With all the attention being doled out in heaping holiday portions to the Tennessee Titans and the New York Giants, the media and the rest of the country seem to have overlooked the Carolina Panthers, a team with as much, if not more, spark than the undefeated Titans and the defending Super Bowl champions.
Owners of the NFL's third-best record at 8-2, the Panthers are in the midst of a four-game winning streak, fresh off a 31-22 victory over the hapless Detroit Lions on Sunday. And despite posting one of the top records in the league, the Panthers have flown under the radar for the majority of the year.
Everything that has been said to be a staple of the Titans and the Giants is present in Carolina and sometimes in more bountiful numbers. For instance, the potent Tennessee running attack of Chris Johnson and LenDale White is a prime reason the team is undefeated. But Carolina's own one-two punch of Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams has wreaked havoc on the rest of the NFL.
Stewart and Williams have amassed 1,390 all-purpose yards together to go along with 14 trips to the end zone. More notable, though, is the fact that Stewart and Williams combined have turned the ball over just once.
Maybe the lack of publicity has something to do with the fact that they've had an absurdly easy schedule thus far, and sometimes the Panthers remain unimpressive against mediocre teams. Nonetheless, Carolina manages to win, win and keep winning.
In the season opener against the San Diego Chargers, quarterback Jake Delhomme hit Dante Rosario in the back of the end zone for the game-winning touchdown as time expired. From that point on, each game has been a close call for Carolina, but they have managed to come out on top a large majority of the time.
In Week 2, a late fourth-quarter touchdown run by Stewart proved to be the difference-maker against the Chicago Bears, while it took a 65-yard bomb from Delhomme to Steve Smith in the third quarter to down the Arizona Cardinals.
But things may soon begin to take a downturn for Carolina. The Panthers' only two losses have come on the road to the Minnesota Vikings and division rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In both of those contests, the leading rusher for Carolina had just 27 yards. Like Tennessee, the success of Carolina solely depends on the establishment of its running game early and often. With a schedule back-loaded with solid defensive squads, the Panthers appear primed for a drop-off in the coming weeks.
In contrast to the league's other early success stories, Carolina sorely lacks a consistent passing game to counter opposing defenses when the running game goes stagnant. Titans quarterback Kerry Collins has more than held his own in Nashville, directing the offense with short gains and a 59.0 completion percentage. Collins has also thrown only four interceptions all season, a number Delhomme matched in one game against the Oakland Raiders. Against the Raiders, of all teams, the 25th-ranked defense in the NFL, Delhomme led his squad to only 17 points for the team's lowest-scoring victory.
Sunday's game against the Lions was the second game in a row in which Delhomme threw for under 100 yards against a mediocre defense, and he has subsequently alienated wide receiver Smith from the passing game. After gaining at least 70 yards in each of his first six games, Smith has a combined 68 in his past two.
A big reason Carolina has slid by teams like Detroit and Oakland is that its standout defense has done an admirable job bailing out the offense. The Panthers have given up the third-fewest points in the league and are in the top five in passing and scoring defense.
The squeak-by persona that coach John Fox's team has earned through the first 11 weeks will not cut it down the stretch. A Dec. 21 date with the Giants appears now to be a showdown between the top two NFC teams, but let's not forget who Carolina will face in the meantime.
The Panthers host Tampa Bay on Monday night in Week 14, a game which could decide the NFC South crown, and then turn right back around six days later against the Denver Broncos. Of their first 10 games, Carolina played only three teams with winning records, compared to four in the team's final six.
So while the Panthers certainly deserve more recognition than they have been receiving, dissenters are correct in pointing to the team's mediocre recent play and soft schedule as pathways to a December collapse. In the meantime, Carolina is certainly enjoying its place among the league's elite.
