Revolt and Not Slow Down: an abbreviated history of Panthers vs. Cowboys

[PhillyB]

Six weeks ago we visited the immortal fate of Sisyphus, Greek king damned to a fate of eternally rolling a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back down right when it reached the top. The folks over at Existential Comics did a nice job with it (it's a lot funnier now that we've pushed that boulder over the crest with the downfall of the Seattle Seahawks.)

 

 

But alas, as is the case with any franchise plagued by long periods of mediocrity, we still have lots of mileage to get out of the Sisyphean analogy. If Sisyphus is Panthers, and the boulder an NFL team, there is perhaps no candidate more appropriate than the Dallas Cowboys. This is a matchup that reflexively triggers bad tastes in the mouths of Carolina fans at its mere mention, tapping into a frustrating legacy of bad teams caught at bad times and good teams caught at bad times and good teams at good times caught by bad referees. That cursed boulder has been tumbling backwards for as long as any of us can remember.

With Thanksgiving a scant three days away, and an impending matchup that invokes ineffable angst deep in the stomach pits of all Panthers fans, I've decided to assemble an abbreviated history of the Carolina-Dallas matchups. It's abbreviated because I've marked 2005 as the genesis of Sisyphean tendencies; it's latter-day Cowboys games that've proved so maddening. Five games punctuate our history, each more gut-wrenchingly infuriating than the last. Let's have a look.

 

2005 (L 20-24)

With ten years of hindsight a lot of people point to this as the greatest Panthers offense of all time. Jake Delhomme had come off a career year in 2004 and extended it with Steve Smith's triple crown season. The team rolled into this late-season game with a 10-4 record, a game ahead of the Bucs for first place in a highly competitive NFCS. Winning this game and then beating the hapless Falcons would seal the division and leave the Panthers with a first-round bye. Needless to say, this would be a bad contest to drop.

Two terrible things happened in this game. Midway through the third quarter Terrance Newman hit Steve Smith out of bounds, and Smith ran up to a ref to (rightly) complain about the no-call. He committed the cardinal sin of touching that ref and was promptly flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct and ejected. Smith was livid. Fox was livid. Delhomme was livid. I was livid, I almost died. But Delhomme threw the game on his back, marched down in the fourth quarter in response, and threw a touchdown to Ricky Proehl for a late three-point lead.

Here Sisyphus surfaced for the first time. With their final possession the Cowboys marched down the field and lined up for what would be a game-tying field goal, leaving Carolina three minutes on the clock to go grab a game-winner. Julius Peppers and Ken Lucas miraculously blocked it - and then were famously flagged for roughing the kicker. It was the worst single-play ref job in Panthers history. "I definitely touched the ball, both me and God know it," Lucas said about the play, after Drew Bledsoe, given a new set of downs, tossed the game-winning touchdown.

God, Ken Lucas, and all of us know this atrocious call kicked off a full decade of equally atrocious Panthers-Cowboys matchups.

 

2006 (L 14-35)

This season was a disappointment from the start, so a screw job in a Cowboys game was a natural fit on the menu. Keyshawn Johnson was supposed to be the key free agent that would put the Panthers over the top, but the first two games quickly upended those expectations. Two crushing losses followed by a narrow win over the Buccaneers summed up that season. It was up and down all year. Dallas rolled into town to face a 4-3 squad that might actually be the streakiest team in Panthers history.

Sometimes brilliant, sometimes atrocious, this game was a microcosm of that season. The offense scored early, the defense forced a turnover, and then a Steve Smith rushing touchdown made it 14-0 Panthers. But Dallas went on to score 35 unanswered points, led by a young undrafted free agent named Tony Romo. A deplorable defensive secondary (that day) and an anemic passing attack (supplemented by referees refusing to call flagrant holds on Julius Peppers for four quarters, rendering him sackless on the day) contributed to another crushing loss.

A win here would've put a 9-7 Panthers team in the playoffs. Instead it was another moribund 8-8 John Fox season, on the bright brink of vitality but, as usual, only grazing it.

 

2007 (L 13-20)

Miracles do happen. The Panthers beat an outstanding Seattle Seahawks squad at home in week fifteen, only allowing a touchdown in the final seconds when Quinton Teal or somebody went for the interception instead of just batting it down. This was a tremendous upset, and it placed the Matt Moore-led Panthers at 6-8, mathematically still alive for the playoffs. Winning out - with some help - could land the Panthers a wild card spot. Just gotta beat Dallas on that newfangled Saturday Night Football thing!

