A year removed from being the losing Super Bowl hangover team, the Panthers have rekindled their winning formula.
After going 15-1 and losing to the Broncos in Super Bowl L, the Panthers dipped to 6-10 last season. Thanks to a stingy defense and some timely offense, the Panthers are off to a 5-3 start this season and look playoff-worthy again.
The Panthers host the Falcons (4-3), this season’s losing Super Bowl hangover team, at 1 p.m. Sunday at Bank of America Stadium.
The Falcons have tried just about everything, but apparently there is no dodging the hangover blues.
“The hangover, it’s difficult,” Panthers coach Ron Rivera said while talking to the Charlotte media on Monday. “It really is. The constant reminders of it. When they were getting ready to play New England, you sit there and you constantly hear it about the comeback.
“They were up, what 28-3, and end up losing 34-28. That’s difficult. It’s hard. Then lose to them in New England. It’s hard. It’s tough. Fortunately, we went through it and now they are dealing with it.”
The Falcons, who ended the Panthers’ three-year reign as the NFC South champions last season, are coming off Sunday’s much-needed five-point win over the Jets, who missed two field goals in their upset bid.
“I can only speak for myself,” Rivera said. “The disappointment, it sticks with you. You just have to work to get past it.”
The Panthers have rallied behind their defense, which has not given up an offensive touchdown in four games.
Under first-year defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, the Panthers are jumping in opponent’s faces and playing an aggressive brand of football. Former defensive coordinator Sean McDermott left to become the head coach of the Bills.
Wilks, who was the secondary coach, likes to dial up the blitz.
“We are looking for opportunities to attack,” Rivera said. “We are blitzing like 40 percent more than we have in the past six years. That’s one of the biggest things that you see. It’s a very aggressive style. We have a few more tools now than we’ve had in the past.”
Strongside linebacker Shaq Thompson and veteran Julius Peppers, who returned to the team this season, are the main reasons why the Panthers are blitzing more. Thomas Davis and Luke Kuechly, who returned to action last week from the concussion protocol, remain the mainstays of the unit.
“They are just different guys that we haven’t had in the past,” Rivera said. “When you look at a Shaq in his third season, you find different ways to use him. We started to grow that package with Sean, but Steve has taken it to another level.”
Peppers, 37, is no stranger to the Falcons. After being picked second overall in 2002, Peppers played eight seasons with the Panthers (2002-09) before going to the Bears (2010-13) and the Packers (2014-15).
Peppers has 7.5 sacks and has moved into fourth place on the all-time NFL sack list with 151. The league started counting sacks in 1982.
“When you look at what we have with the rush right now, with the way that Julius has come in with 7.5 sacks in eight games, that’s very impressive,” Rivera said. “You’ve got that middle push and Mario (Addison) coming off the other edge.”
Offensively, the Panthers have shown flashes of brilliance with quarterback Cam Newton (Westlake High, Florida and Auburn) at the controls.
Against Tampa Bay Sunday, the Panthers flashed back to their Super Bowl season and crafted a 17-play, 82-yard drive that took 8:38 off the clock. A nasty defense and a ball-control offense is what propelled the Panthers to Super Bowl L.
Rivera noted that 10 different players touched the ball on the drive and that the Panthers were 5 of 5 on third downs.
“It was a very meticulous drive,” Rivera said. “That’s what you look for. You want to be able to do that and part of it was a really good mix of run, play-action pass and drop-back passing.”
However, the Panthers’ offense has been inconsistent and Newton has struggled throwing the ball down the field to wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin (traded to the Bills Tuesday) and Devin Funchess.
He’s clearly missing his security blanket, tight end Greg Olsen.
“It was good to see us get back to that,” Rivera said. “There were a lot of good things that happened, a couple of clutch third-down conversions and the quarterback made a couple of really good decisions on his reads.”
Panthers running backs Chrisitan McCaffrey, Jonathan Stewart and Cameron Artis-Payne all carried the ball during the drive.
The much-hyped McCaffrey is only averaging 2.4 yards per carry running the ball. However, he leads the team in receptions with 49 for 378 yards and two touchdowns.
“We wanted to give Cam another option in terms of a back with that run-pass type of ability,” Rivera said. “That’s what we saw in Christian McCaffrey and Curtis Samuel has that speed, too.”
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