short receptions.

Best stats in a losing cause: Cam Newton had 290 yards passing, three TDs, no interceptions and a QB rating of 117.6. And he lost. It didn't help, however, that he also lost his first two fumbles of the season (Minnesota would turn both into TDs).

Worst penalty: Steve Smith was flagged for holding on that final drive when a Newton run had gotten Carolina to a first-and-goal inside the Minnesota 10. Smith didn't like the call, nor did coach Ron Rivera.

Worst prediction: Unlike last year's team, in which you could almost always pick the Panthers correctly by choosing them to lose, this one is quite unpredictable to me. I've now missed the Panthers' result the past three weeks in a row -- I picked them to beat Minnesota. The only way I can guarantee that it won't be four straight Sundays is the Panthers have a bye Nov.6th.

Worst tackle: Chris Gamble missed a critical, one-on-one third-down tackle against Minnesota's Percy Harvin that helped the Vikings immensely in the fourth quarter on their field-goal drive that ultimately won the game.

Some mid-game notes from Panthers-Vikings

2011-10-30T15:27:00.002-04:00

-- Carolina's Cam Newton hadn't lost a fumble all season until Sunday. He lost two in the first half, both of them leading to Vikings touchdowns.

-- Adrian Peterson is such a good running back that he seemed to be bottled up through most of the first three quarters (it was 21-all entering the fourth) and yet he also scored twice.

-- Gorgeous day in the stadium. I went to the top row of the 500 Section to get a feel for the atmosphere, and the fans were really into it.

-- The Panthers continue to have problems defending the tight end on pass plays up the middle of the field.

Panthers-Vikings thoughts -- and a prediction

2011-10-28T09:29:00.002-04:00

The Panthers and Vikings play about every other year, aren’t division rivals and don’t have a huge history.

I do vividly remember two plays from these teams’ nine games, however. Longtime Panther fans may remember them, too.

The first one came in 2001. In the first game of his NFL career, about to touch the ball for the first time, a kick returner named Steve Smith was already angry. I know you’re stunned.

Smith told me long ago that a Vikings’ special-teamer had disrespected him before the game, referring to Smith’s college by telling him: “This ain’t Utah no more, son.”

“That was the wrong thing to say,” Smith said. The first time he touched the ball in a real NFL game, he returned it 93 yards for a touchdown. Carolina won that game and then lost the next 15 in a row. Hardly anyone from that game is still playing now. But Smith is, no longer returning kicks but leading the NFL in reception yards.

-- The other play I remember from this series came in 1997. The game was tied in the fourth quarter and Minnesota was at the Carolina 3 when Vikings quarterback Brad Johnson dropped back and threw. The ball was swatted by Panther nose tackle Greg Kragen.

End of play, right? Nope. Johnson caught the deflection and then ran into the end zone.

The official play-by-play read: “Johnson 3 pass from Johnson.” I guess fantasy footballers got double credit if they had played Johnson that day. Minnesota then won the game.

-- Panther defensive end Charles Johnson dressed up for a Halloween costume party this week as Chewbacca of “Star Wars” fame. Johnson said that the judging must have been rigged, however, because somehow his costume didn’t win.
“Chewbacca? That’s classic,” Johnson said.

-- The Panthers’ ability – or inability -- to stop Adrian Peterson will be the game’s biggest key Sunday. I think Cam Newton will outplay Christian Ponder, but that advantage could be negated if Peterson goes for 150.

-- Here's my story on Antwan Applewhite from today -- Applewhite has made a solid impact in under a month as a Panther.

-- Don’t set too much stock in my prediction. I’ve missed the Panther outcome the past two weeks in a row, dropping my record over the past 22 Carolina games to 16-6. But I think the final score Sunday will be Carolina 30, Minnesota 21.

The best baseball game I've ever seen

2011-10-28T09:06:00.003-04:00

I don't like to watch baseball very much.

But oh man, I loved last night.

The St. Louis Cardinals' 10-9, 11-inning World Series win against the Texas Rangers was the best baseball game I've ever seen -- a remarkable series of comebacks that culminated in a walk-off home run by the Cardinals' David Freese to force tonight's Game 7. I thought Jayson Stark of espn.com offered a nice synopsis of it here.

There's no way whatever happens tonight in St. Louis, however, will top Game 6 for sheer drama. Twice the Cardinals were down not only to their last out, but literally to their last strike. The Rangers' players were poised on the top step of the dugout, ready to sprint onto the field and celebrate. And twice the Cardinals came through with base hits that tied the game.

Texas led five -- five! -- different times during the game, including 7-5 going into the bottom of the ninth and 9-7 going into the bottom of the tenth. And still, the Cardinals kept coming, scoring two runs in each of those innings and then getting the Freese walk-off to win it. That Freese actually grew up in St. Louis rooting for the Cardinals made it even more storybook.

As the game kept going well past midnight, I wanted to go to bed. I needed to go to bed. I couldn't go to bed.

I don't really have a dog in the fight. Until age 9, I grew up in Austin, Texas and was a Rangers fan, but I can't pretend that I really kept up with the team with any zeal once we moved to South Carolina. I usually find major-league baseball too slow for my taste, with a too-long season to compound matters.

My father-in-law is a diehard Cardinals fan, though, and a number of my relatives who are still in Texas are big-time Rangers fan. So I'll feel good for someone whatever happens tonight.

But last night was something amazing -- a game that just kept topping itself, piling one adjective on top of another. I'm sleepy today, but it was worth it. If you like sports, even just a little bit, you had to love Game 6.

Cam Newton's advice to kids and other notes

2011-10-27T10:16:00.004-04:00

A few notes as the Panthers draw closer to their 1 p.m. game with Minnesota:
1) Joe Person and I offer a video preview of the Minnesota game here, which includes an interview clip of Cam Newton saying the Panthers could be “undefeated” right now if not for his turnovers.

2) If you haven’t checked out my blog item right before this one, you owe it to yourself to at least read the comments. There are close to 200 of them now, and they are well-reasoned and sometimes very funny responses to the controversial theory of a passionate Washington Redskins fan who lives in Charlotte about why no Panther fan 23 years old or older should be trusted. It’s a great debate. Thanks to everyone who contributed such thoughtful responses – I read every one of them -- and thanks, too, for keeping those responses clean.

3) Cam Newton, who started playing football at around seven years old, was asked Wednesday what advice he had for kids who wanted to follow in his footsteps. I thought he gave a good response to the question, and here’s an excerpt:

“Have fun,” Newton said. “I think during my whole journey to where I’m at right now, I’ve seen so many people get burned out. And that’s a large part due to parents, a large part due to pressure…. “Have dreams. Set goals. Stick to it.

“It’s like if you go to Wal-Mart and you [want to] make a playhouse, you’re not just going to do it blindly. You need a manual. So you have to look at something and set dreams, and that’s going to be your blueprint to success. And have fun doing it. The day you’re not having fun that’s the day you should just stop doing what you do.

"I can honestly say I love coming and waking up in morning and playing football…. Special thanks to my kindergarten teacher that said on career day that you want to wake up and do something you enjoy doing.”

A Redskins fan rips Panther fans ages 23 and over

2011-10-26T10:37:00.003-04:00

I got an email from a passionate Washington Redskins fan I wanted to share with you. He lives in Charlotte and believes that any Panther fan 23 or over can't be trusted. This doesn't have anything to do with the result of Sunday's game -- although he did go to that one and was obviously unhappy with the result. It's more of an overall theory. I'll let him explain -- his letter is in italics below.

I'm going to let him remain anonymous for this, although I can tell you it's a real person I'm familiar with, as I don't want the extreme edge of the Panther base to decide to harass him or something. Everyone, after all, is entitled to an opinion.

