Panthers Ready for Green Bay

The Carolina Panthers are coming off a tough loss to the Atlanta Falcons. The team’s 45-28 loss to the Falcons last week may have been a low point for the cats this season, but they’re already looking up to their next tough opponent, the Green Bay Packers. Not dissimilarly, the Packers are also taking the week to lick their wounds, coming off an embarrassing 51-29 loss against Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints Monday night. What’s next for these two recovering teams? A Week 13 battle for bragging rights.

This Sunday, the Panthers travel to the infamous Lambeau Field for the second consecutive year, trying to deprive Green Bay of another win at home. Last time the two teams met at Green Bay (last November), Packers QB Brett Favre threw three touchdown passes and led the team to a 31-17 win over the struggling Panthers. This year’s regular season matchup will have a significantly different feel, however, in the very least considering the two teams’ quarterbacks. Last year, the legendary Brett Favre led the Packers past Vinny Testaverde and the Panthers while Carolina’s starter QB Jake Delhomme was out with an elbow injury. Now, Favre is with the Jets and QB Aaron Rodgers will try to continue on with his legacy, attempting to shut out the returning Delhomme and the Panthers on Sunday.

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Panthers Brush Off Injuries

Every Carolina fan witnesing Sunday’s Panthers-Falcons game watched intently when quarterback Jake Delhomme came running back onto the field after halftime wearing a long elastic wrap on his throwing arm. The Panthers’ comeback king had reconstructive surgery on this right elbow a year ago, and although he’s been performing along with the best of them, many are still wary about Delhomme reinjuring the wound.

After the game, it was revealed that Delhomme got hit in the elbow by the facemask of an Atlanta defender, causing a laceration that was patched up during halftime. The Carolina quarterback needed stitches to completely heal the wound (or one big stitch, as Delhomme elaborated,)but he claimed the injury is not a hindrance to his throwing arm, and he will not need any time off to let the wound heal. This is great news for Panthers fans that were holding their breaths at the sight of Delhomme wrapping his arm up. In other positive news, Carolina’s entire starting offensive line was back in action in Sunday’s game against the Falcons, as center Ryan Kalil entered back into a game for his first time in five weeks after spraining an ankle earlier in the season.

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Panthers Down but Not Out

The Carolina Panthers suffered an ego-damaging loss to the Atlanta Falcons yesterday, playing three solid quarters of good football but still losing to the Falcons in a 45-28 ball game. The Panthers are normally go-getters when it comes to second half come-from-behind wins, but they just couldn’t dig themselves out of the hole they created in the first half, when Carolina was down 17-0 by the second quarter.

Ironically, the Panthers ended up losing the game by 17 points, demonstrating their ability to hang with Atlanta in the game’s last 43 minutes. If it weren’t for those first few minutes of uncomfortable adjusting for Carolina, the game may have gone the other way. On a positive note, Jake Delhomme was once again looking like a stellar quarterback, going 21-of-35 with 295 yards and a touchdown while DeAngelo Williams tacked up 101 yards rushing, scoring another touchdown for the Panthers. While the cats may have lost one life this weekend, they will lick their wounds and bounce back for next week’s game against Green Bay. Despite the loss to division rivals the Falcons, Carolina is still tied for first in the NFC South alongside the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

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Round Two for Panthers and Falcons

Ready, set, go! It’s back to the ring (or field, in this case) for the Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons, who will face each other one more time this regular season for bragging rights in the NFC South. The Panthers currently lead the division standing at 8-2, while the Falcons are sitting in third with a 6-4 record to their name. A win for the Panthers this week would put Atlanta to rest, as Carolina has already soundly thumped Atlanta once this season, back in Week 4 when Panther Muhsin Muhammad bared his teeth, leading the Panthers to a 24-9 win over the Falcons while setting a franchise record for receptions.

This Sunday, the Panthers will go after a 9-2 record (a franchise first), while the Falcons just try to keep from drowning in the NFC South. Look for some incredible defensive action from both of these teams, as Falcon DE John Abraham and Panther DE Julius Peppers are two of the league’s best pass rushers, Abraham tied for first in the NFC with 11 and Peppers trailing with nine. If the Panthers want to put a stopper on the Falcons, their offense also needs to come alive, as both QB Jake Delhomme and WR Steve Smith have been sleepwalking through the team’s last two games against Oakland and Detroit. Stay tuned for results from this Week 12 matchup!

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Panthers Look Ahead at the Rest of the Season

The Carolina Panthers have one of the best records in the entire NFL right now. Donning smiles with that 8-2 record, however, the Panthers know they have some business to take care of in the upcoming weeks, and that business goes by the names the Falcons, the Packers, the Buccaneers, the Broncos, the Giants and the Saints. All of these teams have a .500 record or better, and Carolina will round out the regular season battling these tough teams while vying for a spot in the playoffs.

