Week 14: Panthers 38, Falcons 0

The details

It wasn’t too long ago the Carolina Panthers played offense with the intent of keeping their defense well rested and their fans well hydrated.

When the Panthers had the ball, fans could run to the fridge, make a sandwich, pop an adult beverage and take the trash out – and still get back to the TV in time to see Cam Newton dive into the end zone and dab on dem folks.

That was so 2013.

These Panthers (13-0) – as was evidenced again in a 38-0 thrashing of Atlanta – can still do the ground-and-pound thing with running back Jonathan Stewart.

But with the blazing and sometimes befuddling Ted Ginn Jr. as their de facto No. 1 wide receiver, the Panthers have the ability to score points in a hurry – even if the rest of the league hasn’t quite caught on to Ginn yet.

Ginn blew past the Falcons for a pair of first-quarter touchdown grabs – covering 74 and 46 yards – as the Panthers built a 28-0 lead and cruised home with a 38-point victory, matching the largest margin in franchise history. Joseph Person

They said it

“I think people continue to underestimate just how fast he is. I think until you see it live, you don’t realize that he’s playing at a different gear than most guys. He gets on those guys fast. If they don’t get out of their backpedal quick, he’s gone.” – Greg Olsen on Ted Ginn Jr.

“I give all my success to Cam Newton. Without him, there is no Ted Ginn. I can’t say that vice versa. But we really, really have a nice thing going right now.” – Ginn

“Obviously we’ve been a keep-the-ball, take-possession-of-the-clock, give-the-defense-some-rest (offense). That’s definitely been our formula. But we want to put points up on the board. So however we get them, we’ll get ‘em. Whether they’re quick or long and drawn-out, grind-them-out (drives). We’ll take them that way, too.” – Panthers center Ryan Kalil

“It’s our moment, and we want to seize it as much as possible.” – Newton

“They are the best the league has to offer right now, and that showed. Our performance hopefully is not indicative of how we will play against them again.” – Falcons coach Dan Quinn, on a rematch two weeks later

The weirdness

The day after the game, NBC Sports analyst Rodney Harrison returned a call from the previous week to Scott Fowler and said he still believes Atlanta wide receiver Julio Jones is a better player than Carolina cornerback Josh Norman but that Jones was limited in Carolina’s 38-0 victory because he doesn’t have a “quality quarterback.”

Norman’s response: “Are you kidding me?”

“Put it like this,” Harrison said. “If the entire situation was equal, with Julio Jones having a quality quarterback throwing to him, then I think Julio Jones wins that matchup because I just think he’s physically more superior than Josh. That’s not taking anything away from Josh. ... Julio Jones is a hell of a football player. He’s one of the top five players in this league.”

Harrison added – repeatedly – that he believes Norman is the No. 1 cornerback in the NFL. But that didn’t mollify Norman when, later on Monday, Fowler called Norman to get his response.

“You can insult my intelligence if you like,” Norman said. “You can even insult my little puppy. But please, whatever you do, don’t insult my talent level. That is one thing I will not let you do. ... Who has gone up against Julio and has put him at pedestrian numbers like that? Who has done that? And if that’s not a talent, then what is?”

Jones had seven catches for 88 yards and no touchdowns. The majority of his yardage came when he didn’t go one-on-one against Norman.

According to the Pro Football Focus analytics website, Jones was targeted six times against Norman. Four of those passes were completed, for 33 yards. (Norman disputed one of those four completions, saying it was actually in a zone coverage when he didn’t have primary responsibility for Jones).

Hot takes

Jonathan Jones: It seemed as though the Carolina Panthers needed to buy just one more week without Charles Tillman and then they’d be set in the secondary.

To be this healthy this late in the season is unheard of in the NFL, so the Panthers seemed due for a big blow.

It came in the fourth quarter of the rout of the Atlanta Falcons when cornerback Bené Benwikere fractured his leg on an attempted tackle. Benwikere is done for the season, and the Panthers have a serious issue in the defensive backfield.

What’s most concerning for the Panthers is that the injury may not hurt immediately. Carolina can get by these next three weeks to get enough wins to get the No. 1 seed in the NFC and secure homefield advantage through the conference playoffs.

But the Panthers will feel the loss of Benwikere in January when they have to stop the visitors’ passing game in the divisional round game.

Scott Fowler: The Carolina Panthers looked every inch the undefeated team that they are on Sunday, blistering Atlanta on a day that could not have been more perfect for the home team and its fans.

On a sunny, 70-degree December afternoon, Carolina lost the coin toss and nothing else. It was 21-0 Carolina by the time the first quarter ended. The Panthers defense ended up with five sacks, four turnovers and the team’s first shutout during this extraordinary 13-0 start.

“I believe right now it’s our moment as Panthers,” said Newton, who threw three touchdown passes, posted the highest quarterback rating of his career and led cheers from the sideline in the fourth quarter because Carolina was so far ahead. “We try to seize it as much as possible.”

The Panthers are 13-0 and playing the best they ever have. If you are a Panthers fan, you probably feel like you are living inside a dream right now.

Try not to wake up.

This story was originally published January 8, 2016 at 3:00 AM with the headline "Week 14: Panthers 38, Falcons 0."