By Cory Spiers
coryspiers@gmail.com
Football can be a mighty cruel mistress.
There will be no storybook ending for the only owner the Carolina Panthers have known. The Jerry Richardson era ended quietly and somberly, as right outside of the walls of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, Saints fans reveled in noise and exuberance Sunday night.
And why wouldn't they? The Saints outclassed the Panthers for a third time this season, leading wire to wire in a 31-26 win over their division rivals.
The Panthers needed to be perfect to drop the Saints on the road. Instead, they weren't. And will close the season 11-6, with three of those losses coming to New Orleans.
In three meetings with the Saints, Carolina was outscored 96-60 and allowed 31 or more points in all three of those contests.
In Sunday's playoff finale between the two, the Panthers at least made things interesting late.
Still somehow in a game they had no business being in, Carolina got the ball back down five in the game's final two minutes. After an intentional grounding penalty on Cam Newton, the Panthers offensive line played the role of matadors on the ensuing play. As Saints swarmed Newton in the backfield, Carolina's season ended as Newton smacked into the turf.
It was as darkly poetic as it was symbolic.
The Panthers close the Richardson era with a 192-192-1 overall record. For a franchise that has seen the heights of a 15-1 season and the valleys of a 1-15 season and seemingly everything in between, it sounds about right.
Carolina's offseason will be ripe with intrigue about new ownership. About whether or not a new stadium could be a requirement for a new owner and what an ownership change means for the team's immediate future.
And it's fine to wonder about those things, but the biggest question might be how different the team will look at the start of training camp in the summer.
The difference between the Saints and Panthers from a talent perspective is not vast. That's clear based on the fact that Carolina hung around to give itself a shot at the end despite settling for three field goals in the first half and missing another chip shot field goal all while having no answer for the future Hall of Famer, Drew Brees.
But there is a difference and it ultimately explains why New Orleans will board a plane bound for Minnesota for a divisional round game this Sunday and the Panthers won't.
The Panthers asked a gimpy Devin Funchess and two guys who wouldn't crack a roster for any other NFL team-- Brenton Bersin and Kaelin Clay -- to be standout wide receivers. And that's not good.
Look. You can't put your 7-year-old son in the driver's seat of a car and get mad at him when he crashes through the garage and into the living room. You get mad at yourself for putting him in that position.
That's what the 2017-18 Panthers were like.
Funchess is probably a fringe third receiver for most teams. On certain squads, he might crack the two spot. But to ask him to be a premier wide out is irresponsible. Silly. Stupid. And it's what the Panthers did after trading away Kelvin Benjamin before the deadline.
Clay displayed early on how much Carolina aches for a playmaker. Newton fired a laser right into his breadbox as he created a nano second of separation in the side of the end zone early in the game, but he dropped it. No go-ahead touchdown. Instead, a field goal that Gano hooked.
Clay did have an impressive toe-tapping catch on Carolina's final drive, but it just wasn't enough. It just won't do. Not in the playoffs.
With all things considered, Newton was stellar. Even with a junior college receiving corps, he went stride for stride with Brees, matching him with a pair of touchdowns while not turning the ball over. Newton threw for 349 yards and Brees racked up 376,
But Newton needs help. And clearly, so does Carolina's secondary.
Brees completed passes to eight different receivers, four of which tallied three or more receptions with Michael Thomas leading the charge with eight receptions for 131 yards.
Thomas and former Panther Ted Ginn Jr. ran wild on Carolina's cotton-soft coverage, which rarely had an answer. Brees threw just 10 incompletions.
Carolina's vaunted front-7, headed by Thomas Davis, Luke Kuechly and Julius Peppers, did their part to slow the New Orleans ground attack-- the Saints rushed for just 41 yards.
But they rarely got to Brees, who was sacked just once.
Indeed, the Panthers picked their poison and wound up belly-up by a deadly concoction of quick passing. Stop the run, force Brees to burn them. And time after time, burn them he did.
James Bradberry, called upon to be Carolina's premier corner with Josh Norman long gone to Washington, finished with a 35.6 grade from Pro Football Focus. He allowed six catches for 72 yards and a passer rating of 109.5 in his coverage. Only one of those catches didn't result in a first down.
Meanwhile, Bradberry's opposite corner, second-year West Virginia product Daryl Worley, isn't much better. Pro Football Focus grades him as a 58.9 overall-- good for No. 89 among NFL corners.
With those two running the show against New Orleans on their fast, home turf, is it any wonder Brees had a field day?
The two have now had two full seasons together as starters. If it isn't clicking now, will it ever? How much leash do you truly need?
New Orleans was the better team. Perhaps more than that, they exposed Carolina's two most glaring issues-- a receiving corps completely devoid of playmakers and a secondary that just won't cut it for a playoff team.
The playoffs will do that. When the tough gets going, your proverbial chips and nicks can become full-fledged fissures and cracks in an instant.
That's what happened to Carolina Sunday. The team lived on the cusp of being not quite good enough and being pretty good for 16 regular season games and in the final game of the season, the dam broke and crushed the team under the weight of an irresponsible offseason's worth of murky, black water.
But again, don't be mad at this crew for putting themselves through the wall and into the living room that is the NFL offseason. Be mad that despite the fact that they held the keys, you still believed.
coryspiers@gmail.com
Football can be a mighty cruel mistress.
