Suffice it to say sometimes I am wrong and thank goodness I was way off last week.
In defense of my feelings heading into the game, I didn’t expect the Falcons to play so listlessly nor did I do my homework to see how banged up the Falcons were defensively. I also was not quite sure if this Panthers team was/is the team we thought they were coming off the losses to Tampa and then two Sundays ago to the Cowboys.
I think the win over the Falcons showed us several very key things. First off, perhaps the Falcons “ran to the bus” but the Panthers proved that they were a much better ball club and played to their potential. They probably could have scored 60 points had they not called off the dogs in the second half.
Also, the much maligned running game racked up a franchise record 229 yards against the Falcons just in time to give the Giants something else to think about other than Steve Smith.
As Coach Fox often says, “don’t get too high with the high’s and too low with the low’s." I am starting to think that is the way we should approach this Panthers team.
The bottom line now is that this team is in the playoffs. How they got there doesn’t matter. Perhaps now knowing that a loss and their season is done has finally gotten this teams complete attention!