The 2008 Carolina Panthers

By Jack Haley

The season began with an ice pack over his left eye and a broken nose . A suspension and a fine. Ken Lucas and Steve Smith had plenty in their possession (respectively). As several have witnessed the video or have read the headlines... Smith released his anger on Lucas in a training camp altercation.

It was the top Carolina Panthers highlight since Jonathan Stewart and Jeff Otah were selected in the 2008 NFL Draft:

Pick 13. Jonathan Stewart - RB  ( Ore gon )
Pick 19. Jeff Otah - OT  (Pitt)
Pick 67. Charles Godfrey - S  (Houston)
Pick 74. Dan Conner - LB  ( Penn State )
Pick 141. Gary Barnidge - TE  ( Wis consin )
Pick 181. Nick Hayden - DT  ( Louisville )
Pick 221. Hilee Taylor - DE/ OLB  ( North Carolina )
Pick 241. Geoff Schwartz - OL  ( Ore gon )
Pick 250. Bern adeau Mackenzy - OG  (Bentley)

But the season truly began when Jake Delhomme lined up in a shotgun formation with :02 seconds left in game regulation: Carolina 19 - San Diego 24. The play called was 74 Rocket with Jake Delhomme taking a high snap and stepping up into the pocket while throwing a bullet to TE Dante Rosario from 14 yards out of the end zone.

The camera jerked forward then focused back only to follow the pass right into Dante Rosario’s hands: Carolina 24 - San Diego 24. The PAT followed soon after and the upset was complete.

This would become known as the Carolina Pa nther’s greatest play on the season and their most important.

This would also become Rosario Dawson’s greatest career game with 96 yards on 7 receptions and a TD. Oh… Rosario Dawson - The actress and former American Idol star who appeared on the screen of FOX’s UPS Leaderboard as Dante Rosario. Completely irrelevant but I thought it might be necessary to add it.  

This overtook the Training Camp fight between Smith and Lucas as the Carolina Panthers top highlight but the fact that Smith was suspended for this game and Carolina managed to defeat and upset Carolina was a highlight in itself.

Next in line was Chicago . WR Mushin Muhammad and SS Chris Harris were waiting to play against their former teams. Mushin gained 59 yards on 5 receptions as he added his name to the list of 28 others among the NFL receiving yard mark of 10,000. Chris had 5 tackles and a forced fumble but the game did not start off great for the Panthers who without Smith fell behind the Bears 17-3 just under 6 minutes into the 3rd Quarter.

A second John Kasay FG and 2 Jonathan St ewart TDs led the Panthers to their 2nd consecutive upset and come -from -behind victory of their season.

The next 3 games followed the pattern that the defense became very familiar with:

3. Minn esota            RB: Adrian Peterson               77 Yards                  Result: L 10-20   
4. Atlanta                  RB: Mich ael Turner                56 Yards                  Result: W 24-9
5. Kan s as City         RB: Larry Johnson                   2 Yards                    Result: W 34-0

After facing LaDainian Tomlinson of the San Diego Chargers and Matt Forte of the Chicago Bears the Panthers defense faced 3 other running backs among the NFL’s best. The most important stat included that Panthers defense did not once surrender a 100 Yard game to anyone of those running backs.

The Panthers were in Tampa Bay to play the Buccaneers who were 3-2. The Panthers were sitting at 5-1 and were waiting to take over the division with a 6-1 record. Mont e Kiffen and his defense though otherwise.

The Panthers were held to 40 yards on 20 rushing attempts gaining 2.0 yards per carry QB Jake Del homme threw 3 interceptions to help handover the win to Tampa Bay as they ran to a 4 possession lead early in the 4th Quarter. It was ugly. It was disgusting but it was not over…

After Carolina beat up on New Orleans 30-7 to regain some of their lost confidence they played a close game in Ariz ona where the Panthers secondary was crushed by Kurt Warner for 381 Yards. The much needed bye week arrives and the Panthers are preparing for the Oakland Raiders.  

