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CHARLOTTE, PC (AP) – Cam Newton sat a few minutes after the match against his locker, his elbows resting on his knees and his hands firmly against the back of his head, while staring at the motionless ground.
The most valuable player in 2015 could not believe that the Panthers had managed to lose their third straight game, 30 to 27 against the Seattle Seahawks, while they had played so well on the offensive during the most of the match.
"Three weeks ago, if anyone had said it was going to happen, I would have slapped them," Newton said later. "But things are going on and no one is going to feel sorry for us.We are opening up a lot of hope to a lot of other teams, and we can not allow that to happen."
But the Panthers have already done it.
After Sunday's game in which Minnesota beat Green Bay 24-17, the Panthers (6-5) looked from outside the NFC playoff picture. Five days from the end, they were beaten by the Vikings (6-4-1), Redskins (6-5) and Seahawks (6-5) in the race for two wild card positions.
It would have been hard to imagine all this three weeks ago for the Panthers, who were 6-2 after a 42-28 win in Tampa Bay on November 4th.
Cracks in armor began to surface on a Thursday night in Pittsburgh when the Steelers crushed the Panthers 52-21.
Carolina then chained with a 20-19 stink on the road in Detroit when coach Ron Rivera unsuccessfully chose to score two points in the closing seconds of the settlement. On Sunday, the Panthers led the Seahawks 27-20 with less than seven minutes following Newton's connection on a 2-yard touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey.
However, a late stuck training, a 52-yard backlog from Graham Gano and a high school defensive defense laid the groundwork for Seattle's return, ending Carolina's 10-game winning streak at home.
"You are 6-2 and now you are 6-5, I do not know if that's how someone saw him," Greg Olsen said.
Carolina has a chance to recover in the next two weeks in Tampa Bay and Cleveland, but it ends the season with two games against division leader New Orleans (10-1), which seemed almost unstoppable. in attack, and a match against Atlanta, a team he lost earlier this season on the road.
"We just have to win a game now," said Olsen.
Carolina lost its worst season of the season, a day when the offense went well all season.
Christian McCaffrey ran 17 times for 125 yards and one touchdown and captured 11 passes for 112 yards and another score to set a franchise record for total yards. He also became the first Carolina player to score 100 yards and 100 rushing yards in a game as the Panthers racked up 476 yards.
Newton was solid, completing 25 of his 30 passes for gains of 256 yards and two touchdowns and a 63-yard run in eight races. But two deep mistakes in the Seattle area weighed heavily. He launched an interception in the end zone and failed to score a first goal in a fourth inning and two near the goal line early in the game.
"I think we have playmakers on the field and a lot of guys have done a fantastic job today," said McCaffrey. "It's just a matter of finding a way to finish." We played fast and we stayed focused and at the end of the match – we have to find a way to win. teams. "
Carolina's defense leaked.
The unit of defensive coordinator Eric Washington has allocated 102 points over the last three weeks while yielding an average of 387.6 yards per game. They recorded four sacks during this period and forced only two turnovers.
For a unit including a future Julius Peppers Hall of Fame member alongside Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis and Kawann Short, these numbers are hard to swallow.
That did not help that the Panthers lost the starting cornerback Donte Jackson in the first game of a quad injury and turned to captain Munnerlyn and Corn Elder. Both allowed big assists in the fourth quarter.
Rivera's message to the team was to "stay united" and the peppers agreed.
"We can not worry about what happened today," Peppers said. "We can not worry about what others are doing, we need to worry about ourselves, stay united and move forward."
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