Cat Scratch Reader
The Carolina Panthers came into Sunday with a defined set of win conditions and a game plan tailor-made to put the team in the best place to win versus the Green Bay Packers. As the saying goes: ‘Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”. Turns out the Panthers were the ones doing the punching.
Based on the aggressiveness of their offense, the Packers thought they were going to win the game by at least 2 touchdowns like the oddsmakers predicted. Drive after drive, the Packers attacked the Panthers vertically down the field. They even had some success due to some strong catches by Packers receivers and some accurate placement by Jordan Love. But with an assist from gusting 20+ MPH winds and a phenomenal game from Tre’von Moehrig, the Panthers did an admirable job of keeping everything in front of them and rallying to the football after every completion and rush attempt. Even on the deep completions, there was always a tackler there to limit the bleed.
The Packers took what the Panthers were giving them, but when they made their way into the red zone and the field became condensed, there wasn’t much left for them to take. The Panthers held strong with Derrick Brown and Nic Scourton’s relentlessness in the trenches, and the secondary being plastered onto the nearest pass-catcher when things got hairy. They managed to keep the Packers out of the endzone all but 1 drive, despite allowing 6 trips inside the redzone.
The Panthers were committed to not giving up the big play, and forcing the Packers to chew up the clock if they wanted to consistently move the ball. When the Panthers had the football, they were committed to draining as much time as possible. They put the ball in Rico Dowdle’s hands at every opportunity. When they needed to pass, the ball came out quickly to limit negative plays. With the Panthers offensive line that was held together with scotch tape and good vibes, they could not afford to let the Packers duo of talented pass rushers start to get going.
The plan to shorten the game worked, as each team only had 7 possessions a piece. Of the Packers 7 opportunities, 4 of them ended in a momentum-killing fashion. An interception by Moehrig, a fumble forced by Christian Rozeboom, a turnover on downs and a missed field goal. The Packers failed to realize just how precious each possession in this game would be, whereas the Panthers spent every moment from the opening coin toss onwards quite literally planning for the game to end in walk-off fashion.
The decision during the coin toss, to cede their usual preference to defer to the second half in order to have the wind at their back in the 4th quarter, was crucial. Not only did this allow for the Panthers to be in the best position to kick a game winning field goal, but if the game instead came down to the...
