Ready to rally: At 14-1, Carolina Panthers look to finish job vs. Bucs

The coach of the team with the NFL’s best record walked into his Friday press conference at Bank of America Stadium and wondered where everybody was.

“Is this everybody?” Ron Rivera asked before getting started.

The New Year’s Day holiday had a lot to do with the sparse media gathering. But Panthers players and coaches believe they’ve gotten the short shrift all season – and that was before they lost for the first time last week at Atlanta following a 14-0 start.

“I don’t get it. I really don’t,” Rivera said. “It’s funny. At one point you’ve got a 14-game winning streak and people doubt you. Then you lose one game and people doubt you even more. We’ll just show up Sunday and play.”

The Panthers (14-1) will become only the seventh team in NFL history to finish a regular season with at least 15 wins if they beat Tampa Bay (6-9) on Sunday in Charlotte.

More importantly, they’ll lock up the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs with a victory or a loss by Arizona (13-2) against Seattle.

Even if they grab the top seed, the Panthers can expect to have more shade thrown their way. Already many NFL analysts are calling the Cardinals the team to beat in the NFC because of the weapons quarterback Carson Palmer has at his disposal and Arizona’s attack-style defense.

That’s OK with Rivera. Because while the fifth-year coach says he’s “befuddled” by the lack of respect his team gets during a remarkable season, he also readily admits he doesn’t mind the perceived slights because he likes his team playing with a giant-sized chip on its shoulder.

“I just don’t think we were invited to the party. I think we crashed the party,” Rivera said. “I think people were expecting us to be 8-8, 9-7, I guess. It took people a long time to pay attention to us.”

Then Atlanta happened

It didn’t take long for some to abandon the Panthers’ bandwagon after the 20-13 loss to the Falcons.

ESPN pulled a reporter it had “imbedded” in Charlotte after the Panthers’ pursuit of a perfect season was spoiled. And several media outlets dropped Carolina below Arizona in their Week 17 power rankings, despite the Panthers’ superior record.

“Let’s not forget we’ve only lost one game,” Rivera said. “I’m still befuddled by that, some of the attitudes I’ve heard. We are 14-1.”

Carolina tight end Greg Olsen said the loss to the Falcons did not turn the Panthers into a mediocre team overnight.

“I don’t think we need to over-complicate what’s happened. We were 14-0. We’re now 14-1. We didn’t all of a sudden become 8-8,” Olsen said.

“Of course we wanted to win. ... We tried. We did everything we could. We just had things that didn’t go our way,” Olsen added. “We didn’t make plays when we could have. But our focus is really trying to win No. 15. If we go 15-1, I think we’re going to feel pretty good.”

Bucs up next

Standing between the Panthers and a 15-win season is Tampa Bay, which has dropped three games in a row and will arrive in Charlotte with nothing at stake other than pride and draft order.

But don’t tell that to Bucs coach Lovie Smith, who doesn’t agree with the notion his team has little to play for after being eliminated from the playoffs two weeks ago.

“I don’t quite understand. We’ve been asked that a couple times. We’re professional football players, we have a 16-game season and it’s the 16th game,” Smith said. “You don’t play a game based on what’s happening after this game. It’s about playing as good as you possibly can in the current game that you’re playing.”

Rivera was part of Smith’s staff in Chicago and doesn’t believe a Smith-coached team will mail it in. The Panthers, who are 10.5-point favorites Sunday, beat the Bucs 37-23 in Week 4 in Tampa when rookie quarterback Jameis Winston lost five turnovers.

Cornerback Josh Norman had two of the Panthers’ four interceptions in the first meeting, including a first-quarter pick he returned for a touchdown. But Norman says Winston has improved since the Panthers faced him three months ago.

“Jameis is playing a lot better. You can see it. His confidence is growing with each game,” Norman said. “He’s starting to understand the game and the speed with which we play here in the NFL. He’s making reads and he’s not turning the ball over as much as he was.”

Short-handed Panthers

The Panthers will be short-handed Sunday, with their top two running backs sidelined and two other starters doubtful.

Rookie Cameron Artis-Payne is expected to get the bulk of the carries with Jonathan Stewart out a third consecutive week with a sprained foot. Devin Funchess, another rookie, will start at wide receiver if Ted Ginn Jr. can’t play. Ginn is doubtful with a knee injury.

That will put more of the offensive load on quarterback Cam Newton, the leading MVP candidate who is coming off his worst game of the season. Newton was 0-for-7 against Atlanta on third and fourth downs and failed to complete a third-down throw for the first time in his career.

Newton, who became a father three days before the Atlanta game, expects the Panthers to bounce back from their first regular-season loss since Nov. 30, 2014, a span of 18 games.

“Of course you wish you could go right back out there and press the reset button and play them all over again,” Newton said. “But I guarantee you’re going to see a lot of guys are going to be geared up and ready to go, and try to eliminate that from happening again.”

Momentum at stake, too

The Panthers have secured a first-round bye and will host a divisional-round game the weekend of Jan. 16-17. Rivera and center Ryan Kalil both mentioned the importance of taking some momentum into the week off before their first playoff game.

And while Rivera was singing the no-respect blues this week, Olsen, his Pro Bowl tight end, hit a different note.

“We really could (not) care less about who everybody thinks is hot. We could (not) care less what everybody thinks. None of that’s new around here,” Olsen said. “We have the best record in the league. That’s the reality.”

As tough as the Atlanta loss was to take, Norman says this isn’t the time for the Panthers to feel sorry for themselves.

“We’ve been playing at a high caliber for so long. We just can’t stop now. We can’t just let up off the gas now,” Norman said. “When you’ve got it, you’ve got to keep it and continue to go high, man.”

 

This story was originally published January 2, 2016 at 8:08 AM with the headline "Ready to rally: At 14-1, Carolina Panthers look to finish job vs. Bucs."