Feel free to comment on this rather provocative theory below, but keep it CLEAN. I don't want to have to hide and disable the comments, but will if I must.

From A Passionate Redskins Fan in Charlotte... To the readers of the "Scott Says" blog:

"I have a theory that I have expressed to several people, but no one has yet given me a reason why my theory is incorrect or otherwise poked any holes in it. Here it is: I don’t trust drinking-age Panther fans. The Panthers started in 1995. That’s 16 years ago. That means that one of two realities is true for anyone over or about 23 years old (who would have been 8 years old when the Panthers started) who is a Panthers fan:

1 -- They were the fan of another team and then just abandoned them when the Panthers came along. Imagine: You’re 40, the Panthers come along, and you ditch your favorite team. Blasphemy. That really shows a lack of trustworthiness, loyalty, character.

OR...

2 -- The person didn’t have a favorite team. That might even be worse. A 30-year-old who doesn’t like a football team? How can you trust them to commit to a person or a cause if they are an adult and don’t have a favorite football team?

At a minimum, they are wishy-washy. At most, they are something much, much worse. Seems to me that those are the only 2 possibilities for adult Panther fans. As such, I don’t trust either.

Obviously, it is perfectly acceptable for a person under the age of about 22 to be a Panthers fan because that’s been the local team since they were young.

So what do yall think about that theory? And keep it clean!

Carolina Panthers by the numbers after Week 7

2011-10-25T15:08:00.004-04:00

Some interesting stats as the Panthers (2-5) head into Sunday's 1 p.m. home game against Minnesota (1-6):

7 -- Cam Newton is the first NFL player to have at least seven rushing TDs and seven passing TDs in the first seven games of his career.

8-for-8 -- This got lost in the shuffle Sunday, but Newton went a perfect 8-for-8 for 152 yards and a touchdown in the second half against Washington. He led the Panthers on three TD drives and had a perfect QB rating of 158.3 during the second half.

11.5 -- Minnesota defensive end Jared Allen's sack total this season, which easily leads the NFL.

14 -- Panther defensive end Charles Johnson has 14 sacks over his past 14 games.

41 -- The number of plays the Panthers' offense has had of 20 or more yards this season (35 passes, six runs). Carolina leads the NFL in these "explosive" plays (Oakland is second, with 37). The Panthers had only 44 such plays all of last season, which ranked them tied for last in the NFL in that category.

51 -- According to the Minnesota Vikings, this will be the first time in the team's 51-year history that the Vikings have played a team and both squads have started a rookie at quarterback. Minnesota will start its own first-round draft pick, Christian Ponder, on Sunday.

80 -- You know all the fuss about Cam Newton setting a new Panther record for a rushing touchdown by a quarterback with his 16-yard TD Sunday? He's got a long way to go for the stadium record in the same category. If you remember Kordell "Slash" Stewart, he sprinted 80 yards for a TD against Carolina in the December 1996 game best remembered for Chad Cota's game-saving interception.

712 -- Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson's rushing yards so far this season, which ranks No.1 in the NFL.

818 -- Steve Smith's receiving yards this season through seven games, which leads the NFL. New England's Wes Welker, second with 785 yards, has played in one fewer game than Smith. The two receivers have traded the top spot back and forth much of the season.

The kid, the football and Cam Newton

2011-10-25T10:21:00.003-04:00

Law Waddill (left) and Nathan Guptill, who are 10-year-old cousins, plan to share the football Cam Newton handed to Law after Newton scored a 16-yard rushing touchdown against Washington Sunday (Photo courtesy of James Guptill)

My column today was about the football Cam Newton handed into the stands to a 10-year-old kid Sunday during the Panthers-Washington game.

It turns out that the ball is going to be shared between two 10-year-old cousins -- Law Waddill of Raleigh and Nathan Guptill of Charlotte. Four weeks at one house, four at the next. Cam actually handed the ball to Law, but he would never have been at the game except for Nathan and his dad, plus he's a good sharer anyway. I talked to both kids Monday and was impressed at how they handled the situation.

In the meantime, did you notice Sunday when Washington's London Fletcher knocked Newton out of bounds just short of the goal line and then mockingly did Newton's "Superman" rip-off-the-shirt thing -- twice?! That drew a huge roar from the nearby Redskins fans. It won't be the last time Newton's move is mocked, since it's so recognizable (in a way, it's Newton's version of LeBron's pregame chalk toss).

As I wrote in today's column, I hope the ultimate result of Newton's hand-the-football-to-the-kid gesture (which he was coaxed into doing by quarterbacks coach Mike Shula) is that more of that stuff happens at Bank of America Stadium. I know DeAngelo Williams, Steve Smith, Mark Carrier and others have all done similar things after scoring in past years, and I'm sure there are others I am forgetting, but I'd like to see more of it to cement the player-fan bond.

Rivera compares Cam Newton to Walter Payton

2011-10-24T12:36:00.004-04:00

I wrote my column today on Cam Newton, which makes about the 1,657th column I think I've written about the rookie quarterback so far, give or take a couple of hundred.

Newton keeps being newsworthy, though. He had the most efficient game of his young career Sunday, throwing only five incompletions and compiling a 127.5 QB rating in Carolina's 33-20 win over Washington.

Coach Ron Rivera has said previously that Newton has the "It" factor, which is hard to argue. Rivera went further Monday in his "day-after" news conference, comparing Newton's joy and charisma on the field to Walter Payton, the Hall of Fame running back that Rivera played alongside when he was a linebacker with the Chicago Bears.

"The only other player I've seen that has that kind of charisma or charm, in my opinion, was Walter Payton," Rivera said. "I think there's something about guys like that that are special. They love practicing, they love meeting, they love just coming here and being here.

"Walter was the same way," Rivera continued. "He just loved being at the facility, loved to practice, loved his teammates. Treats everybody with the same type of respect. They both have this attitude about losing -- they hate losing. Everything they did was to win. They've always been winners…. It's infectious, and you want that type of feeling all the time."

Rivera also said he thought it was "awesome" that Newton handed the ball to a young boy in a front-row seat after his rushing TD. "We're trying to get our fans to understand and realize that this is a football team that wants to give back," Rivera said.

Bests and worsts from Panthers' win over Washington

2011-10-23T16:22:00.002-04:00

Going to extremes after Carolina improved to 2-5 overall with a 33-20 win over Washington (3-3) in Charlotte before a sellout crowd that really looked like a sellout crowd:

Best quarterback run: It’s tempting to go with Newton’s 16-yard touchdown, but that one was easy compared to the stunning 25-yarder he had to convert a third down in the first quarter. On that carry, Newton held the ball for 14 seconds total, doing a full spin and leaving three tacklers grasping for air before being forced out of bounds.

Best Panther sequence: Early in the third quarter, the Panthers had a three-play thing of beauty. It started with James Anderson’s fourth-down sack, continued with a 37-yard pass from Newton to LaFell and ended with Newton’s 16-yard TD run that provided the first touchdown of the game and opened the floodgates after Carolina led by a scant 9-6 margin at halftime.

Best half: The second, if you like offense. In the first half, we saw five field goals. In the second half, we saw five touchdowns.

Worst defense: Washington entered the game No.1 in the NFL on third-down conversions and fairly high in a number of other categories. But the ‘Skins got shredded by the Panthers and the very efficient Newton in the second half, as Carolina scored touchdowns on its first three possessions on drives of 80, 80 and 65 yards.

Best game for scalpers to make money: This one. Lots of demand for the Carolina-Washington contest, as evidenced by the number of regular folks holding their fingers in the air and trying hard to get tickets before the game began. Usually it’s the other way around, with fans holding extra tickets in their hands, trying to get rid of them.

