Now some may say this became clear before this week and some can argue that it is clear by the final score of the game 34-3. But I say neither was absolute until the events that followed took place. What can I say, I am a hopeful and sometimes naive.
Carolina has always played solid football against the New Orleans Saints, even in times when they were considered unbeatable or vice versa. John Fox is 11-6 against the Saints in his time with the Panthers, three of those loses coming in the last three meetings and until this year, we had not been swept by the Saints since 2001. Now given all of these statistics, we knew that this was going to be a good game and the opening drive did not dispute this argument.
The Saints began the game with a couple exploding running plays, which made all Panthers fans immediately regret watching the game, thinking this was going to end up like weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8. However, Drew Brees fumbles the snap and made a bad throw, it was intercepted and returned 66 yards, by Richard Marshall, setting Carolina up with good field position. New Orleans Defense held us to a field game (which I still think we should have gone for it... 4th and goal on the 2 yard line, either walk away with a TD or make them drive 98 yards for theirs, oh well). It was after this point in the game when the reality began to creep into the picture.
Not even four minutes later in the game, Carolina had the ball back (and NO had yet to score) when Jonathan Stewart rushed for 5 yards and fumbles the ball; however what makes the play bad is that Stewart was injured on the play (never mind the fumble). Already having our starter, DeAngelo Williams, out with a foot injury, we were now down to our number three and four backs, Tyrell Sutton and Mike Goodson enter the picture.
Nine minutes more pass in the game and Carolina is on our own 38 yard line, when Matt Moore is sacked by Ellis. He would leave the field holding his arm close to his body. He tried throwing a couple of times on the sideline (in agony), but proceeded to the locker room shortly after. Jimmy Clausen would take over at quarterback.
Twelve minutes more pass in the game and Carolina is now down a quarterback and their two starting running backs, when Tyrell Sutton gets tackled on a 1 yard rush and is injured. He does not make it back for the rest of the game, making Mike Goodson the only healthy running back remaining for Carolina.
The game would come to an end with yet another tally mark in the loss column, but Carolina had questions that needed to be answered. What is the status of our running backs, our quarterback, and will our defense get the help they need from Otah and Davis anytime soon(I mean our pass D is ranked fourth, not needing a ton of help there, but we can always improve)? This morning a number of these questions were answered.
Matt Moore, Thomas Davis, and Dan Connors were all placed on Injured Reserve. They are joining the group of Charly Martin, Duke Robinson, Hilee Taylor, Jamar Williams, and Wallace Wright. Not to mention the injury report of DeAngelo Williams, Tyrell Sutton, Jonathan Stewart, and Jeff Otah.
The season has been hard to watch, unbearable at times, but when you see the possibility of any hope being carted off the field player after player, it moves to an entirely different level. The Panthers move to 1-7 with a road game against the Tampa Bay Bucs this upcoming week, who are looking to bounce back and stay in contention with Atlanta for the conference title, but hopefully the Panthers will be able to muster up some offense to compliment our outstanding defense and put another tally mark in the win column.
I wish each and every Panther a speedy recovery, not for the sake of the team and the fans, but for their own health. In the mean time I will be keeping my fingers crossed, but not holding my breath, GO PANTHERS!
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