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February 3, 2004
DEFLATED: Last-second loss painful for Panthers
BY LENOX RAWLINGS
HOUSTON
Pro football thrives as big business, enriching players, agents, owners and corporate clients at every turn.
When the 38th Super Bowl turned nasty for the Carolina Panthers, with New England driving for a winning field goal in the final 68 seconds, the pro football business suddenly evolved into a passion play full of regrets and remorse.
While the Patriots celebrated their 32-29 victory on the field Sunday night, Carolina's paid cheerleaders hurriedly walked through the tunnel with disciplined precision befitting a Broadway chorus line. Several kept their chins up as the tears streamed through their makeup. No crying in the NFL? Of course there is.
If any Panthers cried, they dried their eyes before reporters entered the locker room. They did nothing to hide the obvious pain of losing their sport's grandest game by a mere field goal, especially after leading 22-21 with 6:53 remaining.
Husky-voiced Cornhusker
Safety Mike Minter, a 7-year veteran, slowly took off his equipment and lowered his voice.
"Every single person that went on that football field that's got a Carolina Panther symbol on them is devastated," Minter said. "I mean, what can you do, man? You let 'em drive down the field and kick a field goal at the end of the game and you lose. I mean, that's tough to deal with. That's tough, man. But it wasn't the first time it ever happened to me, so...."
Minter won consecutive college poll championships at Nebraska, and his senior season ended right before Carolina lost the 1996 NFC championship game at Green Bay. He wandered through mediocrity and worse, sinking to 1-15 before Coach John Fox arrived and the Panthers rushed to the precipice of the world title.
So close
Trailing 29-22, Carolina drove 80 yards, covering the last 12 on Jake Delhomme's pass to Ricky Proehl. With just over a minute left, overtime looked inevitable and comforting, since the Panthers won four overtime games. But John Kasay's kickoff bounced out of bounds, setting New England up at the 40. An offensive-interference penalty soon forced the Patriots to gain 20 yards for a first down, but Tom Brady completed three straight passes, and Adam Vinatieri kicked the winning 41-yarder with nine seconds remaining.
The kickoff triggered the downfall, whetting New England's appetite for a quick finish.
"They were already on fire anyway," Minter said. "You don't want to give them that many yards. Then you get into the middle, and all they need is a field goal. When that balls goes out of bounds, you're like: 'OK, guys, we've just got to stop 'em -three-and-out, and we'll get out of here.' Then we get the pass interference call on them. It's like: 'OK, this is the time we're going to get Brady.'"
The Panthers never got Brady, never sacked him nor forced him into horrible throws. Carolina intercepted one pass, when he misread coverage and threw straight to Reggie Howard in the end zone. MVP Brady completed 32 of 48 passes for 354 yards and three touchdowns, his yardage ranking No. 3 in Super Bowl history.
New England gained 481 total yards, neutralizing the Panthers' defensive line and picking apart the secondary. Defensive end Mike Rucker couldn't explain why the Panthers resembled inferior imposters.
"I really feel like they didn't see the great ball club that we were on defense," Rucker said.
Carolina outscored New England 19-18 in the fourth quarter, the highest-scoring Super Bowl quarter punctuating the conclusion of a predicted defensive struggle. "It was," Howard said, "just a matter of who had the ball last."
New England rushed for more yards (127-92) and controlled the ball for 39 of the 60 minutes.
"You've got to stop the run and make them one-dimensional," Minter said. "If you can do that, you can get after the quarterback, and you can do stuff in the passing game, but when they play-action that thing and then they roll it, that's when play-action works. Their linemen do a great job of making everything look like pass. I mean, everything - their runs, their passes - looks like pass. You've got to give them credit for that. I haven't seen a line do it as great as they did it.... We knew how important it was to stop the run and get after Brady, and we didn't do either one of them. It surprised me that we couldn't stop the run. We'd been doing that all year long."
The Panthers kept producing surprises all season: a 17-point comeback in the opener behind relief pitcher Delhomme, a blocked extra point at Tampa Bay that forced a rewarding overtime, an overtime win at Indianapolis, a Kasay field goal with four seconds left at Arizona that clinched the division title, the double-overtime playoff classic at St. Louis, the lockdown defense in the NFC final at Philadelphia.
Carolina almost pulled off another one. Even as New England lined up for the clinching field goal, defensive tackle Brentson Bucker contemplated a breakthrough.
"He got one blocked already and missed another one," Buckner said. "You know he's feeling the pressure."
But Vinatieri nailed the winner, leaving the Panthers in agony. How can they ever recapture the edge?
"That's going to be real hard, man," Minter said. "That's going to be real hard. I feel like you've got to lean on your faith. I mean, you really do. And don't let it discourage you in the sense that you walk away from your football team. This football team believed in one another. All we have to do is find some way. Everybody's solemn as they're going about it. Don't hold it in. You've got to let go. Hopefully, when it's time to come back, we'll get over that."
Getting over it and getting back to the Super show are different football beasts.
• Lenox Rawlings can be reached at lrawlings@wsjournal.com