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Carolina’s locker room was predictably morose after the game. Sunday was an opportunity lost. But the game that undid the Panthers, the one that lingers, is the 20-9 home loss to Buffalo. The better Carolina plays, the more inexplicable that loss becomes.
The Saints remind me of a boxer with a big right hand. Opponents have to be wary of the one-punch knockout. Instead the Saints throw jab after jab, hand the ball off, throw little passes, some of them screens and some of them lateral. And a defense can’t skew its alignment to stop them because the Saints’ right hand is cocked and they can go deep at any time. And they do.
Vendors set up makeshift bars along Polydas Street before the game, selling beer and drinks to thirsty fans. I saw one guy selling drinks out of a cooler. In some cities, fans encounter scalpers selling tickets. In New Orleans, I didn’t see one on the eight-block walk to the stadium. There was only alcohol. Business was good.
Carolina used the NFL’s smallest fullback and biggest fullback Sunday. Tyrell Sutton, in real life a running back, is listed at 5-8 and 213 pounds. But I’m 5-9 and if we’re playing basketball I post him up. I Shaq him. I don’t post up Bernadeau, in real life a guard, who is 6-4 and 308 pounds. We don’t play.
There are days when the best player at practice is Dwayne Jarrett. He had an opportunity Sunday to replicate his performance in a game that counted, with fans watching, and players from another team trying to stop him. He failed.
