October 5, 2023 • 16 mins
Through the first 10 weeks of the 2003 NFL season, the Carolina Panthers were sitting atop the NFC standings with a 7-2 record. In week 11, the Panthers were well on their way to sweeping the defending Super Bowl Champion Buccaneers when the Carolina Prowler appeared on the jumbotron and swung the momentum in Tampa's favor. The Panthers had shown they could stiff-arm adversity - now they had to prove they could handle success.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Previously on Cardiac.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
The upstart Panthers were the talk of the NFL. Coming
off in overtime win against previously unbeaten Indianapolis, Carolina was
five and zero and tied for the best record in
the NFC. Two of the wins came in overtime, another
came in the final minute of regulation. The Panthers showed
they could stiff arm adversity, but now they had to
(00:26):
handle success.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
We started reading the press clippings, we started watching Sports Center,
we started hearing those things.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
He's right, I mean, and that's that's human nature.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
When you see a team just reel off and they're
going undefeated, just like man that is it's just hard
to hold onto that just because of the outside pressure.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
The next week, after playing Indianapolis, getting to go back
home and play in Bank of America Stadium against the
Tennessee Titans, I remember it was an absolutely gorgeous, glorious
all day.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
Hello everybody, and welcome to Carolina Panthers football. And this
is game number six for the Panthers. One hundred to
thirty three teams have started five and oh sixty made
it to six and oh so the odds are against
the Panthers today. But they've been fighting the odds most
of these last few weeks, going down the road to
Tampa and winning in overtime, going to Indianapolis last week,
(01:21):
winning in overtime, and despite the fact that the Titans
are four and two, most people the experts picking Tennessee
to win this football game. Today. We'll see if the
Panthers have an answer for their critics in about three
hours from now.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
We got our butts kicked. We had a special teams
blunder on the opening kickoff.
Speaker 5 (01:39):
Here's the kick high, very short, Brad Hoover, let's hit
it the twenty five. Pick it up, Brad loose ball
around the twenty nine yard line, and the Titans say
they have it. The Titans say they have it. There's
a big pile up there, but we don't know who's
got it. No signal from anybody, and they're still trying
to figure out who's got it.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
The Titans say they do, and I believe yesterday do.
Now you're thinking, uh oh.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
Here's the snapping of mcmaer's hands. He's back to throw.
He's gonna try and put it under his arm and run.
Here's parts two, the one dives in the end zone.
Touchdown Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
They beat our butt. That's what happened.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
Oh, don't fumble the ball, and Tennessee's got it at
the twenty nine yard line.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
They just whipped us like you wouldn't believe.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
And they're gonna throw the football and it's a catch
head break it down the sideline.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
This is gonna be ten But touch down Tennessee. They
fake the punt.
Speaker 6 (02:30):
You know you need that during the season, you know,
I don't think there's too many teams that have you know,
gone on to have success that you don't have those
spots in your season. But you know, you try to
stay the same. You don't want to get too high,
you don't want to get too low. And that was
a good wake up.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Call for us.
Speaker 7 (02:46):
No doubt, you're five and one, you still you still
feel good about yourself.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I guess you can say.
Speaker 7 (02:51):
Until the next morning you go to the team meeting
and John Fox let you have it like you wouldn't believe.
We didn't see that side of John at least I'd
never seen it. And he just berated us and he
just he let us have it. And basically at the end,
it was like, Hey, I'm gonna protect you to the media.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I won't throw you under the bus.
Speaker 7 (03:10):
But it was like I remember we walked out and
some of the guys were like, my gosh, we're five
and one.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
We're not one in five.
Speaker 7 (03:17):
But that was he knew we were a good football team,
and that was just to let him know, Hey, that
standard wasn't there yesterday. I don't know what it was,
the bow week or everything, and that was that was
the John five.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
He counted us. We got back to the fundamentals that
he established when he first got here in two thousand
and two, when he said that we're a little bit soft.
