Panthers' perfect season falls apart in loss to Falcons

Eric Prisbell | USA TODAY Sports

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ATLANTA — After sitting for several minutes while facing his locker, slowly shaking his lowered head, Josh Norman rose and likened the mood in the near-silent dressing room to a funeral.

Gone was the Carolina Panthers' 18-game regular-season winning streak, which dated to last season. Gone was their quest to be just the second team to finish a regular season 16-0.

The Panthers (14-1) may remain in the driver’s seat to earn home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. But their pursuit of history, to potentially join the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only unbeaten Super Bowl champion, came to an abrupt end with the 20-13 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

Asked how it felt to lose the undefeated season, league MVP favorite Cam Newton said, “It didn’t tickle.”

He later added: “We got our ass kicked today. And to a degree, we deserved it ... I'm talking with a mirror in front of my face."

The Panthers were left to ponder how they could lose to a team they had pummeled 38-0 just two weeks ago. But the Falcons looked more like the team that began 5-0 before cratering to 7-7 prior to Sunday's upset. And Carolina was uncharacteristically off-kilter in several areas, revealing flaws just a few weeks before their first playoff game.

“We picked a bad day not to play well,” Panthers tight end Greg Olsen said. “Obviously, we knew that this was their Super Bowl.”

Norman, Carolina's brash but talented cornerback, could attest to that after seeing Falcons receiver Julio Jones dominate their individual matchup Sunday. Jones caught nine passes for 178 yards, none bigger than the game-defining third quarter jump ball for a 70-yard touchdown reception that abruptly changed the game’s tenor.

“He’s one of the best receivers in the league,” conceded Norman, who allowed Jones to catch five passes for 80 yards while covering him.

After scoring a touchdown on their opening drive, the Panthers offense accomplished little. Newton, who has engineered four game-winning drives this season, assumed responsibility for his own uneven play.

Given two possessions to potentially tie or go ahead in the final three minutes, Newton failed to lead Carolina downfield. Three straight incompletions doomed the first drive. A fumble forced by Falcons rookie Vic Beasley on the final drive gave Atlanta possession and sealed the outcome.

Other problems were evident as well. One of Panthers coach Ron Rivera’s biggest issues was his team’s defensive play on third downs, where the Falcons converted nine of 15 opportunities.

“Quite honestly, we didn’t coach to our abilities or play to our abilities,” Rivera said.

Tens of thousands of Carolina fans infiltrated Atlanta, making the game at the Georgia Dome sound at times almost like a home game for the Panthers. And it was an emotionally charged atmosphere from the start.

One week after the repeated on-field scuffles between New York Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and Norman attracted national attention, it looked like the officials wanted to establish early control of the game. On Atlanta’s first drive, Carolina corner Charles Tillman was penalized for unnecessary roughness after he became entangled with Roddy White. Most frustrating for Carolina? The flag was thrown after the Panthers had stopped the Falcons on third down.

NFL Daily Blitz: Panthers no longer perfect The biggest topics of the day in the NFL.

The Falcons took advantage of the penalty, finishing off a 16-play touchdown-scoring drive that milked more than nine minutes from the clock. Rivera called the penalty a “huge” call, adding that he “will have to look at it and talk to the league office about what happened.

"We should have gotten off the field and we didn’t.”

Norman said he thought officials would call the game closely after what transpired in the Giants game. He said officials on Sunday “had their grips on it (the game) and kept it from getting out of control.”

Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis said the perfect season was something that had been in the back of his mind. But now that that streak is over, he said, time for another to begin, even if that notion doesn’t lessen Sunday’s sting.

“Guys aren’t used to losing,” Norman said. “It sucks.”

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Follow Eric Prisbell on Twitter @EricPrisbell

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