Cardiac Cats Egg Yet Again

The Panthers lost to the Dallas Cowboys, 35-14.

The Cowboys' supposedly "weak" offensive line shut down the Cats' supposedly "unstoppable" pass rush, and Tony Romo, the supposedly "green" quarterback making his first NFL start, continuously picked holes in our supposedly "athletic" secondary.

After jumping out to a 14-point lead, the Panthers gave up 35 unanswered points. At the post-game press conference, Coach John Fox said, "We haven't found a way to finish a game yet. This is probably as poor a fourth-quarter performance as I've been associated with. I apologize to all the people that bought tickets."

In a painful game, the following 3 trends disturbed me most:

1. Too many pass drops and fumbles. I mean, Keyshawn lost a TD pass in the lights. Is this high school?

2. Time of possession. the Cowboys posted a 17 minute TOP advantage. That's over an entire Quarter's worth of time. It's hard for our defense to be effective when they're on the field almost 3 Quarters of the game.

3. Second Half Meltdown. Is it coaching? Where is the 2nd Half adjustment? Why are we the worst 3rd Quarter team in the NFL? What Super Bowl contender gives up 25 points in the 4th Quarter?

We have a Bye Week this week, and good thing too. We need to get our proverbial shit together. Tampa Bay, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and the New York Giants are coming to Charlotte, and the Cats have road games in Washington, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and New Orleans. At the very least, we have to win 5 of 8 just to stay eligible for a Wild Card.

But we have to win 8 in a row if we want to come through on our hype as one of the premier teams in the NFL. Right now, we are anything but.