After falling to a quick 0-3 record, the Carolina Panthers traveled to the Super Dome of Louisiana to visit the defending world champions, the New Orleans Saints. Going into the game it was believed that it would be a pretty one sided game; however there are a few factors that gave the Panthers and their fans some hope on the road. The Carolina Panthers have only lost twice to the Saints in the Super Dome since 2001 (minus the 2005 season when we played the Saints in Baton Rouge due to Hurricane Katrina, although we did win this game as well). We were competing against a depleted team that had just lost to a divisional opponent the Atlanta Falcons and the home team was down two of their top running backs, Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas. So even though the landslide victory seemed immanent on this day for the home team. The Carolina Panthers and their fans knew that it would be a much closer game.
The Panthers did not disappoint this Sunday; yes, we ended up losing the game. But for the first time on this site, we will be focusing on all the improvements that we accomplished in this game.
Some stats to look at:
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS:
- Drew Brees 33/48 for 275 yards 1 TD/0 INT
- 3 Fumbles 2 Lost
- Red Zone Efficiency: 20% (1-5)
CAROLINA PANTHERS:
- Jimmy Clausen 11/21 for 146 yards 1 TD/0 INT
- 1 Fumble 1 Lost
- 2 Sacks 3 FF
Now we obviously know this was another loss for the Panthers, but I can not bear to bring up any of the negative aspects from this game because we played so well. This by far was the best game that we have had and the win was so close, I could almost taste it.
As you can see, Drew Brees continued to be Drew Brees; however with that said, our fifth ranked pass defense was able to hold him to only one touchdown and forced him to fumble the ball. In comparison our own rookie Jimmy Clausen was able to finally get a taste of what it is like to play in the professionals, he threw his first touchdown pass. And to top it off, wait for it, wait for it, wait for it... not one interception was thrown, NOT ONE! Which lets face it, this is one statistic that should pop out for every Panthers fan.
At this point we know that the Carolina Panther Defense has been on top of their game since the beginning of the season. And they have seemed to improve each week, but this game also was an improvement for our offense as well. We outscored the Saints with two touchdowns (obviously we did not outscore the Saints overall, we lost, just in the TD category) in the game and we had zero turnovers on offense. (the one lost fumble was on special teams on a punt return) Our offensive line was able to limit the Saints defense to a total of two sacks. This stat also reflects on our rookie quarterback making smarter decisions of getting out of the pocket, throwing the ball away when possible, and protecting the ball when he does go down.
Carolina ended up at the end of the day with yet another tally in the loss column; however the experience from the game, the lessons learned, and the improvements the rookies were able to accomplish in this game were undeniable.
0-4, but oh so close... and with that I say, GO PANTHERS!
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