Futbol

I suppose a good lot of you that read this watched that horrible Panthers game this last Sunday. I don't know if I have ever seen an NFL team get dominated as thoroughly as the Panthers were by the Seahawks a few days ago. Our offensive line was porous, the running backs we had available were back ups and ineffective, our quarterback was panicky and threw like a girl for most of the game. It was like they threw a bunch of guys they found in a bar out there. The defense didn't play bad, they were just on the field for the whole game and, when that happens, even a great defense will eventually buckle.

How bad was the offense? Let me count the ways: they didn't have a single drive of more than six plays, their first four drives netted a total of 11 yards (5 of those yards from a penalty), the deepest line of scrimmage into our opponents territory was at their 44 yard line, the Panthers first drive with more than one first down came during their last drive of the third quarter, Jake Delhomme's passing rating was 34.9 and we only ran the ball twelve times (three of those being scrambles by Jake). That is bad.

What I do want to know is what in the hell happened to our punter during the game? He must have completely spazzed out because he booted a few of the worst punts I've seen all year. The guy was barely kicking the ball over the line of scrimmage, let alone hoping for any kind of yardage down the field. Somebody needed to give him some smelling salts or a shot of Jaeger.

Of course I don't want to sound too critical, that Seahawks team was pumped the fuck up and those fans were extremely loud. I've always watched a good number of games and have always followed the team but this was the first year in a while that I took the time and watched a majority of the Panthers' games. I'm glad I did, it was a nice little ride there for a while. I was getting to the point that I was recognizing players and appreciating what it is they brought to the team. Sunday's trouncing won't cause me to stop rooting for my team. I decided several years ago that the Carolina Panthers were my team they will be for a while. I figure you can only follow so many sports and right now the Panthers and NASCAR races at my favorite tracks are enough for me.