This game was fairly unremarkable. Both teams traded momentum all night, though the Panthers never led. They stayed in it the whole game, though, answering every Cowboys score with one of their own, and halfway into the fourth quarter a gorgeous Thomas Davis interception put the Panthers one score away from tying it up. Wunderkind quarterback Matt Moore got the ball back with a chance to go win the ballgame on national television, and began a march down the field.

Never in my life will I forget watching Drew Carter run his route up the middle of the field on 3rd and 8, beating linebacker Jacques Reeves, who then proceeded to cling to him like superman's cape for the next eight yards while a perfectly-placed ball dropped into Carter's molested, premature-tackle-contorted body. No flag. Unforgivably terrible no-call; there was no subjectivity involved. It was a flagrant pass interference in front of two referees, uncalled.

Carolina punted, gave up a field goal, and lost the game. Jobbed.

 

2009 (L 7-21)

Tony Fiammetta was drafted this year in hopes of developing the world's best running attack. It was largely a success, but in true fashion general manager Marty Hurney ignored gaping needs elsewhere. The Panthers went into week three with Nick Hayden and Everette Brown as mainstays on the defensive line with two ugly losses under their belts. This year was a harbinger of horrors to come in the following one, and the Cowboys provided the salt in the opening wound. As one of the league's best running teams that year (remember Marion Barber, Tashard Choice, and Felix Jones back when that three-headed-monster thing was in vogue?) they were able to consistently punch it past Hayden, Damione Lewis, and the rest of that recalcitrantly inept defensive front seven (Beason was still Beason, but consistently marginalized by upfield blockers all year.)

With the score 7-3 in the Panthers' favor midway through the third quarter (it one of the few good defensive games that squad put together) Jake Delhomme's dying arm lobbed a deep ball for Muhsin Muhammed, who caught it for a deep touchdown, the big-play game-breaker Carolina desperately needed. Then the refs called it back for a ticky-tack offensive pass interference call at odds with the tenor they'd set for officiating all game. It led to a Carolina punt, a Dallas field goal, and then Jake Delhomme's dying arm's game-losing pick-six.

So it goes.

 

2012 (L 14-19)

Maybe it's just because it's lodged in recent memory, but this game might actually have been the most maddening of the five. Keep in mind the 2012 season was maddening to begin with; the Panthers had seen Chudzinski's offense crumble in the season opener and enjoyed one win over the Saints before being humbled by a home drubbing by the Giants, a certain Haruki Nakamura play, and another loss to the Seahawks. They went into their bye 1-4 and came out of it facing the Dallas Cowboys.

This game was strange to watch because familiar icons like Cam and Luke were surrounded by people that seem like ancient history. Louis Murphy, James Anderson, ol' Bullethead. It was strange to watch plays that I've seen the Panthers succeed on a thousand times over this season, but absolutely fell apart in that year. This Cowboys game was no exception. It was maddening. I know, I was there with my pregnant wife trying not to jostle her while I flailed with rage.

Score-wise the game wasn't so bad. Tolbert grabbed the lead on a goal-line thrust part way through the fourth, putting the Panthers up by a point. But, characteristically, officiating knocked it out of reach. Two calls in particular were unforgivably bad: a no-call on blatant fourth-down DPI that left Louis Murphy and the entire stadium insane with fury and the Cowboys with great field position, and then immediately after that a phantom horse collar tackle on James Anderson that showed up on the replay as a perfectly legal tackle nowhere near the horse collar. Both were crucial, game-deciding calls by an arbitration crew expected not to affect the outcome of a game. Perhaps more than in any other Panthers game they failed, and Dallas walked away with a win, sending the Panthers packing to Chicago at a lowly 1-5. It may have been the worst loss of the season.

 

Sisyphus takes many forms.

 

So what do we make of this Sisyphean trend?

French existential philosopher Albert Camus has his own take on it. Opposing many philosophers who suggested that a true embracing of the absurdity of Sisyphean life is suicide, Camus proposed that the only true response is revolt. Weave your meaning through struggle. Throw down the iron chains of nihilism and an ever-plunging boulder and wrestle that son of a bitch to the top. Camus was onto something; while plenty of us have considered suicide after watching the last five Cowboys matchups, it's in the spirit of the 2015 Carolina Panthers to revolt. They've done it all year, pushed that boulder upward with single-minded determination.

How, exactly:

 

• They can revolt by taking down a mid-tier Cowboys secondary forced to start rookie free safety Byron Jones in place of injured CB Morris Claiborne. The Dolphins beat him like a drum all day.
• They can revolt by stifling a suddenly vulnerable-looking Cowboys offensive line that consists of Doug Free struggling against speed rushers and interior guards susceptible to talented, stunting under tackles (like Kawann Short.) 
• They can revolt by frustrating an incredibly emotional Dez Bryant into making stupid, game-losing plays (or lack of plays entirely.)
• They can revolt by forcing Tony Romo into impressively desperate throws that invariably turn into picks, as happened multiple times against the Dolphins.
• They can revolt by grinding out tough ground yards against a Cowboys defensive line susceptible to undisciplined run defense, poor contain, and consistently leaving gaping holes between guard and tackle.

