Among the more persistent slights of the Carolina Panthers, despite their 14-0 start this season, was the notion that they were the worst undefeated team in NFL history. Perfect teams in the past, critics said, were more impressive, more talented and more worthy of that perfection.
“I know the narrative is we don’t have a lot of good players, but I don’t think that’s necessarily the truth,” tight end Greg Olsen said last week.
Carolina’s 38-10 victory over Tampa Bay Sunday, gave the Panthers home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.
Olsen is one of 10 Panthers recently named to the Pro Bowl. Quarterback Cam Newton, a fellow Pro Bowler, is also among the top contenders for the Most Valuable Player Award, along with Tom Brady of New England and Carson Palmer of Arizona. But it is worth noting that none of Newton’s wide receivers were selected for the all-star game in Hawaii.
Perhaps no position on the Panthers has been more disparaged than wide receiver. The Panthers entered the season without a clear No. 1 or No. 2 wideout for Newton, who received a five-year, $103.8 million contract extension in the offseason, becoming one of the highest-paid players in the game.
How could the Panthers be that good when their best receiver, Kelvin Benjamin, tore a knee ligament in the preseason and was lost for the year?
When their default No. 1, the speedy Ted Ginn Jr., was a free-agent pickup who had been cut after a disastrous season with Arizona in 2014?
When their No. 2, Corey Brown, was a free-agent rookie in 2014 and had only 21 catches?
When their No. 3, Jerricho Cotchery, 33, was eight years removed from his lone 1,000-yard season, with the Jets in 2007?
Of course, Newton had Olsen, one of the NFL’s best tight ends. It is no surprise that he has 77 catches for 1,104 yards and seven touchdowns this season. The Panthers’ receiving corps, though, has been unexpectedly good.
Newton finished with 35 touchdown passes (his previous high was 24) and a 99.4 quarterback rating. Newton has spread the ball around — Ginn is the only Panthers wide receiver ranked among the top 100 in receptions in the NFL this season. He finished with 44 catches, and has 739 receiving yards.
A first-round draft pick of Miami in 2007, Ginn has played for four NFL teams. He is on his second stint with Carolina, having managed just 14 catches with Arizona last season.
“Arizona was Arizona,” said Ginn, who had 36 catches for 556 yards and five touchdowns with the Panthers in 2013. “You fall into a system sometimes, and the system doesn’t work for you. That’s all I can really say about that. I was eager to come back and play. I just wanted to play football. It wasn’t nothing to prove to nobody. It was just a joy for Ted Ginn Jr. to come and play football, and knowing that I could come to a team that was going to use me the way Ted Ginn Jr. is supposed to be used.”
Although Ginn has a history of dropping passes — he was second in the league this season, with 10 before Sunday’s game — he also has a career-best 10 touchdown receptions. In nine years in the NFL, Ginn has 21 touchdown catches. Fifteen have come in his two seasons with the Panthers.
“I think Cam has a tremendous amount of trust in him,” the Panthers’ wide receivers coach, Ricky Proehl, said, referring to Ginn. “If he drops a ball here or there, he’s going to come back to him.”
Proehl added: “He’s got the physical attributes. It’s been mental with him, getting down on himself. Now he knows he’s got to let it go, move on to the next play.”
Cotchery, who spent seven seasons with the Jets, has 39 catches and is an option mainly on third downs and in the red zone. He made a winning touchdown reception against New Orleans in December. Brown has added 31 catches and four touchdowns.
Almost unnoticed is Devin Funchess, a rookie second-round pick out of Michigan who, at 6 feet 4 inches and 225 pounds, was supposed to be a bookend with the 6-foot-5, 243-pound Benjamin. Funchess was slowed by injuries early in the season, but he has 31 catches for 473 yards and four touchdowns.
If there is a wild card to this playoff run, it might be Funchess.
“I think he can be an X-factor-type player for you, because there’s not a lot about him that people know,” Panthers coach Ron Rivera said. “He’s a young guy that’s been developing for us, has come in in some key situations, has caught some big touchdown passes for us and some tough catches.
“If he gets rolling, continues to do things he’s been doing, he could be. He could have that kind of an impact.”
For now, though, the Panthers’ wide receiver corps — which lacks the kind of presence that Larry Fitzgerald provides for Arizona — is not likely to throw fear into the opposition in the playoffs. Even with the dominant season Newton has had, a question remains: Can the Panthers win a Super Bowl with those guys?
With that question comes motivation.
“Since Day 1,” Newton said, defending his receivers, “we kind of pride ourselves in playing with a chip on our shoulder.”
That chip is unlikely to go away any time soon.
About the Author
