Panthers catching Bengals at wrong time

By Jeff Lykes  |   Wednesday, October 18, 2006  |  Comments( 5 )

Carolina Panthers
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If you caught any highlights from that pitiful Bengals-Bucs game last weekend, then you obviously saw the atrocious roughing the passer penalty that led to the soon-to-be-fabled hookup of Gradkowski to Clayton and the winning score.

Like most ardent fans of the NFL, I'm not a huge proponent of the roughing the passer flag. In my lifetime, I've probably seen 712 such penalties called, and only twice have they been for what I'd call "excessive force".

Last time I checked, quarterbacks wore helmets and pads just like everybody else on the field. So why must we grant them this preferential treatment? And I realize I'm not inventing the wheel with my thoughts about this, either. It's just that what I saw on Sunday took "roughing the passer" to another dimension.

For starters, Bruce Gradkowski had the ball; in fact, he fumbled the football as he was taking a sack. And it wasn't even a vicious sack. I have absolutely no idea what that ref saw or what that ref thought he saw. My best guess is that he had a few grand on the money line in favor of the Bucs and he knew the game was over if he didn't make that call. It was the most inexplicable, game-changing penalty you'll see all year.

"So what does this have to do with the Carolina Panthers," you ask.

Umm, pretty much everything. It was bad enough that the high-octane Cincinnati Bengals only mustered one touchdown against the winless Buccaneers; that final series, en route to a loss, was a collective punch in the gut that football teams don't easily forget. The Bengals are a wounded animal right now, and don't think they've forgotten that home thrashing the New England Patriots handed them in Week 4, either.

A talented team coming off two straight losses is not the kind of squad you want to face on the road. And this is exactly the spot that the Carolina Panthers find themselves in now.

I'm not going to lie. Until Sunday's victory over the Baltimore Ravens, I was under the impression that John Fox and the Panthers had been getting it done with smoke and mirrors. The near collapse at the hands of Chris Simms and his ruptured spleen, the 0-for-11 third-down performance against the Browns: these were red flags. The Panthers were hardly convincing during their three-game winning streak.

Until Sunday that is, when they torched a good Ravens 'D' for more yards than anyone else this season (Jake Delhomme led all quarterbacks with 365 yards). And if not for a couple of freakish Mark Clayton touchdown receptions against them, the score is hardly as close as it was.

However, I don't want to put too much emphasis on this win. Yes, they played well, but the Ravens' 4-1 record was not a good indication of what kind of team they really are (I still think they're highly overrated). The Panthers have a lot of work ahead of them if they want to take down the Bengals in Cincinnati.

Carolina Panthers analysis, courtesy of RealFootball365.com
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