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It seems some of the players think they caught their stride or turned a corner at half-time.
http://www.panthers.com/news/newsroomNewsDetail.jsp?id=21081
The halves and halve-nots
October 10, 2005
By Brett Borden
Panthers.com
The setting was Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ, but it just as easily could have been San Francisco, CA, a season ago.
Here were the Carolina Panthers, trailing at halftime to an opponent they felt they should be handling, and head coach John Fox had seen enough.
"He said, 'Hey, we're not playing the way we're capable of playing. This is not us. We didn't come all the way out here to do this, and put this on the field,'" said defensive end Mike Rucker.
"We came in and Coach Fox really got on us at halftime," said safety Marlon McCree, who had two key interceptions, one at the end of each half, and led the team with 10 tackles. "We all took it personally. We had to rise to the challenge. We were giving up a lot of plays. We were challenged, but we came out and played better."
That's an understatement. The Cardinals put up 272 passing yards and 298 yards of total offense in the first half. The Panthers had only surrendered 226 passing yards and 311 yards of total offense per game through the first four weeks. But Carolina took control in the second half, limiting the Cardinals to 120 yards passing and 166 yards of total offense after halftime.
"I think people got the message," said Rucker. "I don't know, but whatever it was we got out of our system and we were able to get our heads back together and get a win. That, at the end of the day, is the main thing. We won. Ugly, pretty or whatever, it doesn't matter. We won."
Just like last year in San Francisco, when the Panthers turned a 20-3 halftime deficit to the 49ers into a stirring 37-27 victory, Carolina dug itself out of a 17-10 hole and won 24-20.
Both of McCree's interceptions came on balls tipped in the air by cornerback Ken Lucas. And perhaps the biggest play of the game, a fumble caused by rookie safety Thomas Davis, then recovered and returned to the Arizona five-yard line by Lucas, came after Lucas missed an open field tackle on the same play. That could be construed as good fortune, but safety Mike Minter begs to differ.
"I really don't think it's fortune," said Minter. "We played a heck of a second half. We played some good football. It's different than being lucky. We made some good things happen. We caused that fumble. The offense pounded it in and got a touchdown. We caused an interception. Those are the types of things you can't look at as luck. We forced those things to happen."
And in so doing they forced a tie for second place in the NFC South with Atlanta, with both teams one game behind Tampa Bay. All three teams have two games remaining against the other two.
Minter believes the Panthers may have found their stride in the second half, much as they did at San Francisco almost a year ago.
"You're down 10 points going into the fourth quarter, on the road in a hostile environment," he said. "It didn't look like we had any life. Then boom, we got the big play, the fumble recovery, and the offense punched it in. We took control of the fourth quarter. That shows a lot about a football team."
http://www.panthers.com/news/newsroomNewsDetail.jsp?id=21081
The halves and halve-nots
October 10, 2005
By Brett Borden
Panthers.com
The setting was Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ, but it just as easily could have been San Francisco, CA, a season ago.
Here were the Carolina Panthers, trailing at halftime to an opponent they felt they should be handling, and head coach John Fox had seen enough.
"He said, 'Hey, we're not playing the way we're capable of playing. This is not us. We didn't come all the way out here to do this, and put this on the field,'" said defensive end Mike Rucker.
"We came in and Coach Fox really got on us at halftime," said safety Marlon McCree, who had two key interceptions, one at the end of each half, and led the team with 10 tackles. "We all took it personally. We had to rise to the challenge. We were giving up a lot of plays. We were challenged, but we came out and played better."
That's an understatement. The Cardinals put up 272 passing yards and 298 yards of total offense in the first half. The Panthers had only surrendered 226 passing yards and 311 yards of total offense per game through the first four weeks. But Carolina took control in the second half, limiting the Cardinals to 120 yards passing and 166 yards of total offense after halftime.
"I think people got the message," said Rucker. "I don't know, but whatever it was we got out of our system and we were able to get our heads back together and get a win. That, at the end of the day, is the main thing. We won. Ugly, pretty or whatever, it doesn't matter. We won."
Just like last year in San Francisco, when the Panthers turned a 20-3 halftime deficit to the 49ers into a stirring 37-27 victory, Carolina dug itself out of a 17-10 hole and won 24-20.
Both of McCree's interceptions came on balls tipped in the air by cornerback Ken Lucas. And perhaps the biggest play of the game, a fumble caused by rookie safety Thomas Davis, then recovered and returned to the Arizona five-yard line by Lucas, came after Lucas missed an open field tackle on the same play. That could be construed as good fortune, but safety Mike Minter begs to differ.
"I really don't think it's fortune," said Minter. "We played a heck of a second half. We played some good football. It's different than being lucky. We made some good things happen. We caused that fumble. The offense pounded it in and got a touchdown. We caused an interception. Those are the types of things you can't look at as luck. We forced those things to happen."
And in so doing they forced a tie for second place in the NFC South with Atlanta, with both teams one game behind Tampa Bay. All three teams have two games remaining against the other two.
Minter believes the Panthers may have found their stride in the second half, much as they did at San Francisco almost a year ago.
"You're down 10 points going into the fourth quarter, on the road in a hostile environment," he said. "It didn't look like we had any life. Then boom, we got the big play, the fumble recovery, and the offense punched it in. We took control of the fourth quarter. That shows a lot about a football team."
