Gamble’s don’t pay off for Fox and Panthers

Two strong defenses are supposed to make for a low-scoring, boring affair.

But the New… Two strong defenses are supposed to make for a low-scoring, boring affair.

But the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers showed that the two squads could hook up in Super Bowl XXXVIII and produce possibly one of the best Super Bowls ever.

For the majority of the first half, both offenses were dormant, as the Patriots seemed to lose their momentum after eventual hero Adam Vinatieri missed a 31-yard field goal.

New England’s Tom Brady was able to engineer two touchdown drives with only a few minutes remaining in the first half. Carolina answered right back after the Patriots’ first touchdown with one of its own, but allowed New England to put a second touchdown on the board with under a minute left in the first half. Even though Carolina answered back with a field goal, this moment in the game foreshadowed the future.

After watching the Panthers allow the Patriots to score a touchdown so quickly, it became obvious when Carolina tied the score at 29 with 1:08 left on the clock that the Panthers were doomed.

I am neither a New England fan nor a Carolina fan, but it would have been nice to see a different team win the Super Bowl, as the Patriots have now won the Super Bowl twice in the last three years. So I was kind of pulling for the Panthers.

When Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme hit wide receiver Ricky Proehl around the Patriots’ 20-yard line with over a minute left I kept saying, “slow it down and run the ball or at least go to shorter passes and use some clock.”

But Panthers’ coach John Fox went for it all. A couple of plays later Delhomme and Proehl hooked up again, this time for a touchdown that tied the game after the converted extra point. Fox had already taken a gamble on the previous two touchdowns by going for the two-point conversion instead of the conventional point after.

The first time Fox opted to go for the two-point conversion, there were over 12 minutes left in the game. The score was 21-16 and the two-point conversion would have made the score 21-18, which would have put the game within a field goal. Well guess what? Carolina’s defense couldn’t stop anybody.

Instead, Carolina missed the two-point conversion attempt and failed to convert again after its next touchdown, which put it ahead 22-21. However, New England scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive and was able to earn its two-point conversion.

These gambles may have put Fox’s team in a bind, but the biggest gamble was scoring so quickly. Fox has a television and has seen game film. Brady is drawing comparisons to former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana and former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway with his ability to lead comebacks.

There is no way, if I were a coach, that I could have felt comfortable leaving that much time on the clock. New England didn’t even burn any of its timeouts during the Panthers’ last scoring drive. Instead, Carolina decided to burn one, which was questionable.

And Panthers kicker John Kasay’s kickoff out of bounds really put his team in a bind, but you can’t blame the loss on Kasay. Carolina’s defense still had ample opportunity to stop the Patriots, but failed to do so.

It was very puzzling that the best defensive line in football could not register one sack on Brady. So, he was able to hit several big plays down field all game. On offense, the Panthers’ running game stalled and Fox was probably guilty of sticking with it too long, but when he needed to go back to it for a play or two just to eat up the clock he didn’t, and that’s what cost him.

It was deja vu all over again from New England’s first Super Bowl win over the St. Louis Rams. Proehl caught a touchdown pass to tie the game, which was followed by Brady driving his team down field with only a few seconds left on the clock. Vinatieri marched out on the field and nailed the game winning kick.

Hopefully, teams are watching and will learn from this formula. You don’t want to give Brady any amount of time to mount a comeback. Brady is young, but it appears that when it is all said and done he will be a great one

Kevin Nash is the assistant sports editor for The Pitt News.