“Man, those guys sold so f*cking bad. We’re sorry as f*ck.”
Those were the final words of Cardinals tight end Trey McBride as he headed to the visiting locker room at Bank of America Stadium after falling in overtime, 36-30, to the Carolina Panthers – ending their postseason hopes.
It was a fitting end for the home team that has had their share of ups and downs.
At the beginning of the season the Carolina Panthers were joke of the league and while their play since the bye should have put opponents on notice that this squad is far from the team that started off the season getting outscored 73-10 by their opponents, they have yet to beat the “trash” allegations.
“Their players were calling the team trash,” cornerback Jaycee Horn said with a smirk after finding out the Panthers eliminated the Cardinals from playoff contention. “‘Y’all trash. Y’all trash,'” he recalled a player yelling at them. “But they lost to the Panthers and now they’re going home.”
Cornerback Mike Jackson, who had two crucial pass break ups during overtime, said even Arizona coaches on the sideline were talking trash.
“That’s fine,” Jackson said when I asked him about the Cardinals’ taunts. “They can call us trash, but we beat them. So if we trash, what does that make them?”
Sunday was Carolina’s first overtime win in team history where they scored the winning points on a touchdown. It also marked the Panthers third overtime game this season, their most in a single-season since 2003 (four).