Carolina Panthers Vs Denver Broncos Redux

The Carolina Panthers along with their 2015 NFL MVP quarterback Cam Newton will try to redeem themselves tonight at Sports Authority Field in Denver after their humiliating loss to Denver 24-10 in Super Bowl 50.  The game will air on NBC at 8:30 PM ET.

Newton was blitzed 25 times in his Super Bowl appearance.  Only Jim Kelly faced more blitzes.  He also set a record for the worst completion percentage in a Super Bowl.

Remember when he decided not to dive for the ball on a pivotal play in the biggest game of his life?  Compound the above stats, his decision to “tap out” by not going full-speed to recover that fumbled ball, his big baby reactions during the game, pouting up a storm and leaving the post-game press conference and you have to ask yourself if Newton has grown up during the off-season.

"I'm so focused on the lead-up to our game on Thursday. I can't look back," Newton said. "A lot of people are going to make it a rematch, but it's not a rematch.  It's just our next opponent.  They're a great team, we understand that.  We're putting in our bid to be a great team as well.”

Newton has an improved core with wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin returning from injury, somebody who had more than 1,000 receiving yards and nine touchdowns as a rookie back in 2014.  He’ll take pressure off Tedd Ginn Jr. and allow him to win one-on-one matchups more often.  Defensively, the Carolina Panthers lost cornerback Josh Norman but are still going to be a nasty front seven led by All-Pro linebacker Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis.  They will look to give Broncos QB Trevor Siemian fits tonight.

GO PANTHERS!

 And since no football post would be complete without some pom-poms to feast your eyes on, we present this fetching Top Cat:

Disneyland® Adds New Attraction For Cam Newton: “Sucking Pit Of Despair”

How did Peyton Manning celebrate his team’s Super Bowl 50 victory? He went to Disneyland! Following the Denver Broncos victory over the Carolina Panthers at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Peyton—joined by his children, Mosley and Marshall—celebrated with fans at the Happiest Place on Earth with a parade Monday down Main Street, USA.

Cam Newton was still pouting so, for one day only, Disneyland added a new attraction—The Sucking Pit of Despair.

Cam Newton: The Shipwrecked Showboater

Almost 112 million people viewed Super Bowl 50 and depending on when they tuned in and whether they stay tuned to the post-game interviews those viewers saw a young star too easily rattled and not equal to the moment.

During the always overboard pre-game hype, CBS cameras caught Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton on the field sporting warm-up gear that consisted of a black t-shirt emblazoned with a gold Superman logo and gold Under Armor® MVP cleats.

The Panthers were a 5+ point favorite to win yesterday’s Super Bowl.  I feel sorry for all the folks who placed bets in Vegas on Carolina.  The Panthers were pathetic.  Newton was deplorable.  The Denver defense hit Newton 13 times including six sacks.  He went 18 of 41 for 265 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, two fumbles and a passer rating of 55.4.

By the end of the third quarter the coddled, vulgarly overpaid Newton’s body language unequivocally told you this princeling was not accustomed to such forceful handling.  There were no jumping jacks or leaping chest bumps to rally his team.  No “dabbing” either.  Denver tugged on Superman’s cape and all that was left was a sulking, pouty, immature, petulant child who threw himself on the turf after Josh Norman was called for holding against DeMarcus Ware and again with 2:08 left in the game when Derek Wolfe tackled Cam in the endzone.  Newton screamed at the official demanding a penalty flag for a late hit but didn’t get one.  He rolled over and pounded the turf in a childish temper tantrum.

Oh, and let’s not forget the fumble he cowardly refused to try to recover.  Aqib Talib said, “He tapped out.  Yeah.  He didn’t want it.”

After the game, Cam Newton sat dejectedly in a post-game interview giving oh-so-short answers to rather soft questions and abruptly walked out after just three minutes.  For good or for ill, former Dallas Cowboys star Deion Sanders said of Newton’s press conference, “You are the face of our brand right now.  You can’t do that.  I understand the emotions of losing.  You can’t do that.  A Manning, a Brady, all of those guys who have been prototypical would never do that.  You can’t be dabbin’ smiling, styling and profiling when you win, so this is how you go out when you lose?”

I have taken some guff from a reader in the past for being so hard on Cam.  I am not just now scrutinizing him.  I attacked his antics, his narcissism and petulance here and here and finally here. 

Cam Newton’s arrogance has cheapened him.  His promise to be a role model is a complete, unadulterated mountain of manure and his teammates are circling the wagons to protect him.

