Your clothes are soaked, you go home soggy and you hope you’ll get a chance to do it again.
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The term “football weather” sure made things entertaining on Monday night in Charlotte.
“I think all together I like where we are”. “The Panthers made the plays when they needed them”. In the off and on and occasionally monsoon like rain they made the game theirs. The Colts were trailing, 23-6, with ten minutes left in the fourth quarter. This worked because they have a great QB in Teddy Bridgewater who led them on a great late drive but this philosophy (on top of being stupid) also killed Teddy’s stat lines for fantasy. It is not an ideal situation to count on, but the defense was nearly impeccable in the first half against Carolina. He was Riverboat Ron again, the accent on the boat.
“When the ball is in your hand and you have to put points on the board, Cam is good at that”, running back Jonathan Stewart said. He was stopped. But Stewart didn’t stop. The Panthers had taken a 10-0 lead in the rain.
There was a lot of churning.
“It’s amusing because when we went out there, you could see the confidence on his face and in fact, knowing him, he probably felt we could have scored a touchdown”, Rivera said. Indianapolis picked up only four first downs in the first half yet remained within range while trailing 10-6 at the break.
Carolina’s savior drained a 52-yarder to win the game, and probably is sleeping a little more soundly now.
Despite a poor start and reports of a previously undisclosed rib injury, quarterback Andrew Luck ’12 led the Indianapolis Colts in a thrilling fourth-quarter rally against the Carolina Panthers, but the team fell just short in double overtime.
The protesters used rappelling gear. Nobody had ever done this at Bank of America Stadium.
Adam Vinatieri’s 50-yard field goal on the opening possession of overtime put the Colts in good position.
But Rivera knows the Packers, the Panthers’ first opponent with a winning record, will present problems.
During the past three years, the franchise has cut ties with long-time fan favorites like Steve Smith, DeAngelo Williams and Captain Munnerlyn in the name of spending smartly and ensuring Newton had control over the locker room, whereas previous management would have been apt to overpay these players out of misguided loyalty. His catch was nicer than Brown’s.
After the Colts punted from their own end zone, Ginn’s 18-yard return helped set up Newton’s 27-yard touchdown strike to tight end Greg Olsen. Both quarterbacks carried the ball for over 35 yards, with Newton having 41 rushing yards.
Then it was the Colts’ turn.
Carolina linebacker Luke Kuechly’s interception of Luck then gave the Panthers the ball at the Colts’ 39 in the sudden-death portion of the extra session and Gano did the rest. Four plays later, Gano drilled a 52-yarder for a 29-26 win.
Several national analysts had called for the Panthers to trade for an established wide receiver.
Wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. almost cost the Panthers the game when he let a potential game-winning 56-yard touchdown pass slip through his fingers in overtime. “However, the Dolphins defense as a whole was unable to withstand the Patriots” high-powered offense, and New England came away with a 36-7 victory.
While Newton has posted just 11 touchdowns against eight interceptions with a completion percentage of 54.2, his team is 7-0 and he’s been an obvious key to the team’s success.
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The game was more tense, occasionally unbearably so, than it had to be. But wasn’t it fun? If it were not for a couple of drops, the Panthers would have won this game handily.