Worst first-half trend: The Panthers were called for nine penalties for 70 yards in the first half, as they time and again hurt themselves – especially on the defensive side of the ball.

Best ownership contrast: I saw both of these teams’ owners in the pregame. The Panthers’ Jerry Richardson was working the crowd from his golf cart – when I saw him he was chatting with a young boy. The Redskins’ Daniel Snyder, meanwhile, had a phalanx of security guards as he rolled quickly through the pressbox in the pregame.

Worst rule: It’s been said before, but it’s worth saying again. Moving the NFL kickoffs to the 35 was a terrible idea. Olindo Mare and Washington’s Graham Gano simply took turns booting the ball through the end zone on almost every kickoff. The play was once again taken completely out of the game.

Best weather: A sunny October afternoon, with highs in the low 70s. Can’t beat that.

Best gesture: After Newton’s TD run, he gave the ball to a small boy in the stands.

Worst prediction: I can’t predict the Panthers lately to save my life. I picked them to beat Atlanta last week and lose to Washington this week. To quote Britney Spears, “Oops, I did it again.” My 2011 overall preseason prediction for the Panthers – 6-10 – I feel a little more confident about.

Best line, Part I: After a 15-yard penalty on the Panthers’ Captain Munnerlyn, Fox analyst Tim Ryan joked that Munnerlyn might be busted to private.

Best line, Part II: The Panthers’ offensive line, despite giving up four sacks, often gave Newton beautiful protection and blocked well for the run as the Panthers put up a season high in points.

Best field-goal precision: Mare actually had to kick one field goal three times after two straight Panther penalties but still made it from 45 yards (it was originally from 30). He ended up 4-for-4 on the afternoon.

Best receiver: Steve Smith was dominant once again, catching 143 yards worth of passes and spinning the ball after every one.

Best two-play defensive sequence by one guy: Carolina defensive end Antwan Applewhite had a pass deflection and then a sack in which he caused a lost fumble by John Beck on consecutive first-quarter plays.

Best stat: After causing only five turnovers in their first six games, the Panthers’ defense forced three Sunday and the offense didn’t have any.

My pick for Redskins-Panthers and thoughts on the game

2011-10-21T10:11:00.004-04:00

Washington quarterback John Beck is Sunday's mystery man -- a quarterback who is 30 years old but who has even less experience as a starter than Carolina's Cam Newton.

Beck becomes the Redskins' 21st starting quarterback in the past 19 years, which isn't a good statistic if you're a Washington fan. The Redskins have had problems establishing a quarterback basically since Joe Theismann was running the show (Theismann, incidentally, said on a radio show this week he disagreed with the idea of benching Rex Grossman at this point).

Beck, who hasn't started a game since 2007, is more of a running quarterback than the pocket passer Grossman. Panther coach Ron Rivera this week compared Beck to Jake Plummer, who once played quarterback for current Washington coach Mike Shanahan in Denver.

-- Newton likes to say the offense is in the "moving the chains" business, and that will be a challenge Sunday. The Redskins' defense is No.1 in the NFL in third-down conversions, allowing only a 28.8 percent conversion rate.

-- Watch out for No.89 Sunday -- no matter who's on offense. Washington's Santana Moss and Carolina's Steve Smith both wear that number. They also are both 32 years old and can both still burn you deep.

-- If you wanted to make the best guess the final score of Sunday's game, based on history you'd have to go with 20-17. Of the nine times these two teams have met -- with Washington holding a 7-2 edge -- that's been the score in four of the games. Weird.

Eight of those nine games were decided by four points or less. I believe Sunday will be another close one, but I'll steer away from the 20-17 outcome. I'm 16-5 over the Panthers' last 21 games after missing on my upset pick last week -- I incorrectly thought Carolina would beat Atlanta.

This time, I'm basing my pick on the fact that the Skins generally are playing better defense than Carolina is -- I just don't trust the Panthers' defense right now, particularly against the run.

My Sunday pick: Washington 24, Carolina 20.

Duke, UNC, State and college hoops in the Triangle

2011-10-20T11:19:00.003-04:00

I wrote my column today about Harrison Barnes, the UNC forward who may be the best player in college basketball this year and is at least in the conversation.

Barnes was at "Operation Basketball" -- the ACC's annual college basketball preview event. It was in Charlotte this season and provided a one-stop shopping opportunity for reporters to talk to players and coaches from all 12 ACC teams.

It was also interesting to listen to Duke's Ryan Kelly, who didn't lack for confidence. Kelly's Duke team was picked No.2 behind UNC in the media preseason poll (last year, UNC won the regular-season championship and Duke won the tournament title).

Kelly said Duke definitely could win the regular-season title this season, saying: "We believe we can win the ACC. Winning games and winning championships is what we do.”

Kelly said freshman guard Austin Rivers had impressed him so far, too. “He’s a dynamic scorer with a great ability to break down defenders," Kelly said. "There are not many people in the country who have a first step like that.”

And, on Duke itself, Kelly noted: "Some people love us, some people hate us, but everybody knows us."

The same could be said of UNC's program, where three players (Barnes, Tyler Zeller and John Henson) made the preseason all-conference team. N.C. State... not so much.

It was interesting to hear new coach Mark Gottfried talk about the fact that although the Wolfpack can boast of two national championships, the most recent came in 1983 and that doesn't make much of an impact on the 16- or 17-year-old he and his staff might be recruiting these days. (The Wolfpack was picked by the media to finish No.8 in the ACC this season).

Gottfried said N.C. State to today's recruits might not be "fashionable" or "cool," so the program had to "sell the future" more than the present.

It was also interesting to note coach Roy Williams talking about the differences between the '09 Tar Heel national championship team and this current team. "This team simply doesn't have the scoring options that '09 team had," Williams said. He said Harrison Barnes was a natural scorer, that Tyler Zeller was a "great complementary scorer" and that everyone else on the team was also mostly "complementary scorers."

On the other hand, Williams said, this team will be able to defend the basket better than the '09 team and perhaps better than any team he has ever coached.

Carolina Panthers by the numbers after Week 6

2011-10-18T11:35:00.003-04:00

Some significant statistics for the 1-5 Panthers:

4 -- Cam Newton is fourth in the NFL with 1847 passing yards. In all of 2010, Jimmy Clausen had 1558 passing yards.

9 -- Cam Newton's interception total. He is tied for the league lead with Washington's Rex Grossman, so the two could face off Sunday in Charlotte (although Grossman may have lost his job to John Beck with a four-interception game against Philadelphia).

14 -- Steve Smith's receptions of 20 or more yards this season. That ranks first in the NFL in that category; he is second in total reception yardage (675) to New England's Wes Welker (785).

27.2 -- A major problem. That's the number of points the Panthers are giving up per game. Only three NFL teams are worse -- John Fox's Denver Broncos being one of them.

78.3 -- Newton's overall quarterback rating, which was dragged down significantly with Sunday's three-interception performance against Atlanta. It ranks him No.25 in the NFL.

395 -- Number of yards the Panthers have been penalized this season, which is third-worst in the league behind Oakland and Tampa Bay.

418.2 -- Panthers' average offensive yards per game, fifth in the NFL. They've moved the ball with authority between the 20s but continue to have some red-zone problems.

Bests and worsts from Carolina Panthers' loss to Atlanta

2011-10-16T16:52:00.003-04:00

Going to extremes after the Panthers dropped to 1-5 with a 31-17 loss to Atlanta at the Georgia Dome:

Worst quarter: The fourth, for Carolina. The Panthers actually led 17-14 entering the quarter and then got outscored, 17-0.