Jake Del homme threw 4 interceptions that came along with just 72 passing yards. 3-13 on third down. This was pathetic – Andrew Walter was starting at the QB position and managed to put the Raiders in a position to win against the 6-2 Carolina Pa nthers. Julius Peppers recorded 3 sacks and helped the defense stop Oakland on 15 of 17 third down situations.

10. Oakland              Result: W 17-6

Another horrible and struggling NFL franchise. Another QB change for the opposing team.

Daunte Culpepper was in charge for the Detroit Lions but the air was left alone in this game – DeAngelo Wi lliams and Jonathan St ewart teamed up to rush for a team record 264 rushing yards with 3 TDs. Delhomme was still lost in the game after failing to throw for over 100 yards for the second straight game against another horrible defense. They won the game 22 -31 but it didn’t start off the way they wanted it to.

Jonathan St ewart:                   15 carries                 130 Yards                1 TD
 DeAngelo Wi lliams:                14 carries                 120 Yards                2 TD 

By this point the Panthers were 8-2 but many NFL fans were questioning just who this team really was after pulling off 2 close wins against 2 of the NFL’s worst teams. The Panthers were going to play their next 2 games on the road against Atlanta (6-4) and Green Bay (5-6) respectively.

With 800 Yards of total offense, 6 4th Quarter TDs, and 43 first downs, Carolina and Atlanta made the game much more interesting than one would think it would have been. Carolina was searching for another come back win after the Atlanta Falcons jumped to a 17-0 lead but they fell short about... 17 points.

12. Atlanta               Result: L 28-45

Green Bay came and so did a victory that would give the Panthers a 9-3 record. The game of the year had taken place the first game of the season for the Panthers but their next game was huge. The Bank of America skyscraper was lit up among several other buildings in the beautiful Charlotte city skyline with a darkish Carolina Pa nther blue color and the city was ready for some football… Monday Night Football style!

848 Yards of total offense including a monstrous game from the Carolina backfield. Jonathan St ewart and DeAngelo Wi lliams teamed up once again to brea k the Panthers single game rushing mark of 301 yards. They also became the first NFL tandem to run for 100+ yards apiece, rush for 2 TDs apiece and rush for over 7.0 yards in a game…apiece.

Jonathan St ewart:                   15 carries                 115 Yards                2 TDs
 DeAngelo Wi lliams:                19 carries                 186 Yards                2 TDs

… And all of this against one of the NFL’s best defenses. In fact the NFL’s 4th best rated defense. 2 FGs and the game is tied until Jonathan St ewart runs from 2 yards out of the end zone. Tampa Bay WR Antonio Bryant burns CB Ken Lucas for his second deep catch of the night and manages to find the end zone. Steve Smith does the same the next drive. After Antonio Bryant’s 3rd deep catch of the night Cadillac Wi lliams takes it to the house. 2 Carolina rushing TDs followed to put the Cats up 31-17. Another Antonio Bryant TD catch and another Carolina rushing TD. It’s a wrap.

14. Tampa Bay        Result: W 38-23

After the final play was played and the fans started to leave the ESPN Postgame show took place in the sideline of the field… Steve Young was talking and then he got hit with a cup. Nice story.

The next week Carolina continued on their latest hot streak defeating the Denver Broncos 30-10. The week afterwards was the big decision maker for the NFC Pl ayoffs – Who would take the first round bye and host the divisional round as the number one seed?

With the weather in New Jersey the Giants and the Panthers were set to battle it out on the ground which is what they did. The scoring summary consisted of 7 rushing TDs and 1 passing TD with 2 FGs. DeAngelo Williams produced another 4 TD game and Brandon Jacobs had 3 to his name. Not to mention Derrick Ward rushed all over the Panthers defense for 215 yards. But with the wind blowing hard and the playing conditions rough the Panthers put the game in the hands of their least roughest players – John Kasay.