Fans of the Panthers are disappointed that the Panthers lost.  Disappointment is part of sports.  Sadly though, Cam Newton single-handedly embarrassed the franchise and embarrassed the Panthers Nation.

Cam needs to grow up.  Whatever criticism comes his way is deserved.  Is the NFL proud they selected such a crybaby to be their MVP?  I think not.  Cam made a mockery of the league and a laughingstock of the Panthers.  It’s a pity.

This play will haunt #CamNewton the rest of his career.@TSNSteve @TSNSimmer pic.twitter.com/IT0FiqGHEB

— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) February 8, 2016

My second favorite moment of the night. Think they'll make a name for this move? #CamNewton #SB50 https://t.co/0D6YwTjSjs

— Kristen Ashly (@KristenAshly) February 8, 2016

Super Bowl 50: Carolina Panthers Vs Denver Broncos

Never let it be said that Curmudgeon doesn’t know how to throw a party.  My Super Bowl Watch Party is going to be epic.

Several weeks ago I ordered the official Carolina Panthers Dab On Em T-Shirt; the one made famous around these parts by 95-year-old Mary Ward who has watched every single Panthers game since the franchise came to Charlotte, to give to everyone I’ve invited to the party.  Yours truly will be sporting her Luke Kuechly jersey.

They say that 1.3 billion chicken wings, 2 million Pizza Hut® pizzas, 12 million Domino’s® pizza slices and 14 billion hamburgers will be served during the big game.

Two years ago I dazzled my party-goers with Frogmore Stew, also known as a bog or low-country boil, a Creole-like Gullah feast which originated in the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina.  It’s a combination of Alaskan Snow Crab legs, jumbo shrimp, red potatoes, corn on the cob, Kielbasa sausages, sweet onions and Old Bay® or Zatarain’s® Shrimp & Crab Boil.

The ingredients are boiled in a 65-quart stock pot and when it’s done you simply drain the liquid, dump the ingredients on a newspaper-covered table and let your guests dig in.  There will be ramekins filled with drawn butter and cocktail sauce, plenty of lemon wedges and bottles of Tabasco® sauce will be on all the tables for the more daring diners.  Clean up is a snap.  You just roll up the newspaper and toss everything in the garbage.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Kickoff will be at 6:30 PM ET and air on CBS.  Ever since November when the Angry Kittehs were the only unbeaten team left in the league, virtually none of the so-called sports experts thought Carolina would do as well as they have.  The “experts” consistently viewed them as underdogs.

NFL media insider Ian Rappaport has reported that Super Bowl 50 will be Denver QB Peyton Manning’s “last rodeo”.  He carefully notes that Manning has refused to publicly state whether he will retire, but he “let the cat out of the bag” to his “inner circle”.

Denver fans will be rooting for the Broncos and Peyton Manning against the Panthers, but Carolina can play the sentimentality card too.  You see Leigh Ann Touhy, the woman made famous in the Hollywood telling of her adoption of a homeless African-American kid named Michael Oher in The Blind Side, is a compelling story.

Oher was born to a drug addict mother and a convict father in Tennessee in 1986, and spent a troubled childhood in and out of school where he had to repeat both the first and second grade. Dumped into foster care at the age of seven, he was eventually adopted by Tuohy who nurtured his love of football.

One thing they can't measure is your heart!! Remember that!!

— Michael Oher (@MichaelOher) January 25, 2016

Now, to be sure I don’t know who will win the game.  Oddsmakers have the Panthers as a 5+ point favorite.  But, but…Tuah the one-year-old orangutan at the Salt Lake City Zoo picked the Panthers to win.  You may ask yourself how can a one-year-old orangutan pick a winner.  Simple.  Tuah’s father picked seven of the winning teams before passing away last year.

I’ve suggested we embark on a Jell-O™ shooter game:  Every time Cam dabs it’s down the hatch with a shooter. (And yes, I’ve made a shipload of blueberry shooters!)

GO PANTHERS! 

And because no football post would be complete without some pom-poms, please set your male gazing cannons to stunned for these lovely Top Cats:

NOTE:  Hey Grunt, I’m sorry my friend.  Youse is gonna lose.

Panthers Vs Cardinals: NFC Championship Game

The 16-1 Carolina Panthers are at home against the 14-3 Arizona Cardinals today.  Kickoff time for the NFC Championship Game is 6:40 PM ET and will be carried on FOX.

