Panthers Pounce Packers on 'MNF'
C H A R L O T T E, N.C., Nov. 28, 2000 -- The Carolina Panthers found a solutionfor their inconsistency — for one game, anyway.
“We talked about having fun, remembering those Friday nighthigh school football games that we played and how much fun theywere,” Reggie White said following a 31-14 victory over the GreenBay Packers on Monday night. “That’s what we did. We came out andhad fun.”
While the Panthers (5-7) played loose, White’s former teamappeared tight, receiving a major blow in the race for an NFC wildcard spot, falling to 5-7.
Disappointed Packers
“We were fully ready and knew what we were getting into,”Green Bay coach Mike Sherman said. “We just didn’t perform.
“I told our guys if you want this game, you’re going to have togo out and grab a hold of it and take it because this team is notgoing to give you anything.”
The Panthers stopped a potential three-game losing streak, butmany in the locker room were questioning why the team can’t seem toput consecutive good games together. Carolina has yet to win two ina row this season.
“It’s frustrating to win one, lose one because you go out andput your time in, you work, you study and it’s just nothappening,” cornerback Eric Davis said. “It’s frustrating whenyou go up against a club like Green Bay and play the way we played.You ask yourself why we can’t do that all the time. If I knew Iwould write a book, the coaches would love me and I would be rich.We can’t figure it out.”
Falling in a Hole
The Packers fell behind 14-0 as Steve Beuerlein threw two of histhree touchdown passes in Carolina’s first two drives.
“This reminded me of how we played early in the year when weput ourselves in the hole,” Sherman said.
Beuerlein was 22-for-37 for 243 yards, but the night belonged torookie Brad Hoover of Division I-AA Western Carolina. Hoover wonover the crowd, many of whom were chanting his name as the gameended.
Hoover started in place of team rushing leader TshimangaBiakabutuka, who missed the game with turf toe, and had 117 yardsrushing on 24 carries and caught three passes for 41 more yards.
Hoover also impressed his teammates with his tough insiderunning against the 11th-best defense in the NFL.
“Every year we kind of find a guy like that. I think Fred Lanewas a guy like that,” Muhsin Muhammad said of Hoover, who wassigned as an undrafted free agent. “It’s just great to find aplayer that nobody notices and he comes up big.
“Guys around here know how hard Brad runs. He has a great knackfor picking holes out and making people miss. He’s not a guy onpaper who looks great. He’s not going to run a great 40-yard dashtime and he’s not going to bench press the house, but you put himon the field and he makes plays.”
The Panthers were looking forward after the game to possiblywinning their last four and sneaking into the postseason. In theother locker room, the Packers were shaking their heads andwondering what went wrong.
“You don’t know what is going to happen in this league, but weare not in a good position,” Sharper said. “You don’t ever wantto count yourself out, but we just hurt ourselves.”