1 miss on the season in 25 attempts… “ It is – No good! Wide left! Kasay started and then stopped”. Panther fans hate to hear that call but after the missed FG the Giants ended up winning in over time.

16. New York Giants              Result: L 28-34
17. New Orleans                      Result: W 33-31

After the New Orleans game the division title and the first round bye was theirs to keep. The NFC South trend of the bottom team winning the division the nest year – ended. The regular season was done. The winning John Kasay 42 yard FG was good.

Carolina : 12-4  NFL Playoff First Round Bye

DeAngelo Williams: The third year running back broke the Carolina Panthers records for most rushing yards (1,515) yard games (8) in a season but he also broke the Carolina Panthers player mark of consecutive games with a TD with 9 TDs.  He rushed for 18 TDs with a 5.5 yard average. He added to the passing game with 22 receptions and 2 TDs. DeAngelo was snubbed of a Pro Bowl spot on the NFC roster even after rushing for the most TDs in the entire NFL.

Steve Smith: Steve was one of four players added to the NFC Pro Bowl roster. He received 78 catches with 1,421 yards – An outstanding 18.2 yards per catch. His 6 TDs were some of the Panthers most valued TDs in several close games. Steve Smith was ind eed the MVP of the Carolina Pa nthers but few seemed to notice.

Jonathan Stewart: The rookie running back who was selected as the 13th overall pick in the NFL Dr aft was paired with DeAngelo Wi lliams to become the 4th running back tandem in NFL history to rush for 10 TDs apiece. Jonathan broke the Carolina Pa nthers rookie TD record mark (10) preciously set at 8 TDs. The 2 also managed to help the Carolina Pa nthers become the 3rd best rushing team in the NFL.

Jake Delhomme: Missing all but 3 games from the previous season after undergoing Tommy John surgery he came back to the field to pass for 15 TDs and 3,288 yards with nearly a 60% pass completion rate (59.4). He was  sacked 20 times and threw only 12 interceptions to heat up talk about the Comeback POY award. Chad Pennington and Joey Port er might have something to say about that but Jake Delhomme did his best to lead the Carolina Pa nthers to their best regular season record ever at 12-4.

Muhsin Muhammad: The former Panther and Chicago Bear returned to his old team when Steve Smith an Jake Delhomme expressed interest in reuniting with him. 65 receptions and 932 yards (14.2 yards per catch) with 5 TDs. Another great season line for Moose who became the mentor of the struggling WR Dwayne Jarrett. 

Jordan Gross: Gross started all 15 games he played in at Right Tackle. He was given a 7.45 million dollar deal when the Panthers placed a franchise tag on him in the begging of the year. He paved the way for the Carolina Pa nthers greatest rushing season in franchise history as he was sent to the Pro Bowl as a starter.

Jeff Otah: Otah was selected as the 19th overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft after the Carolina Pa nthers traded with the Eagles to get the pick. He started all 12 games he played in at Left Tackle. He helped add consistency to the Panthers O-Line. He helped protect Jake Delhomme and he paved multiple paths for running backs Jonathan St ewart and DeAngelo Wi lliams in the most recent and most important Tampa Bay game. Few rookie mistakes.

Julius Peppers: After a horrible 2.5 sack season the previous year Julius rebounded with 14.5 sacks 5 forced fumbles and 51 tackles (not to mention the 1 blocked PAT attempt). He was selected as the Panthers 2nd Pro Bowl starter this season.

Jon Beason: After being snubbed from the Pro Bowl the previous season Jon Beason managed to make it this season after registering 138 tackles and 3 interceptions.

John Kasay: John Kasay does not care to talk about football outside of the stadium. He does not even care that he was snubbed from the Pro Bowl this season after hitting 25 of 26 FG attempts before Pro Bowl voting took place. He missed a crucial game winning FG in rough conditions against the New York Giants but made an even more crucial game winning FG against New Orleans . He has made 28 of 31 FGs on the year for the Carolina Pa nthers – 90.3%. He has continued to remain perfect on PATs.