Best play: Atlanta had several candidates, but I'll go with Falcon defensive tackle Corey Peter's remarkable one-handed interception of a Cam Newton screen pass. With the Panthers down 24-17 and needing a touchdown desperately at the time, that was the kiss of death.

Worst QB rating: Newton set the all-time low of his young career with a 44.6 rating, fueled mostly by his three interceptions.

Best QB run: Newton scrambled very well throughout the game, and his 14-yard improvised run for a TD on third down was a beauty that gave Carolina its brief 17-14 lead.

Worst prediction: I actually thought the Panthers would win this game and said as much on this blog and in The Charlotte Observer. Instead, the Panthers lost for the first time this season by more than 7 points.

Best running back: Atlanta's Michael Turner. He killed the Panthers last year, scoring four times in two games, and hit that average again Sunday with two TDs as well as 139 rushing yards.

Worst luck: The Panthers came down on the wrong side of a couple of deflected passes. Early in the game, Greg Hardy knocked one of Matt Ryan's in the air, but the Falcons caught it for a short gain. Then just before halftime, the Falcons knocked one of Newton's in the air in the red zone and intercepted it. Had it not been deflected, it likely would have hit Steve Smith for a touchdown.

Best catch: Legedu Naanee, who I have criticized a number of times in this blog, had two superb catches the two times he was targeted by Newton. But he also committed a critical holding penalty in the fourth quarter.

Worst trend: The Panthers had two first-half pass interference penalties in the end zone that resulted in the ball being placed at the 1 -- one of them on Charles Godfrey and the other on Chris Gamble.

Best elevator companions: For some reason, the Falcons really draw some celebs to their games. I rode up the elevator to the press box in a crowd along with Deion Sanders (who was being honored at halftime) and movie star Vince Vaughn. On the way down, comedian Billy Crystal was in the elevator. Of the three, Vaughn turned out to be the most talkative.

Worst stat: Turnover margin. The Panthers never caused a Falcons turnover, which meant that the offense was always having to go 80 yards to think about scoring. Atlanta, on the other hand, had three turnovers (all on Newton interceptions) and also caused Jeremy Shockey and Steve Smith to fumble, although the Falcons didn't get either one of those. Still, ball security was a huge issue for Carolina.

Halftime thoughts on Falcons-Panthers

2011-10-16T14:33:00.003-04:00

Atlanta and Carolina have played an interesting first half full on long scoring drives, with the Falcons leading 14-10 at halftime.

Carolina is having a hard time defending Michael Turner, who has 11 carries for 62 yards. The game has featured 3 TD drives of 80 yards or longer -- 2 by the Falcons, who are getting a controlled, no-mistakes passing effort from Matt Ryan.

Carolina actually has more yardage at halftime (193-165) but one play was the difference. Down 14-10 but with a first-and-goal at the Atlanta 10, Cam Newton tried to zing a pass into Steve Smith. Instead, it was tipped into the air by one Atlanta defensive back and intercepted by another.

At worst, without the turnover, Carolina would surely have gotten a field goal out of the drive.

One positive sign: On first-and-goal from the 1, Carolina ran Jonathan Stewart (instead of Newton) and he bulled his way in for the Panthers' only TD.

Picking a Panthers upset over Atlanta

2011-10-15T14:03:00.004-04:00

What's going on with Atlanta right now reminds me a lot of what the Carolina Panthers experienced in 2008 and 2009.

First, you have an incredible regular season to secure a playoff bye. For the Falcons, it was 2010, when they went 13-3 and earned the No.1 NFC seed in the playoffs. For the Panthers, it was 2008 when they went 12-4 and grabbed the No.2 seed.

Then, you blow a home playoff game badly against a hot wildcard team that would wind up in the Super Bowl. For the Panthers, it was a 33-13 loss to Arizona that spelled the beginning of the end for Jake Delhomme. For Atlanta, it was the 48-21 thumping Green Bay handed the Falcons on its way to the Super Bowl and a win over Pittsburgh.

Then you begin the next regular season like you still have a hangover, even though the talent is very similar. Carolina would end up 8-8 in 2009. The Falcons are 2-3 so far in 2011 after being picked by many to make the Super Bowl.

-- How could Carolina win Sunday? First of all, the Panthers must stop Michael Turner. The bruising running back has been a pain for Carolina for years. He had 179 rushing yards and four TDs in two Atlanta victories last year. Another time, in 2008, he scored four TDs against the Panthers in one game.

If the Panthers play run defense like they did last week against New Orleans, they've got a shot. But if Turner gets more than 100 yards today, they are in trouble.

-- Cam Newton grew up in the Atlanta area and was a Falcons fan growing up. He had a funny line this week when asked how he was going to deal with all the friends and relatives wanting tickets from him this week.
"Stubhub.com," Newton said, referring to the online ticketing site.

-- Watch DeAngelo Williams Sunday. He had his first 100-yard rushing game since 2009 last week, and he always looks faster on artificial turf to me.

-- I came closer to hitting a final score than I have last week in awhile, choosing New Orleans to win 33-27 in a game the Saints ultimately won, 30-27. That made me 16-4 over the past 20 games picking Panther outcomes.

Today I'm going with the Panthers in an upset. I think coach Ron Rivera and his team are due to win one of these close games. My prediction: Carolina 27, Atlanta 21.

　

Harper fined 15K for hit on Steve Smith: Was it enough?

2011-10-13T10:47:00.007-04:00

New Orleans safety Roman Harper has been fined $15,000, according to an ESPN.com report, for his late hit on Panther wide receiver Steve Smith in Sunday's 30-27 New Orleans win.

If you saw the play Sunday, you can't forget it. Smith out-jumped Jabari Greer for the ball at the Saints' 30. Greer fell down, which left Smith coasting into the end zone for the last few yards and a touchdown. Harper came and blasted No.89 three yards deep in the end zone, drawing a 15-yard penalty and igniting a full-scale brawl.

Was $15,000 enough? I would say no, not quite, although I'm glad the NFL took action here. Other hits sometimes draw bigger fines from the NFL, and this one should have.

While Smith wasn't entirely in "defenseless receiver" mode when he got hit, it was close. And someone else easily could have been hurt in the resulting scuffle that Panther coach Ron Rivera said he was "very pleased with" at his Monday news conference.

"We are not going to take it," Rivera said. "Like I said before, we may be the little brothers and we may get punched around a little bit but we are not going to take it. We are going to fight back. I was very proud of them for that."

Harper did not apologize after the game for hitting Smith, saying: "If you're going to score, go score. But a guy is not going to try and just walk it in on us like that. You're going to have to pay for it as you get past the goal line."

Now Harper is the one paying.

Smith, who did not immediately fight after the hit but later got locked up with another Saint in the ensuing scuffle, said after the game of Harper's hit: "I don’t really understand it, the reason why. But that’s his game. That’s his thing, him personally, he wants to intimidate.

"You know I wanted to respond," Smith continued. "I just took the high road and then all of a sudden the other guys came down there and I was right in the thick of it… People say I’m unpredictable. But I’ve grown up a little bit."

Fox and Tebow: A shotgun marriage

2011-10-12T10:13:00.003-04:00

We interrupt our regularly scheduled local programming to bring you an update from Denver, Colorado, where head coach John Fox has made the unlikely move of installing Tim Tebow as the Denver Broncos' new starting quarterback.

It's hard for me to believe Fox has done this, but I believe he must have felt painted into a corner. I've kept up with what the nine-year Panther head coach has done in Denver only by reading up on the Broncos every now and then, but from everything I read it sounded like Fox was extremely committed to Kyle Orton and a more traditional style at quarterback.

