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December 29, 2003
Panthers knock off Giants, get ready to play Cowboys
By Joe Menzer | JOURNAL REPORTER
Bring on the Dallas Cowboys.
That was the theme in the locker room off the Carolina Panthers yesterday following a 37-24 victory over the New York Giants at Giants Stadium.
The win enabled the Panthers to wrap up their regular season with an 11-5 record that is second-best in franchise history. By halftime, word spread throughout the Panthers' ranks that their first-round NFC playoff opponent would be Dallas on Saturday at 8 p.m. at Ericsson Stadium.
By then the Panthers led 30-10 over the Giants, who finished their season with a 4-12 record that already had assured the firing of Coach Jim Fassel.
Coach John Fox admitted that yesterday's victory was far from perfect, but said that he pretty much got what he wanted out of it.
"We got the win, and that's always what is most important," he said. "Now we move on to our second season."
The Panthers seemed pleased to learn that Dallas was their first-round opponent. Guard Kevin Donnalley and others said that the Panthers figure they have a score to settle with the Cowboys, who beat them 24-20 at Texas Stadium on Nov. 23.
"Knowing now that we have a game on Saturday night at home against Dallas gives us some direction," Donnalley said. "Now we have to get ourselves prepared. It's a tough assignment. They're a good team. They're well coached and they play hard. But hopefully we'll get some things corrected and it's a good thing to have that first one at home."
Fullback Brad Hoover added: "It's good to find out we play Dallas - a team that we felt we maybe let get away with one when we were down there. We'll be hyped up for it."
The Panthers seemed hyped, at least at first, to play the Giants. In addition to wanting to close the regular season with a victory, Fox wanted to get a close look at running back Stephen Davis, who has been battling an ankle injury. Davis started after sitting out the previous week against Detroit and gained 57 yards on 11 carries before Fox decided to take him out of the game at halftime.
The 57 yards were enough to allow Davis to establish a career high in rushing yards for a season. His total of 1,444 surpassed his previous career high of 1,432 set in 2001 when he played for the Washington Redskins.
Davis admitted yesterday that he did not want to sit out against Detroit. But he said that now he can see the logic in it.
"It did me a lot of good," he said. "I was kind of banged up a little bit. But I'm not the type of guy who is going to complain about it and ask to be taken out of the lineup. Coach saw something that told him I needed to get a little rest, and it turned out great for me and the team."
Fox added: "I thought the rest for him was helpful. It is a long season, especially for the number of carries that he's had and the yards he's helped us obtain. I thought it was good to be able to get a good look at him and then let him sit back a little bit. Now I think we'll be ready to let him roll next week."
Yesterday's game was over, really, before the first quarter was completed - as the Panthers built a 17-0 lead thanks in part to a controversial ruling by the officiating crew.
Carolina's first touchdown came on a 53-yard punt return by Steve Smith with 9:46 left in the first quarter. But when it appeared that running back Nick Goings fumbled on the Panthers' next possession and the ball was picked up and returned for an apparent touchdown by Omar Stoutmire of the Giants, officials ruled that Goings was down before the ball squirted out.
Television replays clearly showed that not to be the case, meaning the play should have been ruled a fumble. But Fassel could not challenge the call for the Giants because the play had been blown dead by an official's whistle.
The fumble that wasn't seemed to take what little wind might have been blowing in the Giants' sails and snuffed out the breeze completely.
On the very next play from scrimmage, Davis rambled 21 yards and wasn't brought down until Johnnie Harris of the Giants grabbed him by the facemask, adding another 15 penalty yards to the play. Four plays later, John Kasay kicked a 42-yard field goal that made it 10-0 with 1:56 left in the first quarter.
Just over one minute later, the Panthers added another touchdown when Reggie Howard tipped a Palmer pass intended for running back Tiki Barber of the Giants, allowing Ricky Manning Jr. to intercept the pass and return it 27 yards for the score with 51 seconds still remaining in the quarter.
Kasay added another field goal, this time from 33 yards out, after defensive end Al Wallace hauled in a tipped Palmer pass for another Panthers' interception on the Giants' next possession - increasing the Carolina lead to 20-0 before the second quarter was two minutes old.
But the Panthers were downright sloppy at times. In addition to Goings' fumble that should have been but wasn't, Todd Sauerbrun had two punts blocked, leading to two New York touchdowns that threatened to get them back in the game but never quite accomplished the feat.
And Delhomme wasn't sharp. But when Delhomme threw one ball that was picked off by Harris for a Giants' interception, tight end Kris Mangum of the Panthers forced Harris to fumble and recovered, giving the Panthers another first down.
One play later, Delhomme completed a 36-yard pass to wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad on a flea flicker to set up another Carolina touchdown - this time on a 1-yard Delhomme-to-Muhammad pass on third down that made it 27-10.
That was far from the end of the scoring, but it essentially removed any lingering doubt about who would win the game.
"In the second half, we didn't play as well," Hoover said. "We gave up some things, like on the (blocked) punts. But in the first half, I think we played pretty much close to putting everything together. In the second half, we pulled some guys out and made some switches, but still we can't slip a bit."
Not with the playoffs and the Cowboys looming.
• Joe Menzer can be reached at jmenzer@wsjournal.com