Panthers are Patriots
of two years ago
Carolina is team no one knows,
with still-untested quarterback
Robert Galbraith / ReutersCarolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme has only 43 completions but has led three playoff victories.
By Ron Borges
msnbc.com contributor
updated 4:53 p.m. ET Jan. 22, 2004
When the New England Patriots take a look at the Carolina Panthers this week they'll recognize them even if there are no familiar faces in their lineup because what they'll see is themselves.
Or what they used to be.
Just two Super Bowls ago, the Patriots were the Panthers. They were the little team no one knew. The little team that could. A team with an unknown and still untested quarterback, a fresh-faced kid named Tom Brady.
A team with a no-name defense as well that seemed to keep stopping people but no one quite knew how.
Most of all, they were the team nobody took seriously when they arrived in New Orleans for Super Bowl XXXVI. Those Patriots had somehow reached the title game through odd twists of fate and good fortune, but who everyone knew shouldn't have been there in the first place.
Those Patriots were prohibitive 14-point underdogs facing one of the most prolific scoring machines in pro football history, the St. Louis Rams.
St. Louis had an offense known as The Greatest Show on Turf because they put up points in bunches, over 500 that season. The Patriots, meanwhile, were the least-known show on earth.
But by the end of Super Bowl XXXVI, those Patriots were being fitted for championship rings while the Rams were being fitted for goat's horns. The Pats had done the impossible. They had slayed the fire-breathing dragon, stopped the unstoppable offense for most of the day and then hung on desperately at the end for a dramatic 20-17 victory.
Two Super Bowls later, the story line is the same, but the roles are reversed. When the Patriots play in the Super Bowl for the second time in three years (and third time in eight years), they will arrive as 6 1/2-point favorites. They have the Greatest Defense On Earth, a unit that allowed 14.9 points per game during the regular season, 14 in the playoffs and 6 at home over the last three months of the regular season.
On consecutive playoff weekends they bewitched, bothered and bewildered the league's co-MVPs, Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. Manning came into the AFC championship game with a nearly perfect postseason efficiency rating of 156.3 and left it with a rating of 35.6, a number so dismal it is barely above the "Call a tow truck'' level of performance.
Conversely, the Panthers have a snarling but unknown defense, one that some compare to the 2002 Patriots. They have a young quarterback named Jake Delhomme, an untested and unproven kid who took over for an aging starter (Rodney Peete) the same way Brady did after Drew Bledsoe was severely injured two games into what appeared to be very likely a dismal season in 2002.
Carolina is not as much of an underdog as the 2002 Patriots, in part because New England has nowhere near the offensive firepower of the Rams, and in part simply because of what those Patriots did to St. Louis. That game was a reminder that anything can happen, and if there is one outfit that learns from its mistakes, it's the wise guys in Las Vegas.
Still, this time the Patriots are the Rams and the Panthers are the Patriots, the little team that just might if New England forgets about that bit of recent history.
Two years ago, the Panthers were 1-15 and ended their season by taking a terrible pounding from the Patriots on their home grounds, the same Patriots who would go on to win Super Bowl XXXVI. Head coach John Fox and general manager Marty Hurney have built from the ashes of that team one that has won eight games in the final 70 seconds or in overtime, including one in the playoffs, this season. It is a team whose greatest asset is grit, a fact that sounds familiar to people in New England.
The major difference between these Panthers and those '02 Patriots is that Carolina's offense is built around the powerful running of Stephen Davis, third in the NFC in rushing. When New England beat the Rams, they had a 1,000-yard rusher in Antowain Smith, but he would never be mistaken for Davis, a consistent Pro Bowl performer for several years, the exception being when he had to play with a blind man named Steve Spurrier coaching him.
Yet as tough-minded and strong-willed as the Panthers might be, few expect Cinderella to find the glass slipper in Houston. No one expects the unknown Panthers and a previously perennial backup quarterback and a star-less defense to beat an opponent only two years removed from pulling off one of the greatest upsets in history -- especially since it's better now than then.
That leaves the Patriots in an unusual position. They can no longer holler that they get no respect. They can say it if they want, but it would be a lie of some proportion going into this game and even they know it.
The Patriots have Coach of the Year Bill Belichick, the Executive of the Year in Scott Pioli, the Assistant Coach of the Year in Romeo Crennel, a quarterback (Brady) who finished third in the MVP voting and a defense with three Pro Bowlers (Ty Law, Richard Seymour and Willie McGinest). Oh yeah, and they're also favored to win.
Their offense is considerably more productive than Carolina's, and what they do best -- throw quickly -- Carolina has the msot problem with.
Conversely, what Carolina does best on offense -- run the ball between the tackles -- is what the Patriots defend against best. This would seem to be a perfect dovetailing of a team's strengths and another's weaknesses, facts that usually lead to one thing -- a win for the favorite.
What compounds the Panthers' problems is that they are a one-dimensional offense that throws as infrequently as possible. That doesn't mean Delhomme can't throw, but it means Fox would rather he not.
Delhomme has only 43 completions in three playoff wins. Last Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles, he was 9-of-14 for 101 yards, numbers that didn't matter because his defense forced four turnovers, made five sacks and gave the Eagles no breathing space. That will be far more difficult to accomplish against the Patriots. Brady's offense is designed to get rid of the ball so quickly it makes sacking him near impossible for any pass rush, even one as furious as the Panthers'.
Conversely, New England's defense has held opposing quarterbacks to a rating of 56.2 and has given up only 11 touchdown passes, less than half of their total of last year while dominating the run.
After the Eagles game, Delhomme joked, "I'm going to try not to think about the Patriots tonight (Sunday) so I can at least get some sleep.
I don't want to think about that defense just yet.''
One can understand why. Yet, deep in the mind of Carolina Panthers' fans has to lurk one memory: two years ago, when the team were playing was the team they are today. At least until around 6 p.m. ET on Feb. 1, that should give them reason to hope.
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