Carolina Panthers struggle in night games
The Carolina Panthers have 18 reasons not to like the dark.
The Panthers have not been a good team when the sun goes down and the lights come on, but they have been particularly bad in their last three prime-time contests. In those games – at New Orleans in December 2013 and at home vs. Pittsburgh this September and the Saints once more on Oct. 30th – Carolina has lost every time by exactly 18 points.
Now the Panthers face another difficult game in the dark, as they play on “Monday Night Football” at Philadelphia. Carolina (3-5-1) hasn’t won a game in a month and isn’t favored to win this one, either. The Eagles (6-2) haven’t lost at home all season, but will start backup quarterback Mark Sanchez.
Nighttime is rarely the right time for the Panthers. Over their history, they have gone 13-19 in regular season games played after 7 p.m. Eastern time. In other words, they have lost 59.4 percent of the time.
But there is hope. The last time Carolina played at Philadelphia was in 2012, and that was on “Monday Night Football” too. It turned out to be one of Cam Newton’s best games ever, as he threw for two touchdowns, ran for two more and led Carolina to a 30-22 win.
The Panthers will probably need about that many points again this year to beat Philadelphia, which has one of the NFL’s best offenses.
After covering the Panthers for all 20 of their seasons, here is my list of the four best and four worst Carolina performances in prime time.
All eight of these games were played in Charlotte, where for some reason most of the Panthers’ memorable night games have occurred.
BEST 4 PRIME-TIME GAMES
1. Nov. 18, 2013, vs. New England, Panthers win 24-20. Carolina’s win a year ago had it all. The Panthers went on an 83-yard touchdown march, capped by Cam Newton’s strike to Ted Ginn Jr., with 59 seconds left. Then Tom Brady – who had beaten Carolina a decade earlier in the Panthers’ only Super Bowl appearance – directed New England downfield for a last-gasp throw from Carolina’s 18.
Brady targeted Rob Gronkowski in the end zone, but Panthers middle linebacker Luke Kuechly bear-hugged him and safety Robert Lester intercepted. An official threw a flag to call pass interference on Kuechly. It looked like the Patriots would get one final play at Carolina’s 1. But after huddling, the officials waved it off, saying “Gronk” wouldn’t have caught the ball anyway and that the interception stood. This “Immaculate Perception” by the officials will always be remembered by Panthers fans, while Patriot fans prefer to think of it as the night they robbed Gronkowski.
2. Dec. 8, 2008, vs. Tampa Bay. Panthers win 38-23. Carolina piled up 299 rushing yards in an NFC South division battle of two 9-3 teams in Charlotte. The Panthers dismantled the Bucs so convincingly in this home win that Jon Gruden would be fired a month later and become a prime-time TV analyst instead.
3. Nov. 27, 2000, vs. Green Bay. Panthers win 31-14. Undrafted rookie Brad Hoover was switched from fullback to tailback and had the biggest individual night of his career, rushing for 117 yards. Forevermore in home games, he would be known as “Hoooooov!” Coach George Seifert said after the game of Hoover: “We thought we had somebody that had multiplicity in his abilities.”
4. Dec. 20, 2009, vs. Minnesota. Panthers win 26-7. Matt Moore outplayed Brett Favre in an unlikely upset of a very good Vikings team that entered the game 11-2 (Carolina entered it 5-8). Moore had three touchdown passes and Steve Smith and Julius Peppers both had monstrous games in the upset.
WORST 4 PRIME-TIME GAMES
Sept. 13, 2004, vs. Green Bay. Panthers lose 24-14. The year after the Super Bowl, with a tremendous amount of hype surrounding the team, the Panthers got to open on Monday night in Charlotte and got blasted. Not only that, but wide receiver Steve Smith was lost for the year due to injury. This dud – ranked No. 1 mostly because of its unexpectedness and the Smith injury that so affected the season – began a 1-7 start for Carolina.
Sept. 21, 2014, vs. Pittsburgh. Panthers lose 37-19. After a 2-0 start in 2014, this was the first time cracks began to appear in the Panthers – and they turned out to be the size of the San Andreas Fault. The Carolina defense gave up runs of 81 and 50 yards as it showed it was nowhere near the same unit as the one that finished No. 2 in total defense the year before.
Aug. 31, 1997, vs. Washington. Panthers lose 24-10. Another terrible home opener following a great season. Coming off an appearance in the NFC championship game, the Panthers proved fame was fleeting, losing by two touchdowns to the Redskins on their way to a 7-9 season.
Sept. 20, 2012, vs. New York Giants. Panthers lose 36-7. In a game that helped push Panthers general manager Marty Hurney out the door, Carolina was stomped by the New York Giants. Newton was benched late in the game after his third interception and then sat alone on the sideline. That caused Smith to verbally light into the quarterback for not standing up and supporting his teammates with what Smith would memorably label “unchoice words.”
This story was originally published November 9, 2014 at 8:20 PM with the headline "Carolina Panthers struggle in night games."