That won't surprise anyone in the Carolinas. If Fox had been coaching this Carolina Panther team and had the same quarterbacks, he would have started Derek Anderson for the first five games, undoubtedly. Cam Newton would be sitting on the bench except for maybe a handful of "Wildcat" plays in every game. Fans would be clamoring to see more of Cam and Fox would be stubbornly saying that Anderson "still gives us the best chance to win."

Given the choice, Fox is always more comfortable with the veteran.

That's not to say Fox won't ever start a young quarterback. He did in 2010 with rookie Jimmy Clausen, giving Matt Moore a quick hook, and of course that ended very badly. Clausen had a 1-9 record as a starter and the Panthers went 2-14, which means Fox is now 3-18 over his last 21 games as an NFL head coach.

But Tebow? The Broncos are 1-4 (same as the Panthers), but Fox had been adamantly sticking with Orton until halftime of Denver's most recent game, when he replaced a thoroughly awful Orton with Tebow. Tebow then led two fourth-quarter touchdown drives against San Diego, although he also made a couple of errors and Denver still lost.

This all tickles me. Thinking of Fox coaching such an unorthodox quarterback like Tebow -- who is a poor man's on-field version of double threat Cam, but throws the ball less accurately than Newton does and simply doesn't inspire as much fear in defenses -- is delightful.

Not to say it won't work. Let's not forget the Panthers had most of their greatest successes under Fox, including their lone Super Bowl appearance and another trip to the NFC title game. The man is more conservative than Rush Limbaugh, but he can coach. Don't forget that.

Still, Tebow is not a conservative coach's quarterback. I would think that ultimately this Fox-Tebow shotgun marriage will end badly, but it's not out of the question the two can make it work. Denver has a bye week this Sunday, but the Broncos and Tebow will be among the most-watched, written-about and dissected teams in the NFL after that. All of which I'm sure Fox just loves.

Panthers by the numbers after Week 5

2011-10-11T10:24:00.005-04:00

Some significant Carolina Panther numbers after five weeks:

0 -- Interceptions by Panther cornerbacks so far this season.

2 -- Steve Smith's rank in NFL receiving yardage with 609 (second only to Wes Welker's 740). With less than a third of the season played, Smith already has surpassed his 2010 numbers for both yards and touchdowns. The Panthers made two great moves involving trades in the offseason -- acquiring tight end Greg Olsen for a third-round pick and not trading Smith at all.

5 -- Cam Newton is the first player in NFL history to have at least 5 rushing touchdowns and 5 passing touchdowns in his first 5 games. That's the good part. The not-so-good part is that Newton has been directly involved in 12 of the Panthers' 13 touchdowns so far this season (7 pass, 5 run), and that's too lopsided. A defensive or special-teams score would be very helpful for the Panthers, who rarely get any cheap points.

5.6 -- Average margin of the first five Panther games, with none decided by more than a touchdown. It's almost weird to see almost all of the seats still full in Bank of America Stadium in the fourth quarter after last year's halftime exodus trend.

7-6 -- Number of touchdowns and interceptions thrown this year, respectively, by both Newton and Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan, who is this week's opponent. Newton's overall quarterback rating is slightly higher (84.3 to 79.9).

14 -- Armanti Edwards' longest punt return of the season. He averages a pedestrian 5.7 per return so far in 13 attempts. On the plus side, he hasn't fumbled.

1610 -- Newton's passing yardage through five games, which is fourth in the NFL behind three quarterbacks who have won Super Bowls (Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers are 1-2-3).

Ron Rivera: Don't stop believin'

2011-10-10T13:28:00.005-04:00

Carolina Panther coach Ron Rivera sounded a little like he was singing Journey's 1980s megahit "Don't Stop Believin" Monday during his day-after press conference following Carolina's 30-27 loss to the New Orleans Saints.

Rivera once again fully took the blame on the clock management miscue at the end of the first half that allowed New Orleans kicker John Kasay to leisurely boot a 46-yard field goal. But he also said that the Panthers continue to make progress and that when they got better it would happen in a hurry.

"We believe it’s going to get better," Rivera said. "We believe when it turns it’s going to be really good. And it is about believing. We have the opportunity to build something very special here.... We're growing and we’re getting better and that’s what it really gets down to. Sure it’s a process -- it’s a matter of time. But this is a different set of circumstances, we have to grow and get better. I’d like to do it faster, sooner rather than later, but unfortunately we haven’t figured that out yet."

As you look through the statistics, though, it is hard to imagine the Panthers are 1-4 at this point.

All five of their games -- including Sunday's 30-27 home loss to New Orleans -- have been decided by seven points or fewer. They have 112 first downs compared to their opponents' 86 and average 62 more yards per game overall than their opponents. Rookie quarterback Cam Newton may look utterly forlorn after every loss but he is also the first player in NFL history to have at least five rushing and five passing TDs in his first five games.

Still, they're 1-4. But Rivera -- who was obviously frustrated last week and said publicly it was time for the team to "grow up" -- has changed gears this week and is acting more like a cheerleader for a team that really needs one.

One injury note: Omar Gaither, the linebacker and Charlotte native who plays mostly in passing situations, has a knee injury that Rivera said would likely keep him out 2-4 weeks.

Bests and worsts from Carolina Panthers' 30-27 loss to New Orleans Saints

2011-10-09T18:07:00.002-04:00

Going to extremes as the Panthers drop to 1-4 with another heartbreaker -- a 30-27 loss to New Orleans in which the Panthers led midway through the fourth quarter.....

Best catch: Steve Smith’s 54-yard catch and run for a touchdown in the first quarter recharged a crowd that had seen Carolina fall down 10-0 in the first nine minutes.

Worst cheap shot: Safety Roman Harper coming over and drilling Smith after he had clearly crossed the goal line on that TD incited a miniature brawl and should draw Harper a fine.

Best drive: New Orleans was beautifully methodical on its final one, starting it with 7:06 left and running the clock down to 50 seconds before scoring the go-ahead touchdown.

Worst drive: The Panthers had all three timeouts and 51 seconds remaining to try and get Olindo Mare in position for a field goal to send the game to overtime. But they couldn’t advance past the New Orleans 49, hamstrung by an offensive holding call on Jordan Gross, a drop of a very difficult catch by Naanee and a lot of defensive pressure by the Saints.

Best game against former team: John Kasay (3-for-3 on both field goals and extra points) eclipsed Jeremy Shockey (three catches, 21 yards and a whole lot of exhortations to the crowd and his teammates).

Best/worst of special teams: Carolina's punt coverage was far better. But the Panthers did allow an extra point to be blocked, which should never happen.

Worst throw: Cam Newton’s very first one was picked off and allowed New Orleans to start its first drive at the Carolina 3. Newton said later this was his fault, as he threw a slant pass and Smith ran an out toward the sideline.

Best target: New Orleans tight end Jimmy Graham is a star in the making and burned the middle of the defense time and again with game highs in catches (eight) and yards (129).

Best comeback: The Panthers made a game of it, taking a 27-23 lead after being down 23-13 in the third quarter.

Best weather: It was just about a perfect October afternoon – sunny, a little breeze and in the 70s. Fans deserved it after the Jacksonville monsoon.

Worst Panther coaching decision: Sending the “field-goal block” team on the field in the frenzied final seconds of the first half. With that team coming on, the Panther defense had to rush players off the field. Coach Ron Rivera called a timeout with 0:02, which he later said was a mistake and that “those three points come right on my shoulders.”

But I think if Rivera didn’t call timeout that the Panthers had too many men on the field and would have been penalized. It was an error, certainly, but if Carolina had just kept the defense on the field, I don’t think Kasay would have gotten the field goal away before the clock ran out.

