Fox Says to Remember the Cardinals

Summer school is officially out - for the Carolina Panthers, at least. Coach John Fox dismissed the Panthers (still sans Julius Peppers) from their organized team activities this week, leaving the team with one final thought: remember Arizona. The last time the Panthers were on the playing field they were embarrassed with a 33-13 loss on their home turf to the Cardinals in the 2008 playoffs, and Fox wants to make sure his players keep that grounding incident at the forefront of attention as the next several weeks ensue before the team’s mandatory training camp starts at the beginning of August.

Fox left his team with words concerning the ‘08 playoffs to kindle the fire that’s still burning from last year’s devastating loss to the Cardinals, bringing up the topic again on Tuesday because “it’s like that elephant in the room. It’s there. You can’t pretend it’s not.” Fox also expressed his goal for 2009, saying, “Unlike some levels of football, there’s only one happy team. I don’t care if you get to the Super Bowl or the championship game. If you’re not that one in the end, it’s disappointing… You are after one prize, and there’s only one.”

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