Apart from the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens, the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers shaped up as the most intriguing matchup of Week 18. If anyone had suggested that at the start of the season, they might have been dismissed as a madman. What’s even more remarkable, though, is that despite the Buccaneers delivering in the clutch, the conversation afterward has been dominated not by the result, but by the officiating.
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Bryce Young did his best to create some fourth-quarter drama on Saturday afternoon by scoring in the final moments of the contest, but the damage was already done, and much of it by the officials. A plethora of missed calls, including an instance in which the referees seemingly ignored a Panthers player having their helmet ripped off and one where a defensive PI was called despite the receiver tripping over his own feet, defined what should have been a crowning moment for the NFC South.
Carolina’s head coach, Dave Canales, declined to comment on the zebras following the game, noting, “I don’t really wanna get into that, because we just didn’t play well enough, offensively, speaking.”
Unfortunately, when an official is blowing a lateral pass dead, ruling it as a forward pass, only for the referee to then announce that the ball was actually a backwards pass that “went out of bounds,” and that the Panthers will still somehow lose yards on the play, it’s hard for fans blame the loss solely on a lack of run game.
While speaking with PFWA’s Greg Auman, the man in the white cap, Brad Allen, explained that his crew did not use replay assist for that particular call, stating “that ruling was made on the field.” Auman then inquired about “…the offensive pass interference call against Carolina that negated a long pass completion in the third quarter.”
Allen simply responded by explaining that “The covering official saw that the receiver created separation more than one yard downfield, which by rule is illegal and is offensive pass interference.” Suffice to say, if you’re a distraught Panthers fan looking for sympathy, you won’t be getting any from the NFL and its officiating crew.
Thankfully, this is the NFC South, so the Panthers can still find some bittersweet solace in its neighborly New Orleans Saints. A loss for the Atlanta Falcons means that Carolina can claim its first divisional title since 2015, so expect to hear a couple extra “Who Dats?” throughout the south on Sunday.
The only issue, however, is that the Saints’ star wide receiver, Chris Olave, announced that he will be skipping out on the final week of the season after a blood clot was detected in his lung. As a result, New Orleans is being booked as a +3.5 point underdog, meaning that the Panthers will need one last upset to end their decade-long divisional drought.
It may not be ideal, but then again, the Panthers don’t do ideal. So here’s to hoping that Tyler Shough does well, just not too well, as you don’t want him stealing Tetairoa McMillan’s Rookie of the Year award either.