As it ended up, though, that was a very critical three points in a game decided by three points.

Halftime thoughts as Saints lead Panthers 20-13

2011-10-09T14:34:00.002-04:00

An entertaining but fight-marred first half has ended with Carolina trailing New Orleans, 20-13.

A few thoughts on the first half:

-- These teams really don't seem to be able to stand each other. From the cheap shot Roman Harper took on Steve Smith in the end zone to the Panthers' Jermale Hines (who?) getting called for a very dumb personal-foul penalty to the end-zone brawl after the Smith-Harper incident, it's getting ugly. Jeremy Shockey is stirring things up on the Panthers' sideline.

-- Why in the world would the Panthers call timeout with 0:02 left in the first half? New Orleans kicker John Kasay wasn't going to be able to get the field goal off with his team out of timeouts. But the Panthers were desperately trying to get their field-goal block team onto the field and may have been about to get penalized for too many men on the field.

A suggestion: Keep your defense on for that field-goal attempt. Quit trying to shuffle personnel in that situation. Kasay wouldn't have had a chance to get it off.

Instead, Kasay was perfect as usual after the timeout, knocking it in from 46 yards and making a four-point lead a seven-pointer.

-- The Panthers certainly can move the ball against New Orleans. They have two TDs over 50 yards already -- the 54-yard pass to Smith and DeAngelo Williams' vintage 69-yard run on a college-style option from Cam Newton.

-- But New Orleans can move it just as well or even better. Drew Brees has been surgical against Carolina. He's 18-for-25 for 200 yards and a TD in the first half.

-- Newton basically gave New Orleans a TD by throwing a terrible interception on Carolina's first play from scrimmage that got returned to the 3. Since then, it's 13-all.

-- The Panthers' run defense looks a lot better, as New Orleans is only averaging 3.8 per carry. But Carolina can't get off the field on third down -- the Saints are 8-for-11 on third-down conversions -- which has led to New Orleans running 44 offensive plays to the Panthers' 19.

Cam Newton cracks Top 20 in national jersey sales -- and my Sunday prediction

2011-10-07T09:19:00.004-04:00

I wrote my column today on observations about Cam Newton and then came across another one courtesy of CNBC's Darren Rovell's story about the latest NFL jersey sale rankings.

The Panthers basically never have anyone on these lists released by the NFL, but Cam Newton this time has cracked the Top 20 at No.16. It'll only go higher, of course, if the rookie keeps playing as he has been.

New Orleans QB Drew Brees, who comes to Charlotte Sunday, is No.6. Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers, who has already been in Charlotte this season, is No.1. Here are the Top 25 based on sales at NFLshop.com from April 1 to Sept 30, 2011:

1. Aaron Rodgers, Packers
2. Tom Brady, Patriots
3. Mike Vick, Eagles
4. Troy Polamalu, Steelers
5. Clay Matthews, Packers
6. Drew Brees, Saints
7. Tony Romo, Cowboys
8. Miles Austin, Cowboys
9. DeSean Jackson, Eagles
10. Jason Witten, Cowboys
11. Mark Sanchez, Jets
12. Dez Bryant, Cowboys
13. Peyton Manning, Colts
14. Brian Urlacher, Bears
15. Eli Manning, Giants
16. Cam Newton, Panthers
17. Darren McFadden, Raiders
18. Ndamukong Suh, Lions
19. Philip Rivers, Chargers
20. Darrelle Revis, Jets
21. Ray Lewis, Ravens
22. Adrian Peterson, Vikings
23. DeMarcus Ware, Cowboys
24. Tim Tebow, Broncos
25. Hines Ward, Steelers

-- As for a prediction Sunday: I'm now 15-4 over the past 19 games picking the Panthers' outcome after missing on my upset pick last week of Panthers beating the Bears (instead Carolina lost, 34-29).

This week, I think the Saints have a bit too much firepower in what should be an entertaining game. New Orleans 33, Carolina 27.

5 things I've noticed about Cam Newton

2011-10-06T06:17:00.002-04:00

After observing Cam Newton up close for a few months now, here are a couple of things I've noticed that aren't terribly significant but still interest me.

1) Newton likes to boil things down to absolutes: Wins, losses, successes, failures. He is a pretty bad loser at the moment, in part because he hasn't had much practice.

It is a plain and simple approach, although Newton would call it a "simple and plain" approach. He loves that phrase, using it at least once in every press conference. For instance, he said this week: "We could actually be 4-0, simple and plain."

2) The Panthers have drastically changed their offense to suit Newton, which makes a ton of sense. Notice how much they are in the shotgun now? Third-and-1, second-and-2, it doesn't seem to matter -- they will use it at anytime.

I went back to the play-by-play last week and counted it up. It turns out Newton was in the shotgun on about 65 percent of the Panthers' offensive snaps. Newton obviously sees the defense better from the shotgun since he played practically the entire year that way at Auburn in 2010.

I still wish Carolina would run him a little less at the goal line and their two highly-paid running backs a little more, though. That's quite a beating Newton is taking on every carry in the red zone. But it has worked out decently so far.

3) I asked Newton this week about what he does after scoring a touchdown when he puts both hands near his chest and then pulls them away. It's basically meant to be a takeoff of the way Superman rips open his shirt to reveal his Superman costume.

"My little brother likes it, so I'm going to keep doing it," Newton said.

The first time Newton did this, in the Arizona game, he got penalized 15 yards because he went to his knees first, and that's a no-no in the No Fun League.

But as far as TD celebrations go -- and Newton also does the Clark Kent/Superman thing when he gets introduced in the pregame -- this one fits. For now, Newton is the Panthers' Superman. And he also has a pair of glasses that he wears on occasion that look like they came straight off of Kent himself.

4) "Cam Mania" has, almost singlehandedly, made the Panthers relevant in the national football conversation again. He's already had a glowing feature about his play as a rookie in "Sports Illustrated," and unless things go south fast he's going to ultimately sweep the Rookie of the Year awards.

The other day I went on a radio show that was broadcast on 220 National Public Radio stations to talk about Cam -- and Cam only -- for 6-8 minutes. I've done a lot of radio and TV interviews about the Panthers over the years, but I can honestly say that's the first time I ever discussed the Panthers on NPR. Everyone notices this guy.

5) And speaking of noticing No.1: Everyone that sees Newton up close and in person for the first time remarks on how big he is. This is a given, much like a 7-footer guy walking through an airport and being asked if he plays basketball.

Newton is listed at 6-5 and 248 pounds, but he somehow comes off as larger than that. I don't know if it's good posture or what exactly. But he's forever drawing comparisons to guys like Julius Peppers, who in reality is at least two inches taller and 40 pounds heavier (Chicago coach Lovie Smith made that analogy last week).

But Newton looks bigger and thicker than most tight ends and some defensive ends. and When you see him up close, if you haven't already, you'll say something like that, too -- simple and plain.

A baseball star -- for one day

2011-10-05T09:32:00.002-04:00

I wrote something completely different for me in today's newspaper -- a story about Shelby's Rogers Hornsby McKee, who 68 years ago became a baseball star for one day.

There was a wartime shortage of baseball players in 1943, since so many were drafted and were serving in World War II. At age 16, McKee was too young to be drafted but had a sizzling fastball and was a standout lefty pitcher in Shelby. The Philadelphia Phillies signed him for $4,000 and brought him straight to the big leagues, where he appeared several times in relief and then started the only major league game he ever would on Oct.3, 1943.

Incidentally, it's amazing what you can find online, isn't it? Here's the boxscore for that game.

