Black and Blue Review
Most NFL coaches give their players some extra time off the day after a win. But after rolling through the Saints, the Panthers stuck to the schedule they kept after many of their six-straight losses that proceeded Sunday’s stunner.
While it wasn’t a typical ‘victory Monday,’ the feeling around the building was atypical for a day that over the last two months, had become a review of everything that went wrong 24 hours earlier.
“Anytime you win it feels different,” coach Ron Rivera said. “Believe me, everything feels different. It tastes different, it feels different, things sound different. You guys (in the media) are nicer. That’s all part of it. It lifts everybody’s spirits.”
Even a guy like center Ryan Kalil, who has been battling an illness since late last week, was feeling somewhat better. It helped that the game the team reviewed showed arguably its most-complete performance of the season.
“You watch the tapes from the losses before, and it’s, ‘ok, we’re doing good, doing good … missed a catch, missed a block, missed a read.’ Everybody kind of took turns doing that, and yesterday that didn’t happen,” Kalil said. “Everybody took turns catching the ball, making a good pass, making a great block, finishing on a play.”
Amazingly, the Panthers, who just won for the first time in 63 days, are still very much in the playoff hunt. If Atlanta loses Monday night in Green Bay — a game Rivera said he’ll watch and “cheer for the right team” — Carolina will be a-half game behind the Falcons and Saints in the NFC South with three games to play.
The Panthers finish up with home games against the Bucs and Browns before their season finale in Atlanta. But the big picture doesn’t matter much if the Panthers don’t follow Sunday’s win with another this weekend against the Bucs, the only team in the division that’s out of the playoff picture.
“The thing we talked about is not looking at the end, but looking at the race,” Rivera said. “We control what we can, and right now we control the moment.”