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Finally giving us Moore — Panthers beat NFC West champ Seahawks 13-10

Alast!  Rookie quarterback Matt Moore got the practice reps and then the start fans have craved for weeks.  By no means did he win the game for the Panthers, but he made no turnovers, and coupled with a dominating defense, Carolina gave its fans a second home victory, 13-10, on the season.

Conditions in the stadium were funky for football.  Besides being numbingly cold with the wind, the wind was swirling all sorts of different directions.  The American and North Carolina flags above the scoreboard on the top of the rim of the stadium blew one way, but flags on the goal posts blew another.   It wasn’t the best of conditions for a rookie quarterback’s — a guy who puts the ball into that blustery, chaotic air — first start.  But that didn’t matter.

Moore put up a solid 19-of-27 for 208 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions.  Just as important were two other stats — no sacks and no fumbles.  He got rid of the ball when he needed to.  He played an excellent game.  Had DeShaun Foster and DeAngelo Williams been able to start a steady running game, Moore probably would have had a passing touchdown or two in his stats.

With the exception of Williams’ 35-yard touchdown run to quasi-seal the game, the running game was flat.  He ran 15 times for 61 yards and Foster 18 times for 47 yards.  A lot of it looked like line issues, not to mention the fact that Seattle has excellent linebackers and defensive linemen.  But with perfect timing, the offensive line managed to open up a gaping hole for Williams to (almost) seal Carolina’s victory.

Overall, nothing was as important as Carolina’s defensive play.  Na’il Diggs, Thomas Davis and Kris Jenkins all nabbed sacks, and when Davis got to Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck late in the fourth quarter, it force a critical fumble, which was recovered by cornerback Richard Marshall.

Hasselbeck still had a decent game, completing 27 of 41 passes for 274 yards, a touchdown (and a lucky one at that) and no interceptions.  Yet, Carolina never let him get into rhythm, forcing Seattle to punt eight times.

Now, while they’re at the bottom, the Panthers still have a shot at the playoffs.  It definitely takes some losing on the part of other teams, but should the Panthers win against Dallas and Tampa Bay, ending 8-8, a wild card spot could be in site –  and setting them up for a rematch with Seattle.

If Carolina keeps playing like this, they’ll have a shot against both Dallas and Tampa Bay and at the very least create some momentum for next year.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 17th, 2007 at 12:04 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.