Panthers hold off Seahawks to reach NFC Championship game

Despite the awful first half for the Seattle Seahawks, they came back with guns blazing against the Carolina Panthers and even though the Seahawks put up a good effort, it seemed that the Seahawks left “Beast Mode” was left behind in Seattle.

That team beat the Eagles in Philadelphia and the Rams in St. Louis on its way to the big game.

Emphatically backing up their superb regular season with one of the most dominating halves in football history, the Panthers then hung on in the face of a furious Seahawks rally before surviving. We did things we were supposed to do, and won the football game.

“Man, it was like a bend-but-don’t-break”. Although they weren’t enough to carry their two to a win, James Harrison, Lawrence Timmons and Jarvis Jones made huge impacts on Sunday’s game as their offense and special teams let them down. He rambled 59 yards on the first play from scrimmage and ran for 106 yards on 19 carries and two touchdowns against the league’s top-ranked rushing defense. The Carolina Panthers defeated the Seattle Seahawks yesterday, 31-24, to advance to the NFC Championship Game this coming Sunday.

The Panthers also got a first-half touchdown on a pick-6 by star linebacker Luke Kuechly that, with the extra point, gave the home team a 14-0 lead.

However, two touchdowns from Jermaine Kearse and one from Tyler Lockett brought Seattle within seven points, but Carolina held on. But Seattle, in falling behind so quickly, was never able to utilize its running game.

Specifically, Newton said “a lot of guys playing with their butts tight, coaches with their butts tight” and included himself in the “butts tight” equation.

The Panthers are in the NFC title game for the fourth time and will be hosting for the first time. He burst through the middle on the first snap and almost outran everyone, getting tackled at the Seattle 16 by Richard Sherman.

Those players, with the exception of Graham, all go back to 2012 with Carroll’s and the Seahawks’ first significant success.

LYNCH A NON-FACTOR: Seahawks power back Marshawn Lynch returned from an eight-game absence following abdominal surgery but was never a factor.

Kuechly was far more alert, grabbing the interception and sprinting 14 yards to make it 14-0 only 3 1/2 minutes in. “It’s insane”, said the Panthers quarterback. However, he made the most of one of those touches as shown in a photo shared by Panthers safety Roman Harper after the game.

Wilson and the Seahawks scored 24 points against the conservative-running Panthers and still had a chance to tie it until Carolina’s Thomas Davis recovered an onside kick with 1:11 left that allowed the Panthers to run out the clock. The Seahawks also pulled off a perfectly-executed fake punt, snapping the ball directly to DeShawn Shead for a 17-yard gain to keep a drive alive. That drive stalled, but with Carolina’s offense sputtering, Seattle later got closer on Kearse’s 3-yard catch of a jump ball against All-Pro cornerback Josh Norman.