Carolina Panthers musings

BY CORY SPIERS coryspiers@gmail.com On this day 24 years ago, the Carolina Panthers were born. On Oct. 26, 1993, NFL owners unanimously selected Carolina as the 29th NFL franchise, fulfilling Jerry Richardson's dream of bringing football to the Carolinas. The Panthers became the first expansion team since 1976 and joined the Jacksonville Jaguars as the newest teams in the league starting play during the 1995 season. Since joining the league, the Panthers have played in two Super Bowls (losing one to New England and another to Denver), have won the NFC South five times and have made seven playoff appearances. The team has also employed some talented players over the years. It's not easy to pick the best of the best, even for a team that has only existed for a shade over 20 years, but let's try our best and pick an all-Panthers team in celebration of the team's birthday. In the interest of not having a super-long post, I won't include backups, just my opi

The Panthers have gone to Detroit and won a game just once in franchise history. And it took a gutsy effort from an unlikely hero to do it. Carolina leads the all-time series against Detroit 5-2. The team's most recent trip to Detroit in 2011 ended in a 49-35 loss. The first and only time the Panthers won at Detroit was on Oct. 16, 2005. At the end of a defense-heavy opening quarter at Ford Field, it was the visiting Panthers who drew first blood in 2005. Quarterback Jake Delhomme found receiver Rod Gardner for a 4-yard score in the final minute of the first to give the Panthers a 7-0 lead. Less than a minute into the second quarter, however, the Lions scored the equalizer after Boss Bailey intercepted a Delhomme pass and returned it 34 yards for a score. Delhomme continued an up-and-down second quarter by tossing an 80-yard touchdown to Steve Smith before throwing another pick-6, this time to Kenoy Kennedy (more on him later). The Panthers and Lions were tied at 14 a

BY Cory Spiers coryspiers@gmail.com Well, that felt familiar. Carolina's thrilling 33-30 road win over the Patriots this past Sunday did more than just push the team's record to 3-1 after a flat home performance against the Saints in Week 3, it gave the team its mojo back. At least for one week. The win in Foxborough felt like it was ripped straight out of the 15-1 2015 season-- bonus content on the DVD that was never released to the public until now. For the first time in a very long time, Cam Newton played like the 2015 league MVP, rushing for 44 yards and a touchdown and throwing for 316 yards and three more scores. Much like in 2015, it was receiver by committee in the win-- six different Panthers recorded a reception and five of those players caught three or more passes. The 2015 Panthers won three games by three points. Make no mistake, an efficient and confident Newton was the difference in this game. For the first time this season, Newton had a full w