The Carolina Panthers have had a pretty abysmal season and I for one am actually very surprised that they didn't finish dead last in the NFC South but that wonderful honor is going to go to the Atlanta Falcons who were just slightly more shit than we were this year. Not that you'd actually know it as this fact is based solely on win/loss record. When the Panthers played the Falcons they actually beat us 25-17 in what was one of our many embarrassing defeats throughout the year.
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We did have a brief moment of excitement a week ago when we went on the road to face the Washington Redskins - I refuse to use their new name and everyone else I know feels the same way - and we actually won a game. I can't believe it. The Panthers beat the team that beat what a lot of people consider to be the best team in the country (Steelers.) So we were briefly on a high, standing on our sofas when the final whistle blew here in North Carolina but then we all looked at the final game of the season and then decided to sit back down.
Washington was at the head of their division, but since they ended the season with a losing record, that really doesn't say much about the NFC East. So defeating The Redskins doesn't really mean all that much although it probably didn't do much for their chances at securing a position in the playoffs, not that any of that matters since they will be eliminated in the first round almost certainly.
Instead I want to focus on New Orleans, which was the team that we faced yesterday, is a team that easily clinched our division, and is a team that very well could go to the big dance this year and even perhaps win it.
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It was rookie Rodney Smith who got the TD, the first of his professional career. I think it would be a bit unfair to say that this 2 yard walk in was really something spectacular because it wasn't. Rodney is much smaller than the offensive line and he kinda just walked under the arms of the much bigger folks in front of him. I'm not trying to take away from this accomplishment but it was kind of funny to see. He did manage to average 4 yard per carry on 10 carries in the rest of the game.
This TD put the Panthers up by 7 and it was the first points by either team in the game. For those of us watching at home (which would be all of us) we were once again given false hope.
You see, it isn't uncommon for the Panthers to score an early Touchdown but then for some reason they seem to completely lose interest in doing it again at points later in the game unless the other team has decided that they have gotten far enough ahead that they will let us have a few.
This was the case vs New Orleans as the Panthers wouldn't see another single point for the remainder of the game.
The Saints didn't really even look like they were trying as hard as they can and well, there is reason to suspect that after a certain point neither were the Panthers. There has been a lot of speculation the there is word from the top that the Panthers are not supposed to win so they can get good draft picks next season. Of course no one would actually admit to it but I gotta say, at times it looked like the lines weren't actually really trying to push one another.
That's the last game of the season for Carolina and I can honestly say that I am not disappointed about it. Of course we were going to get blown out by the Saints and now that our season is over I can watch the playoffs without actually caring who wins. I suppose I will cheer for the Saints since they are in the same division as we are.
I suppose I will take a break from sports for a while and instead focus on videogames or i know, work! Maybe I should dive into that for a bit.