We challenged everybody we're gonna be smart and tough, and
we got back to it. And that week, that practice
after the Tennessee game, that was just brutal.
Speaker 5 (03:45):
Fires for prowing the ends.
Speaker 8 (03:47):
By God, touchdown, big hole down the sideline.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
He's gone.
Speaker 8 (03:51):
Now the Panthers are gonna pull another one out of
their head.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
That was tortianda touchdown, fires over the medal?
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Is that intercepting? Yes it is up, Yes, God. Panthers
have won it in.
Speaker 8 (04:02):
Overtime head the forty five to the forty and thought's right.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
They ten bye touchdown.
Speaker 8 (04:10):
Yes, Charlotte, there is a Super Bowl and.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
We're in it.
Speaker 9 (04:14):
Cardiac.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
The Panthers record stood at five and one after a
humbling loss to the Titans the following week, the Cardiac
Cats bound their footing on the road, and.
Speaker 10 (04:32):
That should do it.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
That will be the last play of regulation, and for
the third time this year on the road, the Carolina
Panthers will go into overtime. And you've got to certainly
like the odds because they've won in Tampa, they have
won at Indianapolis in overtime, and now we're here in
the Superdome in New Orleans and we've come to the
(04:54):
end of regulation. Four quarters in the books, John Casey
trying to end this one. One snap kick us up
by Casey, and it is God.
Speaker 8 (05:05):
And the Panthers have done it again for the third
time this season, going on the road and winning it overtime.
John Casey's won all three with field goals, this one
from thirty and the Panthers are now six and one
and still.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
Riding high in the NFC South.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
The next week, Carolina went to Houston for the first
time that season. Team historian David Monroe.
Speaker 9 (05:34):
Went into my hotel room, and there was a bottle
of Super Bowl thirty eight one on my bed from
the City Houston super Bowl Host Committee. I still have
that bottle one. It hasn't been opened, but hey, maybe
that was an omen that we'd be going back.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
In Week nine against the Texans, the Panthers offense hardly
resembled a championship contender.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
AHI One second ago, the Panthers at their twenty ninety
yard line home under center, and he is back to
pass over the middle of Nick goings lateral to Steve Smith.
Smith up to the fifty yard line, looking for some
help breaks a tackle. He's still going at the thirty five,
said to the thirty, trying to pitch it to somebody
with a bubble down around the thirty. Big pile up,
(06:17):
and this one is over.
Speaker 11 (06:19):
How's our best play of the game.
Speaker 9 (06:21):
Yeah, Panthers dominated the first quarter, maybe even the first half,
but we just couldn't convert our offense into points that game.
When you give up fourteen points in the NFL, you
expect to win. We didn't win that day.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Having lost two of three, Carolina returned home for a
rematch with defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay in Week two.
The Panthers clipped the Bucks twelve nine in overtime thanks
to three blocked kicks and a sterling effort from the
defensive line. This time, Mike Minter ended the secondary set
(06:55):
the tone early on.
Speaker 5 (06:56):
Al right, third down and five tapa from They're twenty
one three receivers and a little group triangle the left
for Brad Johnson.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Panthers rushed for he.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Was looking for God and already all the.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
Way Johnson feeling some he throws, it's picked off.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Mike Better g has it went out Cody and was
able to get up and get to my feet.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I knew I was going to score a test.
Speaker 8 (07:20):
Now until the twenty five under the ten five Better's
downs touchdown Panthers twenty nine yards.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
And then from that moment, man, it just it's his
next you find.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
The Panthers dominated the Bucks through three quarters back to throw.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
The lome a lot of time steps up deep downfield
for Rickey Prowl got it twenty fifteen, ten five touchdown Carolina.
Speaker 8 (07:45):
Oh my goodness, what a bomb.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Bite the loam goats him back to throw again.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
Pepper's in his face, he avoids the rush. Now he's
brought down for behind and sacked at the forty five
yard line by Al Wallace.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Carolina led a twenty two seven heading into the fourth quarter.
