Published: Saturday, Dec. 01, 2012 / Updated: Saturday, Dec. 01, 2012 06:47 PM
Arrowhead will be a weird place Sunday
In their 18-year history, the Carolina Panthers have never played a game quite like the one they will play Sunday.
Carolina’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs comes only one day after K.C. linebacker Jovan Belcher shot and killed his girlfriend and then himself, according to police. The details are horrifying, and I won’t repeat them here.
The obvious question is whether the game should even be played, given that the pain is so fresh and the emotional state that the Kansas City organization and the team’s fans have to be in right now. The NFL decreed that it will be played as scheduled at 1 p.m..
That feels somewhat mercenary, although I’m OK with it. I don’t think postponing the game a few days would make things any better.
But Arrowhead Stadium – where the Chiefs haven’t won all season – will be a weird place Sunday. How do you acknowledge the deaths? How will the Kansas City players react? What sort of emotional boomerang will the Panthers feel?
• The Panthers haven’t won consecutive games all season. But they’ll never have a better opportunity. While the Panthers (3-8) have had it bad this season, the Chiefs (1-10) have had it worse. Think of the 2010 version of the Panthers – that 2-14 team whose offense couldn’t score a TD if it got a turnover inside the opponents’ 10 – and you’ve got a good feel for the Chiefs.
Kansas City has lost eight in a row, and here are their point totals in the last seven of those games: 6, 10, 16, 13, 13, 6 and 9. They can run the ball decently and they can play defense sometimes, but that’s about it. The only way I see Kansas City winning is if Jamaal Charles rushes for more than 200 yards, which is how the Chiefs beat New Orleans earlier this year.
• Since the beginning of the 2011 season, Cam Newton has 20 rushing touchdowns. That’s better than everyone else in the NFL in that time period except Houston’s Arian Foster (22). Still, Newton’s rushing TD pace (six so far in 2012) is way off his QB record of 14 in 2011.
• I have finally edged over .500 on Panthers predictions this season at 6-5 after getting the last three games in a row correct. Going for four straight with this one, which I don’t think will be that close even with the effect of Saturday’s tragic events: Carolina 28, Kansas City 13.
• Weird Panthers trivia question: What college is represented the most on the Panthers’ roster? Answer below, just before my prediction.
• I don’t normally root for Panthers players to perform well individually, but on Sunday I want one Panther to grab 111 yards or more worth of receptions. Why? Because the all-time Panthers single-game reception yards leader in the very brief series with Kansas City is Rae Carruth, who had a 110-yard receiving game in 1997. I am always in favor of Carruth’s terrible name being erased from Panthers history, although the stain will never quite go away.
• Since the beginning of the 2011 season, Cam Newton has 20 rushing touchdowns. That’s better than everyone else in the NFL in that time period except Houston’s Arian Foster (22). Still, Newton’s rushing TD pace (six so far in 2012) is way off his QB record of 14 in 2011.
The trivia answer, according to the Panthers: Oregon State, with three players, is the most well-represented. They are Derek Anderson, James Dockery and Dwan Edwards.
• I have finally edged over .500 on Panthers predictions this season at 6-5 after getting the last three games in a row correct. Going for four straight with this one, which I don’t think will be that close: Carolina 28, Kansas City 13.