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February 02, 2004
ROLE REVERSAL: Hoover says Panthers unaccustomed to coming up short at the end
By John Dell | JOURNAL REPORTER
HOUSTON - Fullback Brad Hoover of the Carolina Panthers dressed slowly in the locker room in the bowels of Reliant Stadium. He was trying to come to grips with losing a game in the waning seconds, something that hasn't happened to the Panthers in a long time.
As it was for most of his teammates, it was tough for Hoover to try to describe losing 32-29 in Super Bowl XXXVIII. The Panthers had lived on the edge during the season, winning close and overtime games on their way to division and conference championships.
But yesterday it was the New England Patriots who made the right moves at the end.
Adam Vinatieri's 41-yard field goal with four seconds left was the back-breaker.
"This is tough," said Hoover, a former player at Western Carolina and Ledford High School. "Especially as hard as we fought, it comes down to a kick. It was just one of those things, and you have to give them credit, they are a good team."
Hoover watched as the Panthers' offense suffered a meltdown for the first 25 minutes. In their first seven chances with the ball, the Panthers did not get a first down, and they couldn't run the ball effectively until the end of the first half.
"I don't know what it was, it just wasn't going our way," said Hoover, who didn't have a carry and was trying most of the game to fight off the Patriots' bruising defensive line. "We just couldn't move the ball effectively, but if we would have played the first half like the second half, it probably would have gone our way."
At one point in the first half, Hoover suffered a stinger to his right shoulder, but after getting it worked on, he was able to return to the game.
"It's fine and wasn't a bad one," he said.
Many NFL "experts" predicted a boring game between two teams that thrive on defense. But neither team was able to run the ball well, so each opened up its offense with big-play passes.
"No, it definitely wasn't boring," Hoover said. "The game changed hands so many times there at the end. It was exciting to play, but unfortunately the outcome wasn't what we wanted."
With all the hoopla surrounding the Super Bowl, Hoover said it took awhile to settle down and play the game.
"It felt a little different at first to get your nerves steady and things like that," Hoover said. "It took awhile to get adjusted, but after that and the first quarter was over, it was just another game."
When the Panthers tied the game with 1:08 to go on Jake Delhomme's 12-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Proehl and the extra point, it looked as if the Super Bowl would go to overtime for the first time.
Instead, the Panthers caught a bad break when kicker John Kasay booted the kickoff out of bounds. That gave the Patriots excellent field position, and they took advantage.
Hoover said that it would have been nice if the Panthers had gotten the ball in the final minute.
"The way things were going, I would have liked our chances to get the ball back at any point," Hoover said. "You just never know, and it was going to come down to whoever had the ball last was going to win this ball game."
• John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com