The bucks first offensive touchdown of the game came with
ten to twenty nine to go in regulation.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Johnson watched a throw back to pass feels, oh, we
got pounded as he threw the football, but it's caught
by key Shaun Johnson right corner and.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Is that a touchdown? Yes, but that wasn't the play
that swung the pendulum offensive lineman Kevin Donnelly.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
This game is going really well until they do this
thing in the stands they used to do and it
was ended this very game. They go around and let
fans get on the microphone and say like, hey guy,
let's keep going. Go Panthers, you guys are doing great.
Time score or go, you know, get everybody get fired up.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Jake Delane and the Panthers couldn't believe what they just heard.
Speaker 7 (08:49):
We were on the field and it's in between because
it's a TV time out. We're on the field and
I'll never forget because you just kind of you're in
the huddle just killing time, and the interview this guy
and basically he says, and where you had Simeon Rice
and Todd Stoucey the left tackles like, you have got
to be kidding me.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Right now.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
They have this little interview thing they do in the
stadium during breaks, and they talked to a Panther fan
who was all dressed up with different clothes and hats,
and he basically called out the Bucks on the PA system.
Speaker 8 (09:19):
He called out at the SAP and Simeon Rice. He
got the crowd all jacked up.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
This is why I'm gona have to say. Look, I
blame this on the fans.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
The Bucks were listening to this too.
Speaker 11 (09:29):
The Simeon anymore, like, bring it on real do come
out his desk. Great too, and we're on defense, so
that'll be the last time we run that promotion. Yeah, yeah,
you're gonna give a fan of microphone.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Sure enough, Simeon makes a play not long after.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
Golong back to pass, Big Rush sacked Simeon Rice back
at the twenty.
Speaker 11 (09:51):
Bad promotional idea.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Belone back to pass has time not anymore. Another sack
and the ball came loose and the Panther.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Having Simme and Rice again for the blind side. Two
sacks on that series.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
For Rice as offensive linemen, there's a fine line between
we want to have confidence, we want to go out
there and just kick a man's butt every single play,
but at the same time we want to help him
up and say, man, you just slipped. Man, you just fell.
I didn't pancake. It's all good because you want to.
You know, there's a wrath, there's a there's an anger
and a vitriol that just it's waiting to come out
(10:25):
if provoked enough.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Well, the Tampa defense was plenty provoked before the game
that wrath, anger and vitriol started brewing in the stands.
Speaker 10 (10:38):
We were watching them before and Simmey and Rice and
Warren Sapp were like fitting on our logo and and
just you know, disrespecting us and disrespecting the team. I
was getting enraged that they just disrespected us and when
they thought they could just walk all over us. My
(10:59):
name is it was the f Muscarello aka the Carolina Prowler,
and I was the fans. Basically, my outfit was like
if I was in the in the wild and I
slayed the panther and put it on my head and
my body. I had the panther feet, the panther claws
and the panther mask. So the lady comes over and
(11:21):
she says, you're one fan of the game.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Can you tell us about yourself?
Speaker 10 (11:26):
I said, I was the Carolina Prowler, and also that
I was not gonna sit here and take it them
disrespecting us, and we weren't gonna that the Panthers were
gonna kick their butt all the way back to Tampa Bay. Well,
the next play, Jake got sacked, and the next play
after that, Jake got sacked, and then there everybody started
(11:46):
looking at me. A little after that, I got out
and I went and stood to where I could watch
the game, and I just was like, worried over I'm
gonna get jumped getting out of here, you know.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
Shouts back to throw pumps, pumps, please it upfield, and
it is got oh the touchdown for the cardinal.