When it comes to key players that will make a difference in how these last few games are played out, one standout name that comes to mind is Julius Peppers. An absolute asset to the Panthers’ defense, Peppers is one of the most feared and fierce defensive player in the league, currently ranking third in the NFC and sixth in the league for his nine sacks over the course of the season. Another player to watch for on the offensive side is the phenomenal DeAngelo Williams, nominated this week for the FedEx Running Back of the week after carrying the ball 14 times and rushing for 120 yards in last week’s Panthers/Lions matchup.

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Repeat Performance?

As the Carolina Panthers gear up for their Week 12 game this Sunday in Atlanta against the Falcons, their gleaming 8-2 record stands at the forefront of all the action. At 8-2, the Panthers now have one of the best records in the league, helping to earn them the number three power ranking this week from ESPN. Standing just behind the undefeated Titans and the 2008 Super Bowl-winning Giants, the Panthers undoubtedly have their eyes on the prize – the Super Bowl, that is; but with all this talk about going to the top, Carolina remembers the team’s up-and-down 2003 season that left them as the second place team in the league as they lost to New England in the Super Bowl.

The last time Carolina was 8-2 was in 2003, when a tough Carolina team including veterans Jake Delhomme, Brad Hoover, Jordan Gross, Steve Smith, Muhsin Muhammad and Julius Peppers took the Panthers to the Super Bowl despite a rollercoaster of a season that involved five straight wins at the beginning of the season, followed by three consecutive losses and then some playoff magic. The 2003 Panthers fell just short of earning a Super Bowl title, but now with new coaching staff and several new valuable players (think DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart,) the 2008-2009 Panthers could make history repeat itself – to a more favorable outcome this time, of course.

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Godfrey’s Big Mistake

Carolina safety Charles Godfrey broke one of the cardinal rules of football in Sunday’s game against the Lions, and he’s sure to hear about it for weeks to come. The rookie has been playing phenomenal football since his induction into the NFL, but on Sunday he made his teammates cringe by getting tackled by the opposing team’s quarterback.

In one of Sunday’s most crucial plays (with Detroit trailing Carolina 24-22), Godfrey hid behind the intended receiver as Detroit quarterback Daunte Culpepper launched the ball straight to him, jumping out and intercepting the ball – his first in the league. Instead of running the ball down the field, however, Godfrey ran right into Culpepper himself, getting tackled by the 260-pound quarterback. Godfrey explained his mistake, claiming, “I was like, ‘Man, he threw this ball right to me!’ I knew it was a big play. I kind of froze. My first interception – I kind of jibber-jabbered. But hey, I caught it.” While Godfrey’s teammates are giving him a hard time for being tackled by Culpepper, they are undoubtedly thankful for the safety’s interception in the first place.

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Record-Setting Day for Panthers

Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme had a lot to make up for yesterday, coming off one of the worst games of his entire career last week against the Oakland Raiders. While Delhomme didn’t use his rocket arm to launch pass after long pass, the quarterback did find success with his two dynamite running backs, sending the Detroit Lions crawling back to their cage with one more loss while also setting numerous team records.

In the Panthers’ 31-22 win over Detroit yesterday, running back Jonathan Stewart rushed for a career-high 130 yards and a touchdown, while partner-in-crime DeAngelo Williams came in at 120 yards rushing and two more touchdowns, marking the first time in the entire Panthers’ career that two running backs went for more than 100 yards in the same game – and that was just record number one of the day. Carolina also set a single-game team record with 264 yards rushing, and Williams’ 120 yards was his third straight 100-yard rushing game, while Stewart posted up his very first 100-yard rushing game of the year.

The Panthers are on fire, and their current 8-2 record is the team’s best since 2003, when they went on to face the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. On the other side of this glorious Carolina win, the Detroit Lions are officially off to their worst start since losing their first 12 games in the 2001 season.

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Panthers v. Lions Sunday in Cat Fight

The 0-9 Detroit Lions head for the den of the Carolina Panthers this weekend, and Bank of America Stadium is where claws and fangs will come out as the 7-2 Panthers try to defend their perfect record at home. The Lions, coming off a loss to, well, everyone, will try to redeem themselves against a strong but wavering Carolina team that played a disastrous game against Oakland last weekend but somehow managed to stick it out in the end.

In Sunday’s matchup, look for the Panthers’ defense to hit it hard once again. Last weekend it was Carolina’s D that held up the win for the faltering team, and this has undoubtedly been a recurring theme for Carolina. Look also to Carolina’s running back DeAngelo Williams, who was the standout offensive player in last weekend’s game rushing for 140 yards.

On the flip side, the Lions have switched it up with the help of veteran quarterback Daunte Culpepper, a former Viking who came out of retirement a couple weeks ago but is still somewhat rusty. Will Jake Delhomme and the Panthers pull out another win to their all-around stellar performances this season, or will they go down once again in a surprise attack? Stay tuned to find out!

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