After an underachieving 2012 campaign, Carolina starts the season extremely optimistic following a 6-1 record to end the previous season. However, the man soon to be known as "Riverboat Ron" finds himself on the hotseat coming into the season. Our franchise quarterback is poised to shake off the "sophomore slump", while our rising star middle linebacker continues to establish himself as one of the best in the game. Questions abound surrounding our offense, "How will our offensive line play? Will our receivers be able to step it up? What are we to do with our stable of running backs?" Defensively - no question, we have one the best front sevens in the NFL, which will more than make up for our lack of strength in our secondary. I, among the recorded sellout crowd, pour into the stadium, excited, and somewhat anxious of what the future holds. Will this finally be the year we shake our five year playoff drought? Will we shock the football world once again like we did 10 years earlier? September 8, 2013, the first domino will fall in determining the answers to the many questions that surround our beloved Panthers.
That first domino, is in the blue, green, and gray that is the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks start the season coming off a surprising 2012 season. Second year quarterback, Russell Wilson, is beginning to establish himself as one of the leagues best. Richard Sherman, is coming into his own as a premier lock-down corner. The future World Champions have high expectations, picked by several NFL analysts as the NFC representative in New York the upcoming February - but having not won a season opener on the road since 2006, history is not on the ‘Hawks side, for today at least.
Like the match-up the previous year, the game started off as a defensive battle. Our front seven lived up to hype, with Charles Johnson and Greg Hardy pressuring Wilson in the pocket several times, forcing a fumble, and almost getting a safety early in the 1st quarter. It was here that our defense established itself as one of the best first quarter defenses in the NFL that season, surrendering no points and keeping the Seahawks out of the red-zone.
As suspected, our offense struggled, amassing only 63 yards over 16 plays on three drives. Defensively, we kept pressure on Russell Wilson, coming close to forcing several sacks and forcing Wilson out of the pocket. But as Pete Caroll told his Seahawks teams, "Can we win a game in the 1st quarter?" to which they would answer, "No!" We still had three more to get it together.
Our offense started showing signs of life in the 2nd quarter. Going 80 yards on 11 plays which culminated in a touchdown from Cam Newton to Steve Smith on a 3 yard slant in the end zone. The drive was what we hoped would become common place throughout the remainder of the game, however, it was one bright spark in what would be a dull offensive performance.
Our defense on the other hand, continued to keep up the pressure on Wilson, with Charles Johnson recording his first sack of the season while forcing a fumble as the Seahawks drove deep into Panther territory.
We continued to struggle on offense throughout the 3rd quarter, gaining only 45 yards on 16 plays, with three punts. Our defense continued to hold firm, giving up only 50 yards and a field goal to keep us in the lead 7-6. This was a defensive game, but what else was to be expected from two of the top, youngest defenses in the NFL?
The 4th quarter arrived. It was obvious that our defense was starting to wear down, especially in our secondary. The end result of this was a 43 yard TD pass from Wilson to Jermaine Kearse to give the Seahawks the lead 12-7, after failing to convert the 2-pt conversion. We began our drive on the 20 yard line. Our offense continued to spurter, starting with an incomplete pass intended for Steve Smith on first down, followed by a three yard gain from DeAngelo Williams on the ground. The biggest benefactor was two consecutive 15 yard penalties on the Seahawks to move us into scoring range on the Seattle 32.
1st & 10 - DeAngelo explodes through the hole for an 8 yard gain.
2nd & 2 - Once again, DeAngelo bursts through the line for a 16 yard gain.
The crowd erupts with jubilation watching D-Will run towards the end zone. We were about to pull it out; our struggling offense was about to come through for us!…Then DeAngelo fumbled at the 8 yard line. The air was instantly sucked out of the stadium. With no timeouts left, there was nothing left to do for Seattle but to run out the clock.
Final score, Seattle 12 Carolina 7.
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Although we out rushed the Seahawks 134-70, our lack of passing offense (300-125) was our achillies heal.
I, like other fans, left the game with the same views - "Our offense is crap, but our defense is to be reckoned with, we need work on our secondary." I was texting several Panther fan friends during the game, and we all were disappointed in the opening day, home loss, but were optimistic that September 8, 2013 would be our "gut check" day - we played a really good team and hung tougher with them more than anyone else had expected, finishing almost dead even in every category in the box score. This was just game one of 16, and the following week, it would all come together…