Speaker 10 (12:06):
I got real worried for a little bit. I said, dope,
I'm gonna be like the guy in Chicago to cart
the ball.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
While the Carolina Prowler was sweating, the Carolina Panthers were
on the prowl down four in the final minutes, it
was time for another cardiac finish in.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
The pockets along to throw with time down the middle
of the field.
Speaker 8 (12:29):
Trolls open at the thirty and pounded on the turf
at the twenty seven yard line.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
First and ten.
Speaker 11 (12:34):
Panthers boy Ricky Pols made three catches today and all
three have been big hens.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
From the twenty seven the loom out of the shotgun
flitzer is coming, throws it up field.
Speaker 8 (12:43):
He's got muhammed cart down around the five yard line.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Oh moose with a great catch.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
All right, now, let's not score too soon.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
No, let's just score. You know what, Bill, I'll tell
you what do not? Just throw that boat up to
have hazzardy young man to think about it.
Speaker 8 (13:00):
Panthers are at the five of Tampa, first down gold
the lone out of the shotgun has it again. Fire
Smith caught it touchdown. Steve Smith caught it with one
o six to go. Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (13:20):
This is incredible? I was just like, well, that lets
me a little bit off the hook.
Speaker 10 (13:24):
And about that time, as we were leaving, I got
a call from that channel thirty six.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Uh was at my house waiting to interview, and my
wife was not happy.
Speaker 10 (13:34):
She says, I'm Channel thirty six is sitting here in
my living room. Why she says you in trouble now,
mister said, I.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Didn't tell you to go out there and get no trouble.
Speaker 10 (13:43):
You went to a game you know you're about to get.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Get you and my son jump.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Another week and another dramatic Carolina win that went over.
Speaker 9 (13:57):
Tampa was big.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
Uh. I think for this team to sweep those guys.
Speaker 7 (14:02):
Man, it's so fulfilling when when you make people shut
up on the field.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Even though we ended up winning that game, for me
and for Todd Stucy, we're pissed off and angry in
the locker room and could care less than everybody else
was celebrating it was. It was kind of to us
that you had. The fan can be blamed for this,
but the offensive line is the one that looked bad
through all this stuff. And I like, I got so angry.
I was in the bathroom and tore a paper cow
(14:28):
dispenser off the wall and threw it against the showers,
and Chris Mangham actually had to come in there and
calm me down because reporters are starting to look in there,
like what's going on with you know? You guys just
won a game. Everybody's celebrating out here and somebody's going
to town in the shower area. But a niche. That's
just the way it was, and that's the brand of
ball that we played, and that's that's who we were.
Speaker 7 (14:48):
I'm glad we wanted because I promise you John Fox.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Would have said it straight about.
Speaker 7 (14:52):
We didn't lose the game because of a fan with
all was the game because we didn't execute correctly. So
that would have been another butchet and that we probably
would have had to live.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Carolina followed up the Tampa win with another close win
against Washington. The Panthers were eight and two. Six of
the wins were by three points or less.
Speaker 9 (15:11):
We felt like an eight and two team. You know,
in the NFL, a win is a win, and you
go back and look at it. Look the number of
games in the NFL that are decided by seven points
or less or three points or less. In the NFL,
there are usually have the thirty two teams. Each season,
there's usually one team that is head and shoulders above
everybody else. There's one team that's just awful, and then
(15:35):
the other thirty teams are pretty much even. But the
thing that separates those thirty teams from one another during
the course of a season.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Are injuries.
Speaker 9 (15:44):
If you go back and look at the Panthers roster
there in two thousand and three season and the number
of players that we ended up on that ended up
on injury reserve that season one of the lowest numbers
in team history. When you have injuries, do you have
the depth to overcome them?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
We had good depth that season.
