The Carolina Panthers are leaving their baseball bat at home.
Panthers coach Ron Rivera said the team, which carries a bat on to the field on game day a motivational prop, will discontinue the practice during pregame warmups. It’s become an issue.
“Because I’ll hear it if I don’t (end it),” Rivera told the Charlotte media on Tuesday. “That’s the truth of the matter. I’m going to end up hearing it. So to avoid the situation and set of circumstances, let’s just eliminate it. That’s what we’re going to do. It’s the No Fun League for a reason.”
So, reluctantly, the Panthers will be bat-less when they come to face the Falcons on Sunday at the Georgia Dome. The undefeated Panthers (14-0) can secure the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs with a win, while the Falcons (7-7) are trying to keep their long, long long-shot playoff hopes alive.
Marcus Ball, the former Stephenson High star from Stone Mountain, has become part of Panthers’ bat imbroglio.
Last Sunday in New York, Ball, a defensive back on the Panthers’ practice squad, was holding the black baseball bat and holding a “conversation” Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. during warmups.
The Panthers’ defensive backs contend that they carry their bat on the field as a symbol for making “home run” plays. Cornerback Bene Benwikere carried the bat onto the Bank of America field before the Panthers blasted the Falcons, 38-0, in Charlotte on Dec. 13.
But in the Giants game, Beckham, according to the Panthers, instigated 12 of 14 “incidents” on the field, mostly involving Panthers cornerback Josh Norman. Before the game, Norman was also seen with the bat and talking to Beckham. It has been contended that homophobic comments were made toward Beckham.
Beckham was suspended by the NFL on Monday for his behavior.
The week before, the Falcons lost their cool against the Panthers, too.
There were several skirmishes during the game. Falcons defensive tackle Ra’Shede Hageman shoved a couple of his own teammates and then got into a shoving match with defensive line coach Bryan Cox.
But after Beckham’s outburst, the Falcons know better that they must maintain their poise.
“From a competitive standpoint, the competitor in us all, that’s one of the things you just can’t let happen,” quarterback Matt Ryan on his radio show Tuesday. “You can’t let somebody else take you off your game.”
Falcons coach Dan Quinn met with Hageman, Cox and right tackle Ryan Schraeder, who was pulled from the game after an unsportsmanlike penalty. He reiterated he won’t tolerate any Wrestlemania-style antics.
“We want to establish our toughness in between the whistles,” Quinn said. “That part of our game, having that poise afterwards, that’s what’s at hand. You want to make sure we’re playing the exact toughness … but having poise is about not having anything happen after the whistle.”
After last weekend’s drama, the Panthers sound ready to continue their championship run.
“Our biggest focus and our main goal right now is to get home field (advantage) throughout (the playoffs),” Rivera said. “First and foremost, this next game we play has a lot of meaning. It’s an opportunity for us to clinch home field throughout and hopefully we’ll be able to do that.”
Rivera also believes there are advantages to playing the same team twice in three weeks. Only once in the last 15 NFL seasons has a team that lost by 38 or more points come back to beat the same opponent in the same year.
“For the coaches, the preparation will be a little quicker,” Rivera said. “Most of the tape is broken down that they need. They add this game that they just previously played. … We’ll add that to the scouting reports and we’ll get the breakdown and look at it.”
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