It's just not right.
I guess it is fitting that the Panthers who gained countless victories using the run, were slaughtered on the road by the New York Giants by the run. Ward and Jacobs combined for 302 yards, 3 touchdowns, and no fumbles, establishing the run quicker and better than the Carolina Panthers whom were only able to make 137 with Williams and Stewart. Most notably was the performance of Derrick Ward, whom had a career 215 yards against the Panthers. It's a headliner for the problems we have at the Defensive Tackle position. We need depth. We only have 1 starter in Kemo, and we need to get more in the NFL Draft or Free Agency.
Also where did the run defense we had earlier in the year go to? You remember, the run defense that shut down Adrian Peterson, Turner the Burner, Tomlinson, and countless other stars. Where did they go? Are they worn out? Are they doing something they haven't been doing earlier in the season? When I look at film at the beginning of the season, and film this end of the season, I don't see anything we're doing differently. The Defensive Line is just getting beat. Coming into this game, you expect Brandon Jacobs to have a good game. You want to stop him, but you have to put it into perspective and know that unless you get penetration, it's impossible to stop those 2-3 yard gains. That's why he scored 3 TD's as the goal line back. You kind of expect that. What you don't expect is Derrick Ward to speed past the Panthers along the outside. With 7-8 men in the box every play, you would expect that one of your linebackers would get to the outside and stop him.
They just didn't get there fast enough. They missed tackles. They were caught out of position. That was the biggest reason we lost the game.
So it drops the Panthers from home field contention, and makes this next coming game that much bigger. If we lose to the Saints and the Falcons beat the lowly Rams, it shoves us all the way back to a #5 seed wildcard spot. As much fun as it has been to watch the Bucs choke, the Falcons have woke up to take their place as a worthy rival. The media seems to think that the Panthers have no chance against the Saints. It's ironic, as quickly as the news media jumped on the Panther bandwagon, they hopped off at the earliest opportunity.
Forget it, I'm not going to rant about the media. We need to refocus to the Saints so that we clinch the bye.
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Meanwhile, earlier today the NFL set a new record for being stupid. You're having a rough game, and Jets DE Ellis was being pelted with snowballs by fans along with the rest of his team on the way to the locker room. Ellis gets irritated and goes for revenge. This is what resulted.
Looks like a good play to me. Typically when you're in a snowball fight you get the biggest snowball and end the fight. Yet he gets fined 10,000 dollars. 10,000 dollars for throwing a bloody snowball. No one got hurt, and the fan even enjoys the attention that is given to him by the snow boulder. He gets punished while the fans get off for free. You guys sure that all the money goes to those charities?