Speaker 9 (16:00):
Turnovers a lot of times the NFL, the teams are
so even a team that wins the game is a
team that doesn't beat itself turnovers and penalties. Go back
and look at our turnover margin that year. And the
other thing is luck. You gotta have luck. Look the
shape of a ball, at the football that bounces in
crazy ways. If all bounced our way that year, and
whyn't you start winning and you get some luck, you
(16:21):
start believing in yourselves.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
A team that was one and fifteen just two years
prior boasted the NFC's best record after Week eleven
Previously on Cardiac.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
The upstart Panthers were the talk of the NFL. Coming
off in overtime win against previously unbeaten Indianapolis, Carolina was
five and zero and tied for the best record in
the NFC. Two of the wins came in overtime, another
came in the final minute of regulation. The Panthers showed
they could stiff arm adversity, but now they had to
(00:26):
handle success.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
We started reading the press clippings, we started watching Sports Center,
we started hearing those things.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
He's right, I mean, and that's that's human nature.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
When you see a team just reel off and they're
going undefeated, just like man that is it's just hard
to hold onto that just because of the outside pressure.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
The next week, after playing Indianapolis, getting to go back
home and play in Bank of America Stadium against the
Tennessee Titans, I remember it was an absolutely gorgeous, glorious
all day.
Speaker 5 (01:00):
Hello everybody, and welcome to Carolina Panthers football. And this
is game number six for the Panthers. One hundred to
thirty three teams have started five and oh sixty made
it to six and oh so the odds are against
the Panthers today. But they've been fighting the odds most
of these last few weeks, going down the road to
Tampa and winning in overtime, going to Indianapolis last week,
(01:21):
winning in overtime, and despite the fact that the Titans
are four and two, most people the experts picking Tennessee
to win this football game. Today. We'll see if the
Panthers have an answer for their critics in about three
hours from now.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
We got our butts kicked. We had a special teams
blunder on the opening kickoff.
Speaker 5 (01:39):
Here's the kick high, very short, Brad Hoover, let's hit
it the twenty five. Pick it up, Brad loose ball
around the twenty nine yard line, and the Titans say
they have it. The Titans say they have it. There's
a big pile up there, but we don't know who's
got it. No signal from anybody, and they're still trying
to figure out who's got it.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
The Titans say they do, and I believe yesterday do.
Now you're thinking, uh oh.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
Here's the snapping of mcmaer's hands. He's back to throw.
He's gonna try and put it under his arm and run.
Here's parts two, the one dives in the end zone.
Touchdown Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
They beat our butt. That's what happened.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
Oh, don't fumble the ball, and Tennessee's got it at
the twenty nine yard line.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
They just whipped us like you wouldn't believe.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
And they're gonna throw the football and it's a catch
head break it down the sideline.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
This is gonna be ten But touch down Tennessee. They
fake the punt.
Speaker 6 (02:30):
You know you need that during the season, you know,
I don't think there's too many teams that have you know,
gone on to have success that you don't have those
spots in your season. But you know, you try to
stay the same. You don't want to get too high,
you don't want to get too low. And that was
a good wake up.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Call for us.
Speaker 7 (02:46):
No doubt, you're five and one, you still you still
feel good about yourself.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I guess you can say.
Speaker 7 (02:51):
Until the next morning you go to the team meeting
and John Fox let you have it like you wouldn't believe.
We didn't see that side of John at least I'd
never seen it. And he just berated us and he
just he let us have it. And basically at the end,
it was like, Hey, I'm gonna protect you to the media.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
I won't throw you under the bus.
Speaker 7 (03:10):
But it was like I remember we walked out and
some of the guys were like, my gosh, we're five
and one.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
We're not one in five.
Speaker 7 (03:17):
But that was he knew we were a good football team,
and that was just to let him know, Hey, that
standard wasn't there yesterday. I don't know what it was,
the bow week or everything, and that was that was
the John five.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
He counted us. We got back to the fundamentals that
he established when he first got here in two thousand
and two, when he said that we're a little bit soft.
We challenged everybody we're gonna be smart and tough, and
we got back to it. And that week, that practice
after the Tennessee game, that was just brutal.
Speaker 5 (03:45):
Fires for prowing the ends.
