Week 1 win versus Jacksonville – It’s the first game of the season and everyone beats Jacksonville.
Week 2 versus the Texans – Come on…Ryan Mallett was their QB.
Week 3 versus the Saints – You can’t count a “W” against a Saints team playing without Drew Brees.
Week 4 versus the Buccaneers – It’s the Bucs. They haven’t won a home game in more than a year and are playing with a rookie quarterback. Did I mention it’s the Bucs?
Week 5 Bye – Panthers are preparing to be EXPOSED as the frauds they are by the Seahawks.
Week 6 versus Seattle – ***Crickets***
If you’ve paid any attention to what people were saying about the Panthers during the first four weeks of the season, it was as if everyone was waiting on them to fail. Waiting for the team who lost their number one receiver before the beginning of the season to finally show themselves as the frauds they are. But with each win, the only ones who have been exposed are the teams they’ve played against and the media who have picked against them.
So what happens now that a team who entered each game with the “Us Against the World” mentality finally makes people take notice? Nothing says Ron Rivera who vows that the squad will not let it die.
“I’m not going to let it,” he said. “That’s the truth. We have to have something to play for and something to shoot for. And I think part of it is our guys’ mentality and their thought process, the way they do things.
“We do have a lot to prove and we have to continue to do things to go there. There is a big target out there and there is somebody that is the standard. And that is who you are competing against. And once you become the standard, you become the hunted.”
The Carolina Panthers are one of five undefeated teams in the NFL, but prior to their comeback win against the Seahawks sports pundits deemed them the worse undefeated team in the league. That didn’t bother the Panthers. In fact, they’ve thrived off the fact that the media expects them to lose. But, that’s just it. Carolina isn’t playing for the media. They’re playing for each other. Their goal isn’t to earn respect in the eyes of Stephen A Smith, Rodney Harrison, the Charlotte Observer or me. They care about winning respect on one place and one place only…the field.