McKee won the game, 11-3, and threw all nine innings for the Phillies. But the next spring, in spring training, he threw his arm out and was never the same. He stayed in the minors for 13 years because he was a decent hitter, too, playing first base and outfielder, but his MLB career was over at age 18. He's now 85, long retired from his job as a mailman in Shelby, and was a pleasure to talk with. I went to Shelby to see McKee and his wife Denice last week and enjoyed it immensely.

Special thanks to Buzz Biggerstaff, a friend of McKee's, for bringing this story to our attention. McKee is too modest to have ever let us know about it on his own, which is one reason why we've never written about him before in The Observer to my knowledge.

Why LaFell should start over Naanee for Panthers

2011-10-04T10:09:00.003-04:00

Welcome to another edition of Panthers' "By the Numbers," my weekly look at some of the statistics surrounding the team.

One of the most important -- but hidden -- statistics for a receiver is how many yards they average when the quarterback targets them with the football.

Based on my analysis of this number in particular through the first quarter of the season, I think it's time Brandon LaFell starts in front of Legedu Naanee at wide receiver for Carolina.

Simply put, bad things -- or nothing -- seems to happen when Cam Newton is throwing at Naanee. I compared Naanee's averages in several ways to LaFell and also to Steve Smith and tight ends Greg Olsen and Jeremy Shockey, who have been Carolina's three most productive receivers so far this season. (For this exercise, I have excluded running backs since they generally aren't down-the-field receivers).

First, here's how often Newton has thrown at each man this season, and how many they have actually caught for how much yardage:

Player Targeted-Caught-Yds

Smith -- 41-24-530
Olsen -- 27-17-219
Naanee -- 24-8-75
Shockey -- 20-11-178
LaFell -- 16-12-161

So while LaFell has caught 75 percent of the throws directed toward him, Naanee has caught only 33.3 percent of the ones Newton has thrown at him. Now this isn't all Naanee's fault. Newton, for instance, once missed a wide-open Naanee in the end zone in the Arizona game.

But the numbers are pretty glaring. Here's the amount of yardage the Panthers have gained on average per play when each receiver was targeted (this includes both completions and incompletions):

Smith 12.9
LaFell 10.1
Shockey 8.9
Olsen 8.1
Naanee 3.1

So far this season, Naanee has been an "almost" sort of player, as in he "almost" had a touchdown here or he "almost" caught that critical fourth-down pass against Chicago there.

I know Naanee is more familiar with the offense than LaFell, based on his time in San Diego, and I think Naanee can still be useful to the Panthers in all the three-wide sets. He obviously can get open or Newton wouldn't be throwing to him an average of six times per game. (I asked Panthers coach Ron Rivera Monday if LaFell should get a chance to start over Naanee Monday, and he did not commit either way, saying both had played "well").

But to me, the most prudent move now is to try LaFell as the starter for awhile. Based on the numbers, he deserves it.

What Billick said on Shockey's push

2011-10-03T09:20:00.004-04:00

Panther tight end Jeremy Shockey was furious after the game about being called for pass interference, negating a 22-yard touchdown pass he caught from Cam Newton early in the third quarter that would have put Carolina ahead, 27-24, at the time. Read here for Shockey's comments.

Shockey, who undoubtedly will be fined after his tirade, seemed incensed that game officials offered him no explanation for what he did. Fox-TV analyst and former Super Bowl-winning coach Brian Billick did offer an explanation while doing game analysis on TV, however, and it follows later in this blog.

First, the setup: Carolina had a first-and-10 from the Chicago 22. Shockey went in motion to the right and was guarded 1-on-1 by Bears cornerback Charles Tillman. Shockey cut inside of Tillman, who was caught off guard and started to lose his balance.

Shockey then reached out his right hand, creating a bit more separation between him and Tillman. Tillman fell, but Shockey's hand hardly made contact with Tillman at all. He then ran about 10 more yards and caught Newton's perfect throw in the end zone, aggravating a finger injury in the process.

Said Billick while Fox showed several replays of the call: "That last little push. You know the sad thing there? I don't think that he needed it... Anytime you hold your hand out away from your body, whether it's the impetus [for the defensive back falling] or not, it's going to get called. You can lift the elbow, you can lift the forehand [Billick probably mean to say forearm there]. But if you show the open hand, it's typically going to get called.... He barely touches him. i don't know if it was a factor (in Tillman falling), but it was an open-hand push."

My take: Shockey never gets called for that "push" except for the fact that Tillman falls down, which makes it look far worse than it actually was.

Bests and worsts from Carolina Panthers' 34-29 loss to Chicago Bears

2011-10-02T19:26:00.006-04:00

Going to extremes after the Panthers drop to 1-3 with a 34-29 loss to Chicago Sunday:

Worst ratio of success: Throwing the ball to Legedu Naanee. Newton targeted Naanee 11 times -- more than any other Panther receiver. Naanee only caught four of those. That wasn't all his fault -- some of the throws were bad -- but why is this guy getting more chances at receptions than players with a far better track record? (Steve Smith caught eight of the 10 passes targeted to him; Greg Olsen five of a possible seven).

Worst player to face for Carolina: Matt Forte. He's not an all-star all the time -- he had only two yards on nine carries a week ago -- but Forte has been a Panther killer the past two years. Remember 2010? He had four carries, 101 yards and two touchdowns -- in the first quarter!
This time, he was even better. Forte had a career-high 205 rushing yards on 25 carries to pace the Bears' win.

Best Cam stat: Cam Newton has now thrown for more than 350 yards in 3 of his 4 career NFL games.

Worst Cam stat: The Panthers have lost all those games, but won the one where Newton threw for 158 but didn't commit a turnover.

Worst idea: Kicking a punt to Chicago's amazing Devin Hester.
Jason Baker attempting a rugby-style kick from the middle of the field was very questionable, but why not just target the ball out of bounds, have a 35-yard net and be done with it? Instead, Hester scooted 69 yards on his only punt return of the game to set another NFL record.
I understand kicking off to Hester, as Olindo Mare is going to boot it through the end zone half the time and nearly did on the one Hester took back for 73 yards. But kicking punts to Hester? Ever?! That's just poor decision-making.

Best toughness: How does Steve Smith get up after some of those hits? He took a couple that looked like they should have induced a concussion and still stayed in the game and gained 181 yards receiving -- the sixth-best total in Carolina history.

Best/worst combo of the week: The Panthers' running game. It finally got going, as DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart combined for well over 100 yards. But Carolina couldn't get it to work early in the fourth quarter and quickly abandoned it after that.

Worst "How did the Panthers not win this game?" stat: Carolina outgained Chicago by a 543-317 margin from scrimmage.

Best former Panther: Julius Peppers had a field-goal block this season (Olindo Mare got too far under the kick and hit it too low, but Peppers still made a spectacular play). That goes along with the interception Peppers had last season in this game.

Best trend: For the fourth time in four weeks, the Panthers were in the game in the fourth quarter with a chance to win. They still don't know how to finish games, but at least they are in them.

Worst unit: Special teams gets the nod in a fairly close battler with the defense. The special-teams errors were numerous and in several cases game-changing: Mare missed two field goals (one was blocked); the coverage units allowed two huge returns to Hester and the Panthers' kickoff team seems to run every kickoff back to the short side of the field for no more than 20 yards every single time.

Predicting a Panther upset Sunday in Chicago

2011-09-30T11:31:00.003-04:00

Chicago is the original home of The Second City, which has launched the careers of some of the best comedians ever (John Belushi, Steve Carell, Mike Myers, Tina Fey and on and on and on). It's my favorite thing to do when I'm in Chicago.

