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Here's the downside of playing for your hometown NFL team. If you want to hide, you can't.
"This might be the worst moment of my life right now," Kenneth Moore said quietly in the aftermath of the Carolina Panthers' 20-9 loss to Buffalo.
Moore grew up in the Charlotte area. He was a standout high school player for Butler. He had a great career at Wake Forest. He has been a feel-good story in a disappointing Panthers' season, first making the active roster and then returning a kickoff 55 yards against Washington two weeks ago to help fuel a Carolina comeback.
But then on Sunday -- just as Carolina seemed on the verge of possibly snatching another win out of the fire -- Moore fumbled a punt.
For one more second, Moore had one final chance to redeem himself. He had the first shot at recovering his own fumble, because the kick had been low and no Buffalo Bill was quite down there yet.
But he failed to jump on the ball, too.
Down 17-9, Carolina was about to get the ball back with 5:25 left in the fourth quarter. A touchdown and a two-point conversion and everyone would have been headed for overtime. Instead, everyone headed for the exits.
Moore had to exit, too. He walked toward his own sideline, knowing the damage he had just accidentally done. Some of his teammates watched his approach. Others averted their eyes.
Said Moore: "My coaches were depending on me. My teammates were. And I let them down."
Wide receiver Steve Smith sought Moore out on the sideline. Smith used to return punts, too and would still be Carolina's best punt returner if the Panthers were willing to risk letting him do it.
"Kenny Moore is my friend," Smith said later. "I look at him like my little brother. I have been in that situation before, probably worse. I know exactly how he feels…. Growing up as a little kid in the backyard, you play for those moments. That was his opportunity and it just didn't work out. I told him I've done it [fumbled away key punt returns] twice." Moore, 24, said Smith's talk boiled down to "keep my head up." And Moore tried to later. He kept saying he would learn from this, and he answered every question reporters asked him like a man.
"It was a routine play for me," Moore said. "It was just a low ball… I might have tried to run before I caught it."
So many ifs.
If the punt had been hit better and higher, Moore would have called for a fair catch and wouldn't have been in such a hurry to start running.
If regular punt returner Captain Munnerlyn hadn't been cramping so badly in both calves, Moore wouldn't have been out there at all. He's mostly a kickoff man these days. If another Panther had recovered Moore's fumble, the play would have been no more than a footnote.
But instead, Moore lost the fumble at his own 20. Buffalo ran the clock down to the two-minute warning, kicked a clinching field goal, and that was that.
Moore said afterward he was going to be OK.
"I've got to deal with everything," Moore said. "I've got to take it in and listen to what everybody's got to say. Because I want to listen when everybody says I'm doing good. So when I'm doing bad, I've got to take my own poison."
If Moore thinks about it a little more, he will probably come to the conclusion that wasn't really the worst moment of his life.
Let's be honest – the Panthers were probably going to lose that game anyway. Moore's play was just the final straw.
But it's hard to obtain perspective right after you do something like that in front of everybody.
Moore had had the best of intentions. He had simply wanted to make an unforgettable play.
Unfortunately, he did.
Scott Fowler: 704-358-5140; sfowler@charlotteobserver.com.