Speaker 8 (03:47):
By God, touchdown, big hole down the sideline.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
He's gone.
Speaker 8 (03:51):
Now the Panthers are gonna pull another one out of
their head.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
That was tortianda touchdown, fires over the medal?
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Is that intercepting? Yes it is up, Yes, God. Panthers
have won it in.
Speaker 8 (04:02):
Overtime head the forty five to the forty and thought's right.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
They ten bye touchdown.
Speaker 8 (04:10):
Yes, Charlotte, there is a Super Bowl and.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
We're in it.
Speaker 9 (04:14):
Cardiac.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
The Panthers record stood at five and one after a
humbling loss to the Titans the following week, the Cardiac
Cats bound their footing on the road, and.
Speaker 10 (04:32):
That should do it.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
That will be the last play of regulation, and for
the third time this year on the road, the Carolina
Panthers will go into overtime. And you've got to certainly
like the odds because they've won in Tampa, they have
won at Indianapolis in overtime, and now we're here in
the Superdome in New Orleans and we've come to the
(04:54):
end of regulation. Four quarters in the books, John Casey
trying to end this one. One snap kick us up
by Casey, and it is God.
Speaker 8 (05:05):
And the Panthers have done it again for the third
time this season, going on the road and winning it overtime.
John Casey's won all three with field goals, this one
from thirty and the Panthers are now six and one
and still.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
Riding high in the NFC South.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
The next week, Carolina went to Houston for the first
time that season. Team historian David Monroe.
Speaker 9 (05:34):
Went into my hotel room, and there was a bottle
of Super Bowl thirty eight one on my bed from
the City Houston super Bowl Host Committee. I still have
that bottle one. It hasn't been opened, but hey, maybe
that was an omen that we'd be going back.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
In Week nine against the Texans, the Panthers offense hardly
resembled a championship contender.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
AHI One second ago, the Panthers at their twenty ninety
yard line home under center, and he is back to
pass over the middle of Nick goings lateral to Steve Smith.
Smith up to the fifty yard line, looking for some
help breaks a tackle. He's still going at the thirty five,
said to the thirty, trying to pitch it to somebody
with a bubble down around the thirty. Big pile up,
(06:17):
and this one is over.
Speaker 11 (06:19):
How's our best play of the game.
Speaker 9 (06:21):
Yeah, Panthers dominated the first quarter, maybe even the first half,
but we just couldn't convert our offense into points that game.
When you give up fourteen points in the NFL, you
expect to win. We didn't win that day.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Having lost two of three, Carolina returned home for a
rematch with defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay in Week two.
The Panthers clipped the Bucks twelve nine in overtime thanks
to three blocked kicks and a sterling effort from the
defensive line. This time, Mike Minter ended the secondary set
(06:55):
the tone early on.
Speaker 5 (06:56):
Al right, third down and five tapa from They're twenty
one three receivers and a little group triangle the left
for Brad Johnson.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Panthers rushed for he.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Was looking for God and already all the.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
Way Johnson feeling some he throws, it's picked off.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Mike Better g has it went out Cody and was
able to get up and get to my feet.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I knew I was going to score a test.
Speaker 8 (07:20):
Now until the twenty five under the ten five Better's
downs touchdown Panthers twenty nine yards.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
And then from that moment, man, it just it's his
next you find.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
The Panthers dominated the Bucks through three quarters back to throw.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
The lome a lot of time steps up deep downfield
for Rickey Prowl got it twenty fifteen, ten five touchdown Carolina.
Speaker 8 (07:45):
Oh my goodness, what a bomb.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Bite the loam goats him back to throw again.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
Pepper's in his face, he avoids the rush. Now he's
brought down for behind and sacked at the forty five
yard line by Al Wallace.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Carolina led a twenty two seven heading into the fourth quarter.
