No. 2 seed Arizona gets to play a flawed Green Bay team. We’ll use the term “advantage” loosely here, however, as the Panthers have been unfortunate enough to draw a nightmare matchup in their second-round playoff game this weekend: the Seattle Seahawks. And that is just fine with the Panthers. Olsen has been Newton’s favorite target all year (77 catches for 1,104 yards on 121 targets), and defensive coordinator Kris Richard will be spending extra time this week coming up with ways for the Seahawks to match up with him. Most importantly, can the Panthers find a way to contain Wilson – the only man who has rivaled Newton improved play the second half of the season? For the Seattle Seahawks, the idea of a rematch with the top-seeded Carolina Panthers is no doubt something they have been looking forward to since dropping a 27-23 home decision to the Panthers earlier this season.
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“Why? Why would you want anything in life that is easy?”
But it was more than just that.
I’m not sure I agree with the logic. Add in Jermaine Kearse and Tyler Lockett and Wilson is winning with a mishmash of receivers, proving how great this young quarterback really is.
One can easily build a case that the line is too soft.
But Norman is right in a larger sense. If not for an ill-advised pass, a head-scratching play call, in the waning moments of last year’s match with New England, the Seahawks would be the two-time defending Super Bowl champion.
Yet now it’s the postseason, the Seahawks once again proved they know how to pull out an ugly victory. But the Panthers won in Seattle earlier this season, and a lot of fans are confident they can do it again. Cam Newton completed 21 of 26 passes for 293 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Panthers.
The Panthers have not lost at home since November 16, 2014 a string of 11 straight games. Carolina finished the regular season with the NFL’s highest scoring offense (31.3 points per game), 10 points better than previous year, while Newton cracked new career-highs with 35 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions for a 99.4 passer rating. To me they were the elite of the NFC and going there and beating them helped validate who we were becoming as a football team. A few injuries and a few tweaks?
Below is a look at some notable differences for the two teams. “I don’t think that’s the way it should be done”, Norman said.
Down in Charlotte, the Panthers all but devoured the rest of the league during the regular season, missing out on a ideal campaign only in a loss at Atlanta.
Russell Wilson: The offensive player that can beat Carolina in this game is Russell Wilson.
The Carolina Panthers’ secondary may have lost its motivational baseball bat, but the tenants haven’t yet been kicked out of the neighborhood. To see Blair Walsh just yank a 27-yard field goal left is simply crushing for that team.
“We have to go out and show confidence in who we are and the things that we have done all year and don’t shy away from the pressure”, Harper said. “The sense of urgency certainly has to be there all the time and I think with our guys, it’s just reminding them of what it’s all about”. One was recent – the whipping San Francisco gave the Panthers two years ago in a similar situation to this one.
As long as Rodgers is running the offense, discounting the Packers would be unwise no matter how unorganized and punchless they’ve looked at times this season.
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The Carolina Panthers’ defensive backs this season latched on to the “thievery” motto as a way to commemorate their penchant for forcing turnovers.
