Rude Awakening for Carolina Panthers

After a poor showing against the Saints last week, team looks to regroup against the Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Carolina Panthers and Green Bay Packers both believe they are better than the scores of their last games would indicate.

But only the Panthers can point to their record as evidence.

At 8-3, Carolina appears in decent playoff position heading into today's game at Lambeau Field. And while the Packers still have a shot at the playoffs at 5-6 thanks to the mediocre nature of the NFC North, they'd be in big trouble with a loss today.

And that means rediscovering the Packers team that recently beat Indianapolis and Chicago — right away.

"I'm very confident in this team," Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. "And the guys we've got in this locker room are a very high character group — a lot of talent. We need to put together a five-game stretch of the kind of play that we did against Chicago and Indianapolis, games where we've played the way we feel we're capable of playing. And if we can do those things, I feel like this is a team that can make a run."

The Panthers are coming off a surprising 45-28 loss at Atlanta. The Packers, meanwhile, were trounced 51-29 in New Orleans as Saints quarterback Drew Brees took apart Green Bay's highly regarded secondary.

"It's two teams coming off some pretty bad losses, two teams that both need a win," Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme said. "Certainly, I think when you watch that game it got out of hand at the end, somewhat kind of like our game. But it's two teams that certainly feel embarrassed by the way they played and look forward to going out and playing better."

For the wildly inconsistent Packers, that loss came just eight days after their dominant 37-3 victory over the NFC North co-leading Chicago Bears.

On film, Delhomme said he saw some miscommunication in Green Bay's secondary against the Saints, a rarity for a defense that is tied for second in interceptions and has scored seven touchdowns this season.

Delhomme broke out of a two-game mini-slump that included a four-interception game against Oakland, going 21-for-35 for 295 yards against Atlanta.

"I think we've kind of got out and got over that at this point," Panthers coach John Fox said.

Much of the credit for Carolina's offense, however, goes to one of the league's best running games. Powered mainly by the combination of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, the Panthers rank sixth with an average of 133.7 yards rushing per game.

How do the Panthers split carries between a pair of backs who each have home-run potential? Fox has a simple description of the situation, one that certainly would have made news if he was running for political office and said it to a plumber.

"We call it sharing the wealth," Fox said.

Fox likes the way his team is playing heading into today's game. But he knows the up-and-down Packers still can put together an effort like the ones they used to beat the Colts and Bears.

"Everybody wants to highlight on the last game, but I look at the full body of work, and I think they're solid as a football team," Fox said.

The NFC North-leading Minnesota Vikings and Bears play each other tonight. So with a loss, the Packers would fall two games behind the division leader with four games to go.

---

Notice about comments:
The Post and Courier is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. The Post and Courier does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not postandcourier.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "suggest removal" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our Web site.
Full terms and conditions can be read here.

---

Comments

This article has  0 comment(s)