The Panthers, led by regular-season MVP Cam Newton have had an amazing season in 2015. It didn't go exactly the way that people predicted in the off season, however. During training camp they lost Cam's favorite target from a year ago, second year player, Kelvin Benjamin. A lot of people thought this would be a lost season for them. It was just a year ago that the NFC south was, by record, the worst division in the league - they won their division with a record of 7-8-1, that's far from the record of 12-4 that they ended their season with in 2013 - but they've proven that this team is the best team in the division by winning it three consecutive seasons.
I think that people started to take this team serious after a win, on the road, against a very good Seattle Seahawks team in week 5. And people started talking about a potential Super Bowl appearance after a great 10-0 start - people were even talking about a possible undefeated season after a 14-0 start (which didn't happen, obviously) but it just proves how serious this team is.
But the 2015-16 season wasn't a smooth ride by any means. They did face a lot of criticism for their celebrations after wins, and it started to really started to come out as their win total increased and celebrations got bigger. And what really ignited the criticism was the letter that a woman wrote after their 27-10 win against the Tennessee Titans. There was even some issues that the Titans players had with the celebration dances, especially with a dance that Cam did after a touchdown run called "the dab". But what's interesting is the Panthers were unapologetic about their celebrations during the game. They actually started to celebrate more. And it went from a Cam Newton thing and now became a team thing. After wins they would do team celebrations and even took a picture with the whole team doing the 'dab'.
Here is a great article written by Nick Schwarz of USA Today Sports, about the woman who wrote a letter to the Charlotte Observer after the Panthers defeated the Titans: Click here
I believe that they [the Panthers] got a lot of criticism early on because they weren't doing things the traditional way. Cam isn't the traditional quarterback. They don't have an amazing receiving core that's been on the field all year. But they're not a traditional team and sometimes it's refreshing to see that; Batman wasn't the traditional superhero either but he always got the job done. Not everyone like him or the way he did things but he always did his job, Gotham always survived.
If you noticed one thing. Cam Newton really became a true last season. Even after losses he took ownership for his mistakes and he demanded better from himself even before the other players on the team. And this year he's showing that you can still have fun playing football, he does and he shows that he loves the game. He got a lot of criticism for his lengthy celebrations but he also turned the 'dab' into a cultural phenomenon. Everyone was doing the 'dab' - I saw video's of older people on the news doing it to little kids at the games.
For the Carolina Panthers the stats show that they had a reason for celebrations throughout the season. They finished first in points per game and second in rushing yards per game. Both contributing to a special season, the best in Panthers franchise history. Also, They finished with the sixth in total defense, as far as yards allowed per game, sixth in points allowed per game; they were also first in takeaways this season (39) - leading with both interceptions (24) and fumbles recovered (15).
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