Panthers make it feel like 2015 all over again. Here’s why that’s good, and bad
Just when you started to think it was 2015 all over again, well, it was 2015 all over again.
The Carolina Panthers, looking like an elite NFL contender, put up 35 points in the first 19 minutes of Sunday’s 42-28 win over Tampa Bay, appearing to leave little doubt that they were not only a threat to New Orleans to win the NFC South, but also to reach a third Super Bowl in franchise history.
The Panthers scored a team-record 35 first half points and won their third straight game Sunday. After eye-opening wins at reigning NFL champion Philadelphia (21-17 Oct. 21) and at home against Baltimore’s top ranked defense (36-21 last week), Carolina -- for a half -- had its fans all excited about what’s to come.
“They dominated the best defense in football last week,” Fox analyst Ronde Barber said of Carolina during the first half. “They are destroying the worst defense this week.”
But then, the rest of the game happened.
The Panthers, who gave up a late first half touchdown, led 35-14 at halftime. Carolina’s offense, which seemed unstoppable in the first half, went eerily quiet in the third quarter.
Tampa Bay scored once in the third quarter and again early in the fourth. A 35-7 lead was suddenly 35-28 with 14 minutes, 24 seconds left to play.
Carolina had moments like this in its most recent trip to the Super Bowl in 2015, when it was 15-1 in the regular-season. The Panthers blew a 17-point fourth quarter lead to Indianapolis that season, before Cam Newton led the Panthers to a 29-26 overtime win.
That same year, the Panthers led Green Bay by 20 before winning by a touchdown. They nearly blew a 31-point lead against Seattle in the playoffs. And, of course, you remember the infamous 38-35 win that season in New York, when the Panthers led by 28 points before the Giants tied the game and Newton delivered one of the most famous shrugs in NFL history -- and then a game-winning drive.
And on Sunday against the Bucs, just like then, Newton led the Panthers on a crucial scoring drive to extend their lead to 42-28.
That was just enough for a 10th straight home win.
McCaffrey’s big runs
Panthers tailback Christian McCaffrey spent part of his Friday handling the coin toss for the big Mallard Creek-Hough prep football game (Mallard Creek won 26-10). Sunday, he spent his afternoon running all through Tampa Bay.
He had two eye-popping runs in the first half.
▪ On the first he caught a screen pass from Cam Newton and hurdled a defender and got social media all jumpy.
▪ On the second, in the middle of the second quarter, McCaffrey took a handoff from Newton, went right, and just kept going. And going. And he somehow stayed in bounds.
Samuel’s big run
In a game full of highlights -- see McCaffrey, Christian -- former Ohio State star Curtis Samuel made up for an early drop with a pretty run on a double reverse in the second quarter. Samuel started left, then cut back right and jogged in an early 21-7 lead.
According to NFL Next Gen stats, Samuel ran 104 yards on his 33-yard scoring win.
“If you’re a Bucs’ defense, your head is kind of spinning right now,” Fox analyst Ronde Barber said, “with all these multiple looks and reverses. You can’t find where the ball is.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2018 at 4:19 PM.