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A Dream Deferred: The 2022 Carolina Panthers
by connorrice26 | 7 years ago | 0 Comments
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
--Langston Hughes
A season of unprecedented highs came to a sudden close today, when the Panthers fought for 3 quarters before ultimately losing the NFC Championship 42-24 to the Chicago Bears. For me, the feeling was bittersweet. I was upset to have lost of course, especially after being up 24-21 in the closing stages of the 3rd quarter, but more than anything I was filled with a sense of gratitude and accomplishment for how the season had gone. I had taken an 11-season career, defined by brief flashes of potential giving way to a hase of mediocrity and disappointment, and flipped established narratives on their heads. I proved to myself that I can string good performances together, and more importantly, that I finally got not one but two statement wins in the playoffs. We'll cut out the CPU games (there were many) and go for a game-by-game recap of all of the user games I played this season.
Week 2: Browns 31, Panthers 30
My propensity to blow leads came through here, as I entered the 4th quarter up 30-21 before capitulating to a relentlessly efficient Carson Wentz performance (23/29, 350 yds) and intelligent playcalling by Kiing. Though the revamped front 7 came through, sacking Wentz 3 times and forcing a fumble, it was ultimately the secondary that couldn't make a play throughout the game. The Panthers achieved their gameplan, holding Tulloch to fewer than 4 YPC, but like all elite users Kiing was able to find a plan B.
MVP: Christian McCaffery (17 ATT, 137 YDS, 2 TD)
Week 3: 49ers 42, Panthers 27
Whereas the week before Kiing exposed the Carolina secondary, here Joe Williams feasted. 211 yds of rushing led Cody to a win in a game that featured a lot of strange EA moments and big plays, for both teams about evenly. Davenport had a better throwing game than last week but once again threw 2 untimely INT's, and Cody was able to put the game away midway through the 4th quarter. Mere weeks after recieving a generous $5 twitch donation from the humble host, Cody showed his gratitude by trucking Carolina defenders and dancing on graves.
MVP: Daniel Skool (4 T-A, 1 FF, 1 INT)
Week 9: Panthers 41, Saints 20
Offensive balance and fumbleitis from NOLA gave the Panthers their first user win in decisive fashion. This was a classic "snowball" game, where little things started going wrong for the Saints early, compounding into bad decisions and resulting in a 41-3 lead before garbage-time points made the final score a bit more respectable. Ono Shepard took sweet revenge on the team that cut him, and Carolina was able to take control of the divisional standings for the first time all year, a lead they would never again relinquish.
MVP: Ono Shepard (12 ATT, 118 YDS, 3 TD)
Week 10: Bears 23, Panthers 6
Inefficent running by CMC and an impenetrable Bears OL turned a first-half rockfight into a mockery. For a long time it felt as if the Bears were on the precipice of breaking the game wide open and in the 4th quarter they finally did, with a 96-yd Howard scamper and an excellent performance by Adrian Amos proving too much for Carolina to overcome. It was here where the venerable Bernie Sanders III would begin to lament, wondering if his Panthers would EVER earn that signature win that would send ripples across the BL landscape.
MVP: Cam Gallagher (4 punts, 54 AVG, 68 LG)
Week 12: Eagles 41, Panthers 10
LMFAO. I don't want to even talk about it. 31 yds of total offense, if that even sounds possible. I could have QB sneaked it the entire game and probably matched my offensive productivity. Don't touch me. I SAID DON'T TOUCH M-
MVP: TJ Edwards (3 T-A, 2 INT)
Week 13: Panthers 55, Falcons 24
A theme of divisional dominance amongst an otherwise lifeless season began to emerge here, with a revitalized performance on both sides of the ball and the Panthers turning Atlanta mistakes into points throughout the game. The linebacking corps had perhaps their best game of the season, forcing a combined 5 turnovers between INT's and fumbles. For the first time all season, the Carolina defense showed the ballhawking tendencies that Sanders was hoping for when he splurged on new pieces during free agency.
MVP: Ono Shepard (14 ATT, 196 YDS, 3 TD)
Week 14: Panthers 49, Buccaneers 22
After weeks of hearing about how Greg was clearly the most talented user in the South and how the rest of us were letting him down, here the Panthers put any questions about the NFC South pecking order to rest. To put it simply, this was my best running performance in my BL career. CMC and Shepard combined for 6 TD's on the ground, and the pass defense was able to withstand an excellent Chris Godwin performance to force 5 turnovers and give the offense good field position throughout.
