The Panthers won the Super Bowl!

Oh wait. Nevermind. Their season ends in 3 weeks. Wouldn't have known it, what with Cam Newton prancing around like a sprite little fairy, sneak attacking and such.

Look, this wasn't a good loss; however, Carolina is better than their record would indicate. Many of you are throwing around empty criticism like "they're just not tough enough!" and/or "they just don't want it!"

To be fair, this a blog, and we encourage venting, but make no mistake, the sky isn't falling. We're a good team. I'll say it again: we are a good team. We're also a team that wants to win. It's absurd to imply that these guys don't want to win.

The offense just didn't tick in the first half. They turned it around in the second half, but it was too little too late. I for one am dumbfounded by the inefficiency of our running game. Turner averaged two yards a carry today - not shocking given the lack of a balanced attack today. Throwing the ball forty-nine times and running the ball only eleven times isn't a recipe for success.

It looked like the Falcons could actually pull off a comeback for a while. Down 23-13, the offense was marching. Then Thomas Davis picked off Matt Ryan with six minutes left in the fourth quarter. In the ensuing drive, Dunta Robinson was flagged on a third-and-ten. And that was all she wrote.

Long story short, we didn't deserve to win. Our defense wasn't as good as they can be, though they were on the field a lot in the first half. Our offense wasn't even present until the second half. All in all, not a good day.

Discuss!