It took me a few days to muster up the right words. I've been angry since Sunday so now that I've cooled down, here we go.
Let's wind the clocks back to 2010. Matt Moore and Jimmy Clausen are our quarterbacks. It's a terrible year, one of the worst in franchise history. Andrew Luck is a sure #1 pick and the Panthers have that pick. Luck is a sure fire NFL star. He goes back to Stanford for another year. The Panthers then draft Hesiman winner Cam Newton.
2011 rolls around and coming off a 2-14 season, most anything is an improvement. Ron Rivera is the new head coach. Cam Newton wins offensive rookie of the year and they have the 4th best offense in the NFL. The team however starts off 2-8. Cam is amazing, but the defense is still the worst in the NFL. They make a run and finish the season 4-2 to end up with a total record of 6-10. Certainly not great, but improvement.
2012 comes and the Panthers draft Luke Kuechly. He's a freak.
Now let's fast forward to week 4. The Panthers are 1-2 after getting spanked by the Giants. They're playing against rival and 3-0 Atlanta Falcons. The Panthers almost have the game locked up. 1:51 left in the game, 3rd down and 1 to go. Cam runs it, first down...But he fumbles. Picked up by CAR-4th and 1. Intentional delay of game. Nortman punts it to the ATL 1 with about a minute to play. ATL has no timeouts left. First play, 54 yard pass in which Haroki Nakamura inexplicably back peddles to the ball and goes over his head. Matty Ice shreds the defense, field goal to win it for ATL. As players run off the field, ATL trash talks saying "This is our house." Lots of trash talking, I'm sure on both ends.
Skip ahead to week 14. Lots of build up for round two in Charlotte. Greg Hardy says he will throw punches if necessary and kill Matt Ryan. They're angry. Scuffles on the field the whole game, the I-85 rivalry is back and it's nasty. I was at this game. Towards the end, Cam Newton runs for 82 yards for a TD to seal the game. He does his most emphatic superman celebration looks right in the camera and screams to the whole world, "This is our fu**ing house!"
They beat ATL for the first time since 2009. A fire was lit under that team. A fire that led to winning the next three games, and after starting 2-8 again, finishing 7-9.
The fire continued into 2013 where we saw the best season in franchise history. 12-4, NFC south championship, first round playoff bye, and two wins against Atlanta. This team was ignited by great defense and offense. The ignition was started back in 2012 when ATL lit the fire.
Now it's 2014 and the Panthers just lost to ATL. It's been a horrendous season. Cam looks bad, the defense is bad, the coaching is bad. Good news is the NFC south is really really bad. The game against ATL Sunday was chippy. Fights broke out in the third quarter. The Panthers were angry. They fought back and had it not been for a rare Graham Gano miss, they win that game and are leading the NFC south. A fire was started Sunday. In a season that has been hell, a fire was brought back to life Sunday.
As the villain Bane took over the plane in The Dark Knight Rises, his crew member asks, "have we started a fire?" Bane's response is what's happening in Charlotte right now. There's hope that this team could ignite like they did in 2012 and 2013. They could win out after being ignited by Atlanta, and win the terrible NFC south.
So, Atlanta, have you started a fire?
"Yes, the fire rises."
Let's wind the clocks back to 2010. Matt Moore and Jimmy Clausen are our quarterbacks. It's a terrible year, one of the worst in franchise history. Andrew Luck is a sure #1 pick and the Panthers have that pick. Luck is a sure fire NFL star. He goes back to Stanford for another year. The Panthers then draft Hesiman winner Cam Newton.
2011 rolls around and coming off a 2-14 season, most anything is an improvement. Ron Rivera is the new head coach. Cam Newton wins offensive rookie of the year and they have the 4th best offense in the NFL. The team however starts off 2-8. Cam is amazing, but the defense is still the worst in the NFL. They make a run and finish the season 4-2 to end up with a total record of 6-10. Certainly not great, but improvement.
2012 comes and the Panthers draft Luke Kuechly. He's a freak.
Now let's fast forward to week 4. The Panthers are 1-2 after getting spanked by the Giants. They're playing against rival and 3-0 Atlanta Falcons. The Panthers almost have the game locked up. 1:51 left in the game, 3rd down and 1 to go. Cam runs it, first down...But he fumbles. Picked up by CAR-4th and 1. Intentional delay of game. Nortman punts it to the ATL 1 with about a minute to play. ATL has no timeouts left. First play, 54 yard pass in which Haroki Nakamura inexplicably back peddles to the ball and goes over his head. Matty Ice shreds the defense, field goal to win it for ATL. As players run off the field, ATL trash talks saying "This is our house." Lots of trash talking, I'm sure on both ends.
Skip ahead to week 14. Lots of build up for round two in Charlotte. Greg Hardy says he will throw punches if necessary and kill Matt Ryan. They're angry. Scuffles on the field the whole game, the I-85 rivalry is back and it's nasty. I was at this game. Towards the end, Cam Newton runs for 82 yards for a TD to seal the game. He does his most emphatic superman celebration looks right in the camera and screams to the whole world, "This is our fu**ing house!"
They beat ATL for the first time since 2009. A fire was lit under that team. A fire that led to winning the next three games, and after starting 2-8 again, finishing 7-9.
The fire continued into 2013 where we saw the best season in franchise history. 12-4, NFC south championship, first round playoff bye, and two wins against Atlanta. This team was ignited by great defense and offense. The ignition was started back in 2012 when ATL lit the fire.
Now it's 2014 and the Panthers just lost to ATL. It's been a horrendous season. Cam looks bad, the defense is bad, the coaching is bad. Good news is the NFC south is really really bad. The game against ATL Sunday was chippy. Fights broke out in the third quarter. The Panthers were angry. They fought back and had it not been for a rare Graham Gano miss, they win that game and are leading the NFC south. A fire was started Sunday. In a season that has been hell, a fire was brought back to life Sunday.
As the villain Bane took over the plane in The Dark Knight Rises, his crew member asks, "have we started a fire?" Bane's response is what's happening in Charlotte right now. There's hope that this team could ignite like they did in 2012 and 2013. They could win out after being ignited by Atlanta, and win the terrible NFC south.
So, Atlanta, have you started a fire?
"Yes, the fire rises."