Panthers burn the Cardinals 25-10

Yes, the Cardiac Cats didn’t disappoint today. The Panthers turned a close grind-it-out game into a track meet in the 4th quarter. First Vinny Testaverde hit Steve Smith in stride for a 65 yard TD to take the lead and then DeAngelo Williams got loose for a big run and eventual clinching TD. Wow. What a game for Panther fans.

Offensive MVP: QB Vinny Testaverde - 20-33 Passing, 206 yards 1 TD and no interceptions

What can you say but the guy is a freak of nature. He doesn’t have the arm strength he used to but he has the smarts and the guts. He took a couple sacks and had the sense to throw the ball away when he needed too. He made some great throws. If you would have told me just a week ago that I would be praising Vinny Testaverde as my winning QB in a week I would have busted a gut laughing. It’s for real and you can sense the Panthers rallied around him and played with confidence with the guy. This was a huge performance going into our bye week.

Defensive MVP: DE Julius Peppers 6 tackles, 1 assist, 1.5 sacks and 2 Forced Fumbles

What a stat line. Julius set the tone early and the defense just played tough all day. He was unstoppable early as he got a sack, forced a fumble and then recovered it. In the process he knocked Kurt Warner from the game. Honestly the entire defense played well except for maybe some sporadic tackling, but we’ll address that later. Five, count them five turnovers by the Panthers. Three interceptions and two fumbles as the Panthers pressured the QB and forced bad throws.

Before someone says "Hey Jaxon, you suck at predicting the Panthers". Exactly, that’s why I never pick Panthers for my fantasy teams. Let’s count the ways I’m eating crow:

• David Carr didn’t start, it was Vinny
• The Panthers generated a pass rush and got 2 sacks
• Vinny didn’t give up the ball and played well enough for the victory
• Ken Lucas not only played at a high level he had the INT to clinch the victory
• Julius was Julius and it was a wonderful thing to watch

The Panthers win the battle of the 3rd string QB’s but the real story was the five turnovers. The defense played relentless. The offense did what it needed to do.
Again, a great victory for the Panthers. More analysis to come later.

Go Panthers!