With home field advantage, a fan base that is rabid and aching for a chance at a second appearance in a Super Bowl, the return of running back Jonathan Stewart and frontrunner for the 2015 NFL MVP award QB Cam Newton at the helm, many are expecting a smashmouth game.

To say that Carolina is riding high with such a superb season thusfar would be an understatement.  The Panthers Nation is CRAY-CRAY with excitement.

Today’s game will be the team’s fourth trip to the NFC Championship and their first time to host the game.  It also represents the first time two Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks face off in a playoff game.

Fans are heartened by the fact that many like ESPN’s David Purdum favor the Panthers over the Cardinals.  Vegas oddsmakers are likewise picking Denver to fall to the Patriots.

If the “sports experts” are right that would set the stage for a rematch grudge match between the Cats and the Pats from Super Bowl XXXVIII.  Don’t remember that one?  Let me help you out.  That’s the one that had the controversial half-time show in which Janet Jackson had a “wardrobe malfunction” and her breast was ever so briefly exposed.

GO PANTHERS!

And since no football post would be complete without some pom-poms, please enjoy some of the lovely Top Cats cheerleaders.

Carolina Panthers Vs Jacksonville Jaguars

Today the Carolina Panthers travel to EverBank Field in Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars.  The game airs at 1:00 PM on Fox.

Color me even more cynical about the Angry Kitties than I was last year.  Here’s why—cornerback Josh Norman and QB Cam Newton are both yappers and found themselves embroiled in a fight during training camp on August 10th.

As the “story” goes, Newton threw a pass that was low and Norman intercepted it.  He did what every defensive player is taught to do.  He ran with the ball toward the end zone.  Showing a remarkable lack of maturity, Newton pursued him and Norman stiff-armed him in the helmet.  Newton called him a “pissant” and then as his teammates pulled him off, Newton was heard saying, "Hit me like that again and you'll know something."

I have been critical of Newton ever since he signed with the Panthers.  Immature quarterbacks don’t win in the NFL.  Can you hear me “Johnny Football”?  Newton’s signature “Superman” celebration after every touchdown and his “first down motion” after moving the chains is a display of showboating that I greatly detest.  But then, I feel the same way about the 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick.  Maybe I’m too old-fashioned.  Maybe I’m more of a football purist than I thought, but this kind of nonsense is taking over the NFL—not to mention the criminals and cheaters who are literally getting away with murder.

Oh, and the Panthers finished under .500 last year.  Cam’s less than sterling stats of a mere 18 TDs and 12 INTs last season most assuredly didn’t warrant a massive contract extension totaling $103.8M.

The League has become a sad spectacle and yet we watch.  Yes, I’m going to watch today’s games.  The contest between Carolina and Jacksonville is of interest to me solely because former Alabama Crimson Tide star running back T. J. Yeldon (career rushing yards 3322, 494 receiving yards and 37 TDs) will start for the Jags at tailback today.

When I reviewed the NFL schedule before preseason, I noticed my Angry Kitties do not play the San Francisco 49ers this season.  That means that Proof, a diehard Niners fan, may resist the urge to flap his gums at me.

GO JAGUARS!

And…since no football post would be complete without a photograph of cheerleaders and pom-poms, I’m posting this unusual image of the poor Top Cats who were drenched by a monsoon when these two teams last played each other back in 2011.

Divisional Playoffs: Carolina Panthers Vs Seattle Seahawks

Days before the Panthers boarded a plane to travel to Seattle for their game against the Seahawks a fowl odor, a stinky fog “full of fish farts” if you will, swept over the city.  Was it “Super Bowel” fever?

In any event, the only reason the Angry Kitties are in the divisional playoffs is because they won in the pathetic NFC South beating the Falcons who played a horrible, mistake-riddled game.  I actually felt sorry for Falcons’ QB Ryan Lindley.

The Panthers deserve to be rated as underdogs in this game, but if there is to be a snowflake’s chance in hell of beating the Seahawks a couple of things have to happen.  Cam Newton needs to drop his puffed-up ego and play like a pro footballer.  He needs to stop his arrogant gestures when he connects with his receivers and for gosh sakes don’t do that stupid “Superman” crap if they score.  That just pisses off people.  Newton’s two lowest-yardage games were against the Seahawks in 2012 with 141 yards and in 2013 with a pitiful 125 yards.  You see my point, right?

Another way to win would be to score and keep on scoring to quiet down the crowd which is notoriously known as the “Legion of Boom”.  If you take the crowd out of the game you have a chance.

The Panthers are on a five-game winning streak and defensively are a much better team than they were earlier in the season.  Still, they are underdogs.