Why am I telling you this?

Because the best Second City alums have always been masters of improvisation, and the Panthers will have to do exactly the same thing in Chicago Sunday to come away with an upset victory.

There will be a moment or two that all hinges on improv -- what Cam Newton while being chased on the full run by Julius Peppers, or what Jay Cutler does when he sees a small window that might open for a 50-yard pass or might close for an interception.

I think these teams have similar talent levels, so a couple of snap decisions will make the difference.

-- The Panthers got creamed by Bears running back Matt Forte a year ago, as he had touchdown runs of 18 and 68 yards in the game's first eight minutes. The Bears throw the ball to Forte a lot, too. I think containing him is even more important that containing Cutler.

-- Bears coach Lovie Smith can try to spin this decision all he wants to, but Chicago letting a talent like Greg Olsen go to Carolina for a third-round pick was quite a mistake. I don't care what offensive system you are playing. You don't let a guy who can catch the ball like that get away.

-- It's fitting that Steve Smith should surpass Muhsin Muhammad Sunday as Carolina's all-time leader in receiving yards. The best game I've ever seen Smith play came in Chicago in the 2005 playoffs, when he decimated the Bears with a 218-yard receiving game. Afterward, Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher called Smith the NFL's best offensive player.

-- I'm 15-3 over the last 18 games picking the Panthers' outcome, and today I'm going out on a limb. I think the Panthers will improvise just well enough to win: Carolina 24, Chicago 22.

Cam Newton, Jon Gruden and the "36" controversy

2011-09-29T09:23:00.005-04:00

I wrote my column today on Jon Gruden's views about Cam Newton and devoted a large part of it to the controversy of the "36" -- that refers to a video segment with Gruden and Newton from a pre-draft show this past April. The video is worth watching, at least the first minute of it, to show you what we're talking about if you didn't see it originally.

Gruden had asked Newton for the show to give him a playcall used at Auburn, presenting him with a 20-syllable NFL call first to show an example of what an NFL quarterback might say in the huddle.

Newton struggled for an answer before coming up with "36," which fed the doubters who thought Newton wasn't smart enough to play NFL quarterback.

Gruden said Wednesday he wanted to "squash" that notion right now and that he was sorry if his interview with Newton had fed into it. He also said a lot of complimentary things about Newton -- again, here's the column link.

Jon Gruden says Cam Newton has been 'absolutely jaw-dropping'

2011-09-28T15:33:00.002-04:00

I talked with Jon Gruden today by phone about Cam Newton to get some insight from the former Tampa Bay head coach and Super Bowl winner who’s now a color analyst for “Monday Night Football.”

I will write a lot more about this in my column for Thursday’s newspaper, but I will tell you that Gruden absolutely loves the Panthers’ rookie quarterback.

“What Cam has done so far from a statistical standpoint has been spectacular -- absolutely jaw-dropping,” Gruden said. “I’m in total shock and awe about him. The fact that he’s had two 400-yard games already – and one of them against the Packers – I’m not sure any quarterback has ever started out better.”

Not that Gruden didn’t think Newton would be good. He did, and he became more convinced of it when the two spent about eight hours together one day for a show that aired on ESPN before April’s draft.

“From a talent standpoint, the guy is a physical freak for his position,” Gruden said. “I knew it would happen for him, but I didn’t know it would happen this quickly. But Cam has a certain degree of magic.”

That show produced one of the primary bits of ammunition for the anti-Cam crowd, when Newton struggled to come up with an Auburn play after Gruden asked him to call one as if he were in the Auburn huddle. Newton finally said, “Thirty-six.”

Gruden explains more about that situation and what he took away from Newton’s answer to that question in Thursday's column.

Carolina Panthers by the numbers after Week 3

2011-09-27T09:52:00.002-04:00

Here are some Panther numbers I find significant or weird after the conclusion of the third week of NFL play:

0 -- Number of kicks (both extra points and field goals combined) missed by former Panther kicker John Kasay and current Panther kicker Olindo Mare so far this season. They are a combined 11-for-11 on field goals and 15-for-15 on extra points. Kasay's 53-yarder for New Orleans is by far the longest field goal either man has made -- coach Ron Rivera three times this season has disdained allowing Mare to kick a field goal of around 50 yards and instead opted to punt.

1.7 -- Extra yardage Jonathan Stewart (5.3 per carry) gets you compared to DeAngelo Williams (3.6) over the past 10 games. I go into this more in depth in my column today, which advocates Stewart getting more touches.

3 -- NFL quarterbacks over 1,000 yards passing so far this season. They are Tom Brady (1327), Drew Brees (1059) and Cam Newton (1012).

3-16 -- Panthers' record over their last 19 real games after their win over Jacksonville Sunday.

7 -- Panther rank in total offense so far this season (based on yardage) after they ranked 32nd in 2010. They are only tied for 17th (with Chicago and Atlanta) in total points, however.

17 -- Panther rank in total defense (based on yardage) so far this season. Given the loss of two big-time starters in Jon Beason and Thomas Davis, that's not bad at all.

349 -- Steve Smith's total receiving yardage. He dropped from first to third in that category after last week's performance, behind New England's Wes Welker and Pittsburgh's Mike Wallace.

Bests and worsts from Carolina Panthers' 16-10 win over Jacksonville

2011-09-25T17:34:00.003-04:00

Best performance: The Panthers' stitched-together defense shut out Jacksonville in the second half, which turned a 10-5 Jacksonville halftime lead into a 16-10 Panther victory.

Best Cam Newton stat: He didn't pass for 400 yards - only 158 this time - but he also didn't commit any turnovers in a virtual monsoon.

Second-best Cam stat: Somehow, he was never sacked. He eluded pressure numerous times to avoid negative plays.

Worst Cam trend: How many balls did he throw high in the first half? Newton may have actually played a little better when the conditions got worse, because he was really airmailing it early.

Worst sequence: With 17 seconds left in the second quarter, Jacksonville was simply running out the clock in a torrential rain. Then Maurice Jones-Drew burst for a 39-yard run. That allowed Jacksonville to call timeout, run one more play and score on a 36-yard touchdown pass as the first half expired.

Best matchup: On both his touchdown catch and his two-point conversion in the fourth quarter, Panther tight end Greg Olsen got matched up on a linebacker. He won both.

Best sack: Greg Hardy took down Jacksonville rookie Blaine Gabbert in the first quarter to give Carolina a 2-0 lead.

Worst time management: Jacksonville had the ball at the Carolina 36 with 16 seconds left and no timeouts, but the Jaguars didn't snap the ball until five seconds remained. That left Gabbert time to take only one shot for the TD, and his pass was deflected by Panther linebacker Thomas Williams.

Best player in a losing cause: Jacksonville's Maurice Jones-Drew ran for 122 yards on 24 carries, caught passes for 45 more and did just about everything except get into the end zone.

Worst hands: The Jaguars fumbled five times (three by Gabbert) in the stormy conditions. Carolina somehow managed never to fumble. The worst drop came from Jacksonville punter Matt Turk, who muffed a good snap and got tackled for a field-position loss of at least 40 yards.

Best handling of a first-ever victory: Coach Ron Rivera was low-key after getting his first win and kept saying "It's about them," referring to the players in the Panther locker room.

Best weird run: Jonathan Stewart's 60-yard run through the rain in which he seemed to flip nearly upside down but never touch his knee to the ground was amazing -- even though it got reversed when Stewart's elbow was determined to have touched the ground.

Best determination: All the fans who stuck around for the fourth-quarter comeback after nearly getting drowned in the second quarter. It was impressive how many came back to their seats on one of the strangest Sunday afternoons the Panthers have ever had.