Here’s something we don’t get to say all that often in Charlotte after the NFL regular season ends: The Panthers are still in it. For the first time since 2017, the Panthers made the playoffs. They play the Los Angeles Rams at Bank of America Stadium Saturday. WCNC Sports Director Nick Carboni joined WFAE’s Marshall Terry.
Marshall Terry: I think complicated is the right way to describe how the Panthers landed a playoff spot with a losing record, right? Break it down as simply as you can.
Nick Carboni: I'll start with the losing record. The Panthers are the 5th team in NFL history to make the playoffs with a losing record. They are 8-9. So the NFL structure is you have two conferences. Within each conference, you have four divisions. The Panthers play in the NFC South with three other teams, the Saints, the Falcons, and the Bucs. At the end of the season, there was a three-way tie for first place with Carolina, Tampa Bay, and Atlanta all finishing the regular season with an overall 8-9 record. The first tiebreaker is the team with the best record among all the tied teams. Carolina was 3-1 against Atlanta and Tampa Bay in the regular season. So they got in. It was a scenario we saw coming three weeks in advance, but it required Atlanta, who didn't make the playoffs, to win three straight weeks, including beating the L.A. Rams. I don't think anybody could have predicted that it actually would have come to fruition, but it did.
Terry: Are you surprised they made the playoffs after this yo-yo year? This is only the second season for head coach Dave Canales, who was untested, and they’ve been pretty awful for a while.
Carboni: I'm not surprised. I think those of us who are around the team a lot saw the growth and progression in year one under head coach Dave Canales. Then you juxtapose that with the division, which, as I mentioned, three teams that were tied for first all had losing records. So the division is not an unwinnable division. All it takes is for one of those other teams besides Tampa Bay, who's won it the last four straight years, to improve a little bit and you'd be right there in the running. I thought Carolina was talented enough to finish second. If you're talented enough to finish second in the NFC South right now, you probably have a chance. [I’m] surprised that the path it took. They lost games they shouldn't have lost, and they won games they had no business winning, including against this Rams team, who is again the heavy favorite here in the wild-card round tomorrow.
Terry: Yeah, they are objectively a much better team, with a 12-5 record. The Panthers shocked everyone by beating them in the regular season. What do they have to do to do that again tomorrow?
Carboni: They have to take the ball away from quarterback Matthew Stafford, which is an exceptionally hard thing to do. Matthew Stafford entered that week 13 matchup at Bank of America Stadium with just two interceptions. Carolina intercepted him twice in the first half and brought one of them back for a touchdown. Then they forced a fumble on Matthew Stafford, who is probably going to be the NFL MVP this year, and that fumble recovery sealed the deal for Carolina. They've got to be really good on defense, take the ball away, take care of the ball on offense. Bryce Young has to be, I won't say extraordinary, but he's got to take care of the football and he's got to be efficient, and that's exactly what he was in the last matchup. He threw two 4th-down touchdown passes, which is incredibly rare on any Sunday in the NFL.
Terry: What’s your prediction? How far are the Panthers going to go?
Carboni: I want to be realistic. This is a cathartic moment for the Carolina Panthers franchise, the fan base, and the city to be back in the playoffs for the first time in eight years, back hosting a home playoff game for the first time in 10 years. Having Cam Newton be a part of things tomorrow. They're not just happy to be there. It's a serious, businesslike team. They're going to go out there and try to win. I just don't think they're there yet, talent-wise. I think this is a really big step for them and this will provide them a great experience going forward. I do think the Rams will win, but you never know with this Panthers team, as we saw against these very Rams.
