Panthers defeat Seahawks, second-half lethargy for big win

CHARLOTTE, N.C. —The Carolina Panthers live by the motto “Keep Pounding,” and pound they do, whether on a defense or on their own feet.

Cam Newton’s band of teal marauders did a lot of both Sunday, demolishing the Seattle Seahawks in the first half and then getting hesitant and tentative enough to allow the Seahawks a measure of hope. Fortunately for the Panthers, Carolina's first-half stake was enough to hold off a Seattle surge, and the Panthers won 31-24.

Three minutes, twenty-two seconds. That’s all it took for Carolina to establish a two-touchdown lead on two-time defending NFC champion Seattle. Three minutes, twenty-two seconds in which Carolina combined a Jonathan Stewart 59-yard run and a Luke Kuechly pick-six to establish the Panthers as the apex predators in this year’s NFL playoffs.

The Panthers’ defining first-half drive spanned parts of two quarters and covered 86 yards, ending with a second Stewart touchdown on a 1-yard run. Carolina followed that up with a field goal and another eight-plus-minute drive that ended in a spectacular diving Greg Olsen touchdown catch. Indeed, the entire first half played out like a Panthers highlight reel, from spectacular catches to daring escapes to smothering defenses to cute little fans getting footballs.

At halftime, the Panthers led 31-0, and the statistics began pouring in: no team has ever recovered from a 31-point deficit in the divisional round. Teams trailing by 31-plus points in the last 15 seasons are a combined 0-325. You could forgive Panthers fans for starting to make plans to receive the Arizona Cardinals next weekend.

But then, faster than you could say “Frank Reich,” the Seahawks scored on their two opening possessions of the second half. Like Reich, who quarterbacked the Buffalo Bills to playoff victory from a 32-point deficit to the Houston Oilers in 1992, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson chopped away at Carolina, scoring two touchdowns in just 7:20. And by then, the Carolina crowd – which had been so boisterous it literally shook the foundations of Bank of America Stadium – had puckered up and gone eerily quiet.

With just six minutes remaining in the game, Wilson offered up another one of those answered-prayers passes, a floater that barely eluded cornerback Josh Norman’s fingertips and ended up in the hands of Jermaine Kearse in the back of the end zone. That cut Carolina’s lead to a mere 10 points, and there was not a fan in the entire stadium who didn’t feel a tight clutch around the throat.

This was it, then. This was the moment Carolina needed to respond, to prove that the previous 15 wins in 16 games weren’t a farce, to prove that the Panthers belonged at the forefront of any conversation about great teams. And the Panthers responded, for all of half a dozen plays. Carolina kicked the ball back to the Seahawks with just under three minutes remaining.

Wilson engineered another easy procession downfield, peeling off dozen-yard completions like he was dealing cards. The drive stalled just inside the Carolina 20, and Seattle kicked a field goal to cut the deficit to a single touchdown. But linebacker Thomas Davis recovered the ensuing onside kick, and from there, Carolina ran the clock.

Seattle will have some hard questions to answer this offseason. The Panthers, meanwhile, live to dab another day and will now welcome the Arizona Cardinals for the NFC championship.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.