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Safety Roman Harper said he wasn't expecting this type of adventure in his first season in Carolina. The Panthers visit Seattle (12-4) on Saturday with a trip to the NFC championship game on the line.
Carolina's journey to the NFC divisional playoffs has included quarterback Cam Newton flipping his truck and being hospitalized with two fractures in his lower back,Cheap NFL Jerseys, franchise defensive end Greg Hardy being convicted on two counts of domestic violence, and Rivera's house catching fire and causing $500,000 worth of the damage five days before the biggest game of his coaching career.
Former Jets wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery was asked about this year and simply laughed.
The Panthers aren't apologizing for their record.
"Well, I played in New York," Cotchery said,Nike Shox Gravity 2018, "so I won't even go there."
Rivera is already hunkered down preparing for Seattle while his wife handles the details of where he'll live for the next 6-8 months while their burned-out home is rebuilt.
"It has been different," Rivera said. "You can't make this stuff up."
Kalil said that is also a reflection of Rivera, the 2013 NFL Coach of the Year, for staying positive and keeping everyone together when it would have been easy to quit on the season.
Cornerback Josh Norman is convinced the Panthers have benefited from some divine intervention — particularly when it came to Newton's accident,Wholesale NFL Jerseys.
"At the end of the day you learn how to deal and cope with these things," Rivera said, "and if you can keep your focus then you will have an opportunity and a chance."
NOTES: The Panthers have moved practices inside their stadium this week and are piping in crowd noise to help simulate playing in Seattle, which features one of the loudest stadiums in the league. ... Rivera said he's sticking with returner Brenton Bersin despite a muffed punt that resulted in a turnover against Arizona. ... Wide receiver Philly Brown (shoulder) did not practice Tuesday. Bersin is taking his reps in practice.
The idea the Panthers are even still playing after a 3-8-1 start speaks volumes about the team, said center Ryan Kalil.
Newton has fought through ankle and rib injuries and the back fractures, and he has the Panthers on a five-game winning streak.
Rivera said he never once lost faith in his team.
Carolina became the first NFL team to go more than two months without a victory and reach the playoffs. The Panthers won the NFC South despite a 7-8-1 record. And last Saturday, a defense that gave up 35 or more points in four of its first seven games held Arizona to 78 yards in the wild-card round, the fewest ever allowed in the NFL postseason.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Panthers coach Ron Rivera said he's never experienced a season like this one since he joined the NFL 30 years ago.
In fact, in some ways they believe the season has toughened them and left them playoff ready.
There's been nothing ordinary or predictable about the Panthers on the field, either.
They had to win their last four games just to get into the playoffs.
"Some strange things have come up," Kalil said,Wholesale NFL Jerseys China, "but it's been very telling of the character and closeness of this team that whether it is something happening inside or outside the locker room,Cheap MLB Jerseys China, this is a group that stuck together and continue to work and work."
Then again, maybe Carolina's season isn't that unusual.
Hardy still isn't eligible to play,Wholesale China Jerseys, but his absence paved the way for fellow defensive end Charles Johnson to step out of character and become one of the team's vocal leaders.
"If it weren't for God's angel covering him in that truck, I don't know what would have happened," Norman said. "We could have been talking about missing our quarterback, our leader, forever. But he was blessed."
"It isn't the prettiest thing, but we got a date to the prom at the end of the day," Harper said, laughing. "We're here. She's probably not the best-looking one; she's not going to win prom queen, but we'll have a good time." |
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