 

They can revolt by punching Dallas in the mouth, and, collectively, punching the throats of every mealy-mouthed pundit, informationless fan, wheedling bookie, and narrative-driven columnist calling for a "juggernaut" 3-7 Cowboys team to ruin the season of the most overrated 10-0 team in existence.

So get out the turkey and pop open some cranberry sauce: in three days' time we'll have a new page in the abbreviated history of the Panthers and Cowboys. It'll begin - and end - with revolt.

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[uncfan888]

@PhillyB blessing us on a Monday night 

[PhillyB]

early weeks require early measures. i wrote most of this bleary-eyed in the terminal at denver international airport waiting for a super-delayed red eye flight (and surrounded by donkey fans.)

thankfully i didn't see any dallas jerseys. re-living these games was downright cathartic and i should probably go see a doctor about my blood pressure now.

[uncfan888]

1 minute ago, PhillyB said:

early weeks require early measures. i wrote most of this bleary-eyed in the terminal at denver international airport waiting for a super-delayed red eye flight (and surrounded by donkey fans.)

thankfully i didn't see any dallas jerseys. re-living these games was downright cathartic and i should probably go see a doctor about my blood pressure now.

Yeah, after reading this, I probably should too. I have blocked so much of this out. Can't wait to see what the officials have in store for us Thursday 

[PhillyB]

pie to anyone able to provide gifs or highlight vids of any of the moments specified in the article... youtube didn't yield much at all. i'd love to re-watch that field goal block in the 2005 game.

[KSpan]

I remember literally nothing about the 2012 game. It has been completely wiped from my memory, and it seems for good reason. Here's to a successful revolt.

[Jangler]

I bearly remember yesterdays game...but I do remember hating the cowboys since I was 9er fan. 

Edited November 23, 2015 by Jangler

[uncfan888]

You could have at least included write ups of the playoff games..  That would make this thread easier to stomach haha

[BIGH2001]

Love the writing style. I laughed out loud at many points in the article. 

Some pre 2005 games that you didn't write about

2003 -  we get beat by quincy Carter and the Cowboys defense blitzes us all damn day long. At least we got revenge in the playoffs. 

2002 - we lost 14-13, also to quincy Carter after blowing a 13-0 lead in the 4th. A tuck rule call allows the Cowboys to keep the ball on their game winning drive. 

 

Edited November 24, 2015 by BIGH2001

[pantherking15]

1 hour ago, PhillyB said:

How, exactly:

 

• They can revolt by taking down a mid-tier Cowboys secondary forced to start rookie free safety Byron Jones in place of injured CB Morris Claiborne. The Dolphins beat him like a drum all day.
• They can revolt by stifling a suddenly vulnerable-looking Cowboys offensive line that consists of Doug Free struggling against speed rushers and interior guards susceptible to talented, stunting under tackles (like Kawann Short.) 
• They can revolt by frustrating an incredibly emotional Dez Bryant into making stupid, game-losing plays (or lack of plays entirely.)
• They can revolt by forcing Tony Romo into impressively desperate throws that invariably turn into picks, as happened multiple times against the Dolphins.
• They can revolt by grinding out tough ground yards against a Cowboys defensive line susceptible to undisciplined run defense, poor contain, and consistently leaving gaping holes between guard and tackle.

How does the Cowboys' pass rush and running game look?

Edited November 24, 2015 by pantherking15

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

6 minutes ago, Marc Anthony said:

Sorry, I don't have 45 minutes to read the post, but yea good job.

Then don't quote the exceptionally long post just so you can type one sentence, jagoff.

[Cpt slay a ho]

2007 easily the biggest screw job by refs i could remember in a cowboys game, I hope we murder this team, here's to a repeat of this past Sunday's game Thursday 

[PhillyB]

14 minutes ago, pantherking15 said:

How does the Cowboys' pass rush and running game look?

pass rush is hot/cold. i can't really key in on it exactly (and i haven't watched enough game film to give you any meaningful breakdowns there.) they are 23rd in sacks and dead last in forced fumbles, for whatever that's worth.

running game has been pretty good (especially with romo behind center) but mcfadden pulled his groin or something against the dolphins and he's questionable for sunday.

[crushcard1976]

We did Beat Them In Playoffs in 2003 plus twice in 1997