"We did our part to make it interesting," head coach John Fox said.
WTH?! I knew there was something up and John Fox confirmed it. We literally let the Saints come back and made the game "interesting". I never wanted to believe this but now I do, we are just a team that loves close games in the 4th quarter no matter how the game plays out in the first three.
Here's the whole article if anyones interested
Carolina at New Orleans
Sweet Carolina
Andrew Mason
Panthers.com
NEW ORLEANS, La. - With six seconds left, some Panthers couldn't look.
Their division title and playoff fate rested upon the left foot of John Kasay - a foot that for so long this season had been perfect but in the past seven days had seen two kicks go astray - twice as many as he'd missed in the season's first 14 weeks.
The Carolina sideline rattled with nervous energy and tension. Some players paced. Others prayed. But some weren't nervous.
"John Kasay, the Iceman," said running back DeAngelo Williams.
Williams had taken his cue from Kasay himself.
"Nervous? I knew it was going to happen," he said. "I knew it was going to happen here last year. I knew last week it was going to happen. You just know. You get these feelings."
While others prayed and muttered, while some cowered and covered their faces, Kasay took his paces. The New Orleans crowd roared, stirred out of its slumber by a stunning Saints rally that had turned a 20-point deficit into a one-point lead.
But Kasay took it away…and took the Panthers home as NFC South champions with a 42-yard field goal that gave Carolina a 33-31 triumph, sealed the franchise's best regular-season record in a dozen years and - most importantly - secured the second seed and a precious bye week in the NFC playoffs.
That one-week respite couldn't have been more of a blessing for the Panthers, who emerged from the regular-season finale as battered as they have been all season. Right tackle Jeff Otah and right guard Geoff Hangartner succumbed to toe and ankle injuries. Defensive tackles Damione Lewis and Maake Kemoeatu were sidelined with shoulder and ankle injuries suffered in the previous two games.
All, however, can rest.
"We need it as much as anybody," said Jordan Gross, who had to move from left tackle to right to account for Otah's absence, while Frank Omiyale - who started at left tackle in Week 5 against Kansas City - manned the left side through most of the second half.
"We're banged up and we've got a lot of healing to do between now and two weeks from now but we'll take it."
Getting there, however, required taking the road less traveled. And often that road is less traveled for a reason.
Typically, teams that lose a 20-point lead in the final quarter can't marshal the fortitude necessary to reverse the tsunami of momentum that the rallying team had built - particularly when the Saints had a deafening home crowd behind them that had been awakened with a fury after Drew Brees had thrown touchdown passes on three consecutive drives while the Panthers had been forced to punt twice after not punting in the first three quarters.
"We did our part to make it interesting," head coach John Fox said.
But with a one-point deficit and one timeout remaining, the first Carolina prayer was answered - in the form of an arcing, desperate heave from Jake Delhomme that found its way into a leaping Steve Smith's grasp. The 39-yard pass moved the Panthers from their 18-yard-line to the New Orleans 43.
From there, the Panthers could be workmanlike, picking up 23 yards on the next five plays - four of which were the final carries of DeAngelo Williams' splendid 178-yard day. That set up Kasay, who rebounded from his misses in the third quarter and a week earlier at the end of regulation with the 42-yarder that sent Carolina dancing into the postseason as division champions.
"You dubbed us the Cardiac Cats a few years ago, right?" Kasay said. "Well, I think you can pull out the hats and the T-shirts and get ready for the ride."
And fortunately for the Panthers, that ride won't start for at least 13 days.