There will be no storybook ending for the only owner the Carolina Panthers have known. The Jerry Richardson era ended quietly and somberly, as right outside of the walls of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, Saints fans reveled in noise and exuberance Sunday night.
And why wouldn't they? The Saints outclassed the Panthers for a third time this season, leading wire to wire in a 31-26 win over their division rivals.
The Panthers needed to be perfect to drop the Saints on the road. Instead, they weren't. And will close the season 11-6, with three of those losses coming to New Orleans.
In three meetings with the Saints, Carolina was outscored 96-60 and allowed 31 or more points in all three of those contests.
In Sunday's playoff finale between the two, the Panthers at least made things interesting late.
Still somehow in a game they had no business being in, Carolina got the ball back down five in the game's final two minutes. After an intentional grounding penalty on Cam Newton, the Panthers offensive line played the role of matadors on the ensuing play. As Saints swarmed Newton in the backfield, Carolina's season ended as Newton smacked into the turf.
It was as darkly poetic as it was symbolic.
The Panthers close the Richardson era with a 192-192-1 overall record. For a franchise that has seen the heights of a 15-1 season and the valleys of a 1-15 season and seemingly everything in between, it sounds about right.
Carolina's offseason will be ripe with intrigue about new ownership. About whether or not a new stadium could be a requirement for a new owner and what an ownership change means for the team's immediate future.
And it's fine to wonder about those things, but the biggest question might be how different the team will look at the start of training camp in the summer.
The difference between the Saints and Panthers from a talent perspective is not vast. That's clear based on the fact that Carolina hung around to give itself a shot at the end despite settling for three field goals in the first half and missing another chip shot field goal all while having no answer for the future Hall of Famer, Drew Brees.
But there is a difference and it ultimately explains why New Orleans will board a plane bound for Minnesota for a divisional round game this Sunday and the Panthers won't.
The Panthers asked a gimpy Devin Funchess and two guys who wouldn't crack a roster for any other NFL team-- Brenton Bersin and Kaelin Clay -- to be standout wide receivers. And that's not good.
Look. You can't put your 7-year-old son in the driver's seat of a car and get mad at him when he crashes through the garage and into the living room. You get mad at yourself for putting him in that position.
That's what the 2017-18 Panthers were like.
Funchess is probably a fringe third receiver for most teams. On certain squads, he might crack the two spot. But to ask him to be a premier wide out is irresponsible. Silly. Stupid. And it's what the Panthers did after trading away Kelvin Benjamin before the deadline.
Clay displayed early on how much Carolina aches for a playmaker. Newton fired a laser right into his breadbox as he created a nano second of separation in the side of the end zone early in the game, but he dropped it. No go-ahead touchdown. Instead, a field goal that Gano hooked.
Clay did have an impressive toe-tapping catch on Carolina's final drive, but it just wasn't enough. It just won't do. Not in the playoffs.
With all things considered, Newton was stellar. Even with a junior college receiving corps, he went stride for stride with Brees, matching him with a pair of touchdowns while not turning the ball over. Newton threw for 349 yards and Brees racked up 376,
But Newton needs help. And clearly, so does Carolina's secondary.
Brees completed passes to eight different receivers, four of which tallied three or more receptions with Michael Thomas leading the charge with eight receptions for 131 yards.
Thomas and former Panther Ted Ginn Jr. ran wild on Carolina's cotton-soft coverage, which rarely had an answer. Brees threw just 10 incompletions.
Carolina's vaunted front-7, headed by Thomas Davis, Luke Kuechly and Julius Peppers, did their part to slow the New Orleans ground attack-- the Saints rushed for just 41 yards.
But they rarely got to Brees, who was sacked just once.
Indeed, the Panthers picked their poison and wound up belly-up by a deadly concoction of quick passing. Stop the run, force Brees to burn them. And time after time, burn them he did.
James Bradberry, called upon to be Carolina's premier corner with Josh Norman long gone to Washington, finished with a 35.6 grade from Pro Football Focus. He allowed six catches for 72 yards and a passer rating of 109.5 in his coverage. Only one of those catches didn't result in a first down.
Meanwhile, Bradberry's opposite corner, second-year West Virginia product Daryl Worley, isn't much better. Pro Football Focus grades him as a 58.9 overall-- good for No. 89 among NFL corners.
With those two running the show against New Orleans on their fast, home turf, is it any wonder Brees had a field day?
The two have now had two full seasons together as starters. If it isn't clicking now, will it ever? How much leash do you truly need?
New Orleans was the better team. Perhaps more than that, they exposed Carolina's two most glaring issues-- a receiving corps completely devoid of playmakers and a secondary that just won't cut it for a playoff team.
The playoffs will do that. When the tough gets going, your proverbial chips and nicks can become full-fledged fissures and cracks in an instant.
That's what happened to Carolina Sunday. The team lived on the cusp of being not quite good enough and being pretty good for 16 regular season games and in the final game of the season, the dam broke and crushed the team under the weight of an irresponsible offseason's worth of murky, black water.
But again, don't be mad at this crew for putting themselves through the wall and into the living room that is the NFL offseason. Be mad that despite the fact that they held the keys, you still believed.
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