The bucks first offensive touchdown of the game came with
ten to twenty nine to go in regulation.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Johnson watched a throw back to pass feels, oh, we
got pounded as he threw the football, but it's caught
by key Shaun Johnson right corner and.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Is that a touchdown? Yes, but that wasn't the play
that swung the pendulum offensive lineman Kevin Donnelly.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
This game is going really well until they do this
thing in the stands they used to do and it
was ended this very game. They go around and let
fans get on the microphone and say like, hey guy,
let's keep going. Go Panthers, you guys are doing great.
Time score or go, you know, get everybody get fired up.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Jake Delane and the Panthers couldn't believe what they just heard.
Speaker 7 (08:49):
We were on the field and it's in between because
it's a TV time out. We're on the field and
I'll never forget because you just kind of you're in
the huddle just killing time, and the interview this guy
and basically he says, and where you had Simeon Rice
and Todd Stoucey the left tackles like, you have got
to be kidding me.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Right now.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
They have this little interview thing they do in the
stadium during breaks, and they talked to a Panther fan
who was all dressed up with different clothes and hats,
and he basically called out the Bucks on the PA system.
Speaker 8 (09:19):
He called out at the SAP and Simeon Rice. He
got the crowd all jacked up.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
This is why I'm gona have to say. Look, I
blame this on the fans.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
The Bucks were listening to this too.
Speaker 11 (09:29):
The Simeon anymore, like, bring it on real do come
out his desk. Great too, and we're on defense, so
that'll be the last time we run that promotion. Yeah, yeah,
you're gonna give a fan of microphone.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Sure enough, Simeon makes a play not long after.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
Golong back to pass, Big Rush sacked Simeon Rice back
at the twenty.
Speaker 11 (09:51):
Bad promotional idea.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Belone back to pass has time not anymore. Another sack
and the ball came loose and the Panther.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Having Simme and Rice again for the blind side. Two
sacks on that series.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
For Rice as offensive linemen, there's a fine line between
we want to have confidence, we want to go out
there and just kick a man's butt every single play,
but at the same time we want to help him
up and say, man, you just slipped. Man, you just fell.
I didn't pancake. It's all good because you want to.
You know, there's a wrath, there's a there's an anger
and a vitriol that just it's waiting to come out
(10:25):
if provoked enough.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Well, the Tampa defense was plenty provoked before the game
that wrath, anger and vitriol started brewing in the stands.
Speaker 10 (10:38):
We were watching them before and Simmey and Rice and
Warren Sapp were like fitting on our logo and and
just you know, disrespecting us and disrespecting the team. I
was getting enraged that they just disrespected us and when
they thought they could just walk all over us. My
(10:59):
name is it was the f Muscarello aka the Carolina Prowler,
and I was the fans. Basically, my outfit was like
if I was in the in the wild and I
slayed the panther and put it on my head and
my body. I had the panther feet, the panther claws
and the panther mask. So the lady comes over and
(11:21):
she says, you're one fan of the game.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Can you tell us about yourself?
Speaker 10 (11:26):
I said, I was the Carolina Prowler, and also that
I was not gonna sit here and take it them
disrespecting us, and we weren't gonna that the Panthers were
gonna kick their butt all the way back to Tampa Bay. Well,
the next play, Jake got sacked, and the next play
after that, Jake got sacked, and then there everybody started
(11:46):
looking at me. A little after that, I got out
and I went and stood to where I could watch
the game, and I just was like, worried over I'm
gonna get jumped getting out of here, you know.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
Shouts back to throw pumps, pumps, please it upfield, and
it is got oh the touchdown for the cardinal.
Speaker 10 (12:06):
I got real worried for a little bit. I said, dope,
I'm gonna be like the guy in Chicago to cart
the ball.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
While the Carolina Prowler was sweating, the Carolina Panthers were
on the prowl down four in the final minutes, it
was time for another cardiac finish in.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
The pockets along to throw with time down the middle
of the field.