GO ANGRY KITTIES!

And because no football post would be complete without pom-poms, please feast your eyes upon the lovely Dana and Lindsey, just two of the Top Cats who make up the cheerleading squad for the Panthers.

By the way, I’m rooting for the Ravens to destroy the Patriots in this afternoon’s game if for no other reason than to watch Tom Brady have a meltdown on the sideline hurling F-bombs.

Carolina Panthers Vs New Orleans Saints

The 3-8-1 Panthers visit the 5-7 Saints at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome today.  Kickoff is 1:00 PM ET.  The stinkfest airs on Fox.

If today’s game goes anything like the last matchup between these two teams, the mangy, angry kitties can forget about the playoffs.  I know I already have.

I’m still on such a high after my beloved Bama won the SEC Championship yesterday that watching the Panthers play today would be utterly laughable.  I will instead turn my attention to what I hope will prove to be real games:  Seahawks Vs Eagles, Bills Vs Broncos, and Packers Vs Falcons.

I still can’t believe the Panthers paid ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS for a big weenie like QB Cam Newton.

The only thing that will salvage this football post is some pom-poms.  Please enjoy Top Cat Megan.

UPDATE:  I didn’t watch the game.  I said it would be a stinkfest.  Even though the Panthers did win in a blowout against the Saints, from what I’ve seen on Vine, it was still a stinkfest.  If your QB sucks as bad as Newton does why would you taunt your opponent with an obnoxious “celebration” and a lame ass “Superman” pose?  Newton ain’t no Superman, but his ego is super-irritating.

Carolina Panthers Vs Atlanta Falcons

The NFC South is pitiful.  With the Saints leading that division at 4-5, today’s game between the 3-6-1 Panthers and the 3-6 Falcons is sure to be a crapfest.

The game kicks off at home for the Panthers at Bank of America Stadium at 1:00 PM ET on Fox.

Some dink over at The Sheet News wrote, “The Panthers have really disappointed me with the way they are handling QB Cam Newton. He is clearly hurt badly and they are running him out there with no help. To top it off they are dogging him to the press. His own organization is dogging him…saying he is NOT hurt and giving him ZERO help. If I were Cam Newton I would pull a Dwight Howard and walk away. They are now trying to drive his value down so they don’t have to pay him.”

Apparently this guy forgot everything about Cam Newton that is unsavory and the money daddy Cecil Newton took.  I have said many times that Newton has talent but not enough talent that he deserves to be put on a pedestal.

So the question is Newton banged up or overrated?  He’s both.  He had surgery on his ankle in the off-season and then injured his ribs early in the regular season.  He has turned fraidy cat since getting hurt.  That has made him inaccurate and painfully slow to make decisions.

I will say again today, as I have numerous times before, take Newton out of the game and give back-up QB Derek Anderson a chance to lead the team.  Newton needs to be shown he is not the center of the Panthers’ fan base world.  After the season is over, release him from his contract and draft someone else who wants to play.

As for today, I’m not wasting my time watching what will doubtless be a total crapfest.  I’ll watch the Eagles-Packers game pulling for the Packers and then root like hell for the Colts tonight against the Patriots. 

And because no football post would be complete without pom-poms, check out Top Cat Whitney.

Congratulations Falcons.#ATLvsCAR pic.twitter.com/P434wiwE4A
— PoliticalClownParade (@Carry_That_Load) November 16, 2014

You Sure About That Proof?

Proof, the venerable scribe at Proof Positive, decided to post a picture of a 49ers cheerleader dressed in an uncharacteristically modest outfit.  Judging from the background, it was a cold day in the city by the bay.

Underneath the photo was this charming quip:  "When called by a panther, don't anther!"

I’m not so sure Proof wouldn’t “anther” if the Panther shown here called.

The oddsmakers are making the 49ers a 6-point favorite against the Panthers with an over/under of 43 total points.

James Brady of Niners Nation thinks the 49ers can't overlook the Panthers, despite the latter playing some poor teams saying, “To put it simply: the Panthers are an opportunistic team that plays aggressive football. They can be taken advantage of, but it won't be an easy game.”

The Carolina Panthers’ five wins were against opponents with a combined record of 8-33.  The Niners have won five straight against opponents with a combined record of 13-28.

For the first time in five years, the Panthers are least two games over .500 after eight games.

Proof is a good buddy and he’s crazy about his Niners.  This is going to be a chippy game.  I detest Colin Kaepernick for his arrogance.  I detest Cam Newton for his as well, but they both can move the ball.