I have been bagging on the Carolina Panthers for the entire season and marking them as one of the worst teams in recent history of the NFL. They have shown very little in the way of actually caring of they win or lose most of the season but here in the past two weeks that have put on impressive performances and even managed to get a "W" on a game vs. Atlanta, who is also terrible. I feel bad for anyone that took my advice on that game and bet for Carolina to lose but if you did, just know that I lost a bit of money on it as well. I have terrible luck when it comes to betting but at least I didn't bet very much.
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The game vs. Atlanta was such a boring affair that it isn't even worth talking about. It felt more like a soccer game than an American football game with the final score being a paltry 9-7. All of Carolina's points came from field goals and the thing I found humorous about the game in its entirety was the fact that even when Carolina seemed to be controlling the game after the 2nd quarter TD from Atlanta, the bookies still thought that Carolina was going to pull a Carolina and eff it up.
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It wasn't until the waning moments of the game where Carolina had possession and was intentionally running out the clock with a 2 point lead that the bookies finally thought that the Panthers could actually win this game. Seeing as how I have no faith in this team at all I thought they would even screw up a time-wasting offence as well. Lo' and behold they actually pulled off a win, their mere 2nd of the season. The only thing that this really accomplished though was to guarantee the Dallas Cowboys a spot in the playoffs. Atlanta and Carolina are playing for fun at this point and neither team has any chance of a postseason.
The first half of the Packers vs. Panthers game happened exactly as one would expect with Carolina getting decimated with the halftime score being 23-10. The only thing that was really seen as quality material on Carolina's part in the 1st half was a surprise 20 yard rushing touchdown by the Panthers - one of just a few that they have had this entire season. I was still watching the game at this point and couldn't believe my eyes.
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I haven't even heard the name Ihmir Smith-Marsette very many times this season and there is a good reason for that: Carolina doesn't generally score any touchdowns and rely very heavily on their kicking game. It's easy to understand why they don't often give the ball to ISM since he has a grand total of 7 carries this ENTIRE SEASON and he has fumbled the ball TWICE on those 7 carries. I had to look him up because I have never heard of him but as it turns out he has bounced from team to team playing for 3 different clubs in the past 3 years where his amount of fumbles was always greater than the number of TD's. This TD in this game is actually the ONLY touchdown he has ever achieved in the NFL. When he played for Chicago last year, he somehow managed to have a negative amount of yards per carry. So yeah, this TD, which was pretty epic, was a real surprise for everyone involved including and probably especially Ihmir Smith-Marsette.
Things looked good in the 2nd half for Carolina and it is a damn shame and also a blessing that I wasn't watching it at this point. The Panthers rallied to score 3 touchdowns in the 2nd half and surprisingly missed 2 PAT's on those TD's. Eddy Pineiro, who is normally the only person scoring any points for Carolina couldn't make what is considered one of the easiest kicks in the sport two times in a row.
Things were looking good for Carolina when they evened the score at 30 a side with a mere 4:12 remaining in a game after a successful 2-point conversion that shocked the world. It wasn't a trick play. Carolina fielded their QB for this point after touchdown attempt so the defense was well aware of the fact that they were going for 2 points. I am stunned that the Panthers were able to convert seeing as how they are so dreadfully incapable of gaining yardage on a regular play, let alone a high-risk one like this.
In the end Carolina fan hopes of victory were squashed in the last 20 seconds of the game when Green Bay scored a relative "gimme" with a 32 yard field goal. The game was well and truly over at that point.
Now Carolina losing to Green Bay surprised no one. What is surprising was that they actually looked like a decent football team in this game and this begs the question of whether or not they were always simply playing bad on purpose. At this point they are basically guaranteed a top draft pick with a mere 2 wins on the season so have the finally started to actually play? Was their tactic this season to intentionally lose from the start?
With two irrelevant games remaining against Jacksonville and Tampa Bay the Panthers might actually surprise us with some good performances. It no longer matters if they do well or not since the season was over 5 games ago for them. If their intention is to remain the worst team in the league, all they have to do is not win more games than Arizona. So if Arizona continues to lose I think we are going to see Carolina do the same. I don't like when this losing strategy is rewarded but it has been the way the league has been run for a very long time.