Speaker 8 (12:29):
Trolls open at the thirty and pounded on the turf
at the twenty seven yard line.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
First and ten.
Speaker 11 (12:34):
Panthers boy Ricky Pols made three catches today and all
three have been big hens.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
From the twenty seven the loom out of the shotgun
flitzer is coming, throws it up field.
Speaker 8 (12:43):
He's got muhammed cart down around the five yard line.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Oh moose with a great catch.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
All right, now, let's not score too soon.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
No, let's just score. You know what, Bill, I'll tell
you what do not? Just throw that boat up to
have hazzardy young man to think about it.
Speaker 8 (13:00):
Panthers are at the five of Tampa, first down gold
the lone out of the shotgun has it again. Fire
Smith caught it touchdown. Steve Smith caught it with one
o six to go. Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (13:20):
This is incredible? I was just like, well, that lets
me a little bit off the hook.
Speaker 10 (13:24):
And about that time, as we were leaving, I got
a call from that channel thirty six.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Uh was at my house waiting to interview, and my
wife was not happy.
Speaker 10 (13:34):
She says, I'm Channel thirty six is sitting here in
my living room. Why she says you in trouble now,
mister said, I.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Didn't tell you to go out there and get no trouble.
Speaker 10 (13:43):
You went to a game you know you're about to get.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Get you and my son jump.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Another week and another dramatic Carolina win that went over.
Speaker 9 (13:57):
Tampa was big.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
Uh. I think for this team to sweep those guys.
Speaker 7 (14:02):
Man, it's so fulfilling when when you make people shut
up on the field.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Even though we ended up winning that game, for me
and for Todd Stucy, we're pissed off and angry in
the locker room and could care less than everybody else
was celebrating it was. It was kind of to us
that you had. The fan can be blamed for this,
but the offensive line is the one that looked bad
through all this stuff. And I like, I got so angry.
I was in the bathroom and tore a paper cow
(14:28):
dispenser off the wall and threw it against the showers,
and Chris Mangham actually had to come in there and
calm me down because reporters are starting to look in there,
like what's going on with you know? You guys just
won a game. Everybody's celebrating out here and somebody's going
to town in the shower area. But a niche. That's
just the way it was, and that's the brand of
ball that we played, and that's that's who we were.
Speaker 7 (14:48):
I'm glad we wanted because I promise you John Fox.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Would have said it straight about.
Speaker 7 (14:52):
We didn't lose the game because of a fan with
all was the game because we didn't execute correctly. So
that would have been another butchet and that we probably
would have had to live.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Carolina followed up the Tampa win with another close win
against Washington. The Panthers were eight and two. Six of
the wins were by three points or less.
Speaker 9 (15:11):
We felt like an eight and two team. You know,
in the NFL, a win is a win, and you
go back and look at it. Look the number of
games in the NFL that are decided by seven points
or less or three points or less. In the NFL,
there are usually have the thirty two teams. Each season,
there's usually one team that is head and shoulders above
everybody else. There's one team that's just awful, and then
(15:35):
the other thirty teams are pretty much even. But the
thing that separates those thirty teams from one another during
the course of a season.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Are injuries.
Speaker 9 (15:44):
If you go back and look at the Panthers roster
there in two thousand and three season and the number
of players that we ended up on that ended up
on injury reserve that season one of the lowest numbers
in team history. When you have injuries, do you have
the depth to overcome them?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
We had good depth that season.
Speaker 9 (16:00):
Turnovers a lot of times the NFL, the teams are
so even a team that wins the game is a
team that doesn't beat itself turnovers and penalties. Go back
and look at our turnover margin that year. And the
other thing is luck. You gotta have luck. Look the
shape of a ball, at the football that bounces in
crazy ways. If all bounced our way that year, and
whyn't you start winning and you get some luck, you
(16:21):
start believing in yourselves.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
A team that was one and fifteen just two years
prior boasted the NFC's best record after Week eleven
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