MVP: Christian McCaffery (17 ATT, 174 YDS, 4 TD)
Week 15: Panthers 38, Seahawks 0
LOCK (clapping emoji) DOWN (clapping emoji) DEFENSE (throw a third emoji in there for giggles). An uncharacteristically poor performance from the OL did little to dissuade a front-to-back dominance of Sanders III's granddad's former team. with Davenport putting up his most efficent performance on the year and Cameron Vines collapsing like a dying star.
MVP: Hugh Davenport (13/17, 261 YDS, 3 TD)
Week 16: Panthers 40, Cardinals 6
A tossup on paper turned into a wire-to-wire dominant performance from Carolina. Forcing their third straight 5 INT performance, the secondary and LB corps came through, and though the offense wasn't explosive at any point they were able to efficiently and consistently move the ball down the field. With a Saints loss to Tampa Bay, the Panthers were able to claim the NFC South.
MVP: TJ Edwards (3 T-A, 1 SCK, 3 INT)
Week 17: Panthers 36, Saints 27
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
IT WAS NOTHING BUT BACKUPS JUSTIN. NOTHING BUT BACKUPS!
MY HIGHEST RATED PLAYER ON THE FIELD WAS 82 OVR!
LMAOOOOOOOOOO
The Panthers were able to eke out a win against an improved performance by the Saints and take a 5-game winning streak into the playoffs.
MVP: Brian Poole (5 T-A, 1 FF, 1 INT)
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Wild Card Round: Panthers 15, Redskins 11
Nothing short of a historic defensive performance was required to beat a Mayfield-led offense that averaged 37 PPG heading into the playoffs, and here the Panthers were able to come through. Timely pressure and a defensive scheme focused on limiting big plays and forcing sustained drives held Washington to their lowest offensive production of the season. Nerves were present in the building early, with both teams missing a pair of kicks and making questionable reads throughout, and Carolina was able to eke out a win against a 14-2 Redskins team that was the heavy favorite heading in. The Sanders family (Sanders, Sanders Jr, Sanders III) was able to obtain their 2nd combined playoff win, and put up the single biggest win in my BL career. It remained the biggest win for about 24 hours.
MVP: DeMarco Harrison (4 T-A, 2 INT)
Divisional Round: Panthers 52, Eagles 28
The mountaintop. The standard to which all of my future accomplishments will be compared. Heading into this game, the Panthers had lost 3 games to Austin's Eagles by 28, 25, and 31. On paper, it was one of the biggest mismatches in BL playoff history NOT involving Matty. Similarly to the WC round, the Carolina gameplan heading in was to make Austin earn EVERYTHING, grind it out offensively and live with the results. An untimely pick-6 at the beginning of the 4th quarter threatened to derail that, but Carolina was able to put up 21 straight points to close the game out and book their ticket to Chicago. Rodgers was put under duress all game and threw a season-high 6 INT's, two of which led to pick-6's. At this point, the Panthers had limited the most explosive offense in the league to 11 points and put up 52 on a defense that had utterly stymied them in all previous matchups. What would be worse than that? Alex had nothing to throw at me that I hadn't already faced! BRING ON YOUR MISFIT BUNCH OF CUBS YOU BUM!!!
MVP: Shepard/McCaffery (24 ATT, 272 YDS, 3 TD)
NFC Championship: Bears 42, Panthers 24
And like all great underdog stories, here the dream came crashing down in ignominious fashion. Though once again the Panthers were able to keep the game competitive for 3 quarters, even sporting a 24-21 lead in the late stages of the 3rd, an utterly dominant Bears OL and excellent reads by Alex proved to be too much. The fact is, with the exception of the very first play of the game the Bears didn't give Carolina the sort of mistakes that Washington and Philly had done before, and with a good-but-not-great CMC performance the Panthers were unable to match the firepower. A Stevenson KR TD and productive redzone offense merely delayed the inevitable, and our commissioner earned a birth to the 2022 BL Super Bowl, deservedly so.
The story of the season: a disappointing and at times utterly frustrating start gave way to what was undoubtedly the best 8-game stretch of football I've ever played, even with the Alex loss included. It felt good to be the plucky underdog story, and while I of couse haven't catapulted my way to the elite discussion with just one playoff run I do suspect that no matter what I do moving forward, it'll never quite be the same as this postseason run was. I will build on this moving into the last season of M18 and a new Madden cycle, and I sincerely hope that one day, I may find myself on the Better League's biggest stage, competing for its highest honor.