GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -The Carolina Panthers and Green Bay Packers both believe they’re better than the scores of their last games would indicate.
But only the Panthers can point to their record as evidence.
At 8-3, Carolina appears in decent playoff position heading into Sunday’s game at Lambeau Field. And while the Packers still have a shot at the playoffs at 5-6 thanks to the mediocre nature of the NFC North, they’d be in big trouble with a loss Sunday.
And that means rediscovering the Packers team that recently beat Indianapolis and Chicago – right away.
team that can make a run.”
The Panthers are coming off a surprising 45-28 loss at Atlanta. The Packers, meanwhile, were trounced 51-29 in New Orleans as Saints quarterback Drew Brees took apart Green Bay’s highly regarded secondary.
“It’s two teams coming off some pretty bad losses, two teams that both need a win,” Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme said. “Certainly, I think when you watch that game it got out of hand at the end, somewhat kind of like our game. But it’s two teams that certainly feel embarrassed by the way they played and look forward to going out and playing better.”
For the wildly inconsistent Packers, that loss came just eight days after their dominant 37-3 victory over the NFC North co-leading Chicago Bears. Packers coach Mike McCarthy says his team is actually more sharp in practice than it was in last year’s 13-3 season, but that effort isn’t always showing up on the field.
“I was disappointed in the way we played because of the way we did practice,” McCarthy said of the loss in New Orleans. “I’m tired of telling them, but we need to carry it over to Sundays.”
On film, Delhomme said he saw some miscommunication in Green Bay’s secondary against the Saints, a rarity for a defense that is tied for second in interceptions and has scored seven touchdowns this season.
eek,” Delhomme said. “Our score wasn’t indicative, I feel, of how the game was. They scored a couple times really late. But that happens sometimes in the NFL.”
Delhomme broke out of a two-game mini-slump that included a four-interception game against Oakland, going 21-for-35 for 295 yards against Atlanta.
“I think we’ve kind of got out and got over that at this point,” Panthers coach John Fox said.
Sunday’s game will be a reunion for Delhomme and Packers coach Mike McCarthy, who was a Saints assistant when Delhomme broke into the league with New Orleans.
“I was really glad I was able to be with Mike,” Delhomme said. “I think he’s a fantastic coach and I think it helped me grow up a lot as a player.”
McCarthy praised Delhomme for his work ethic.
“He definitely came up the right way in the NFL, in my opinion,” McCarthy said. “He had to work for everything that he has achieved. It’s really a credit to him as an individual.”
Much of the credit for Carolina’s offense, however, goes to one of the league’s best running games. Powered mainly by the combination of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, the Panthers rank sixth with an average of 133.7 yards rushing per game.
olitical office and said it to a plumber.
“We call it sharing the wealth,” Fox said.
Fox likes the way his team is playing heading into Sunday. But he knows the up-and-down Packers still can put together an effort like the ones they used to beat the Colts and Bears.
“Everybody wants to highlight on the last game, but I look at the full body of work, and I think they’re solid as a football team,” Fox said.
The NFC North-leading Minnesota Vikings and Bears play each other Sunday night. So with a loss, the Packers would fall two games behind the division leader with four games to go.
Of course, wide receiver Greg Jennings knows one way to make the situation much more palatable for the Packers.
“We need to win all of them,” he said.
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