With the Wild Card round over the National Football League moves onto the divisional round in the 2015 postseason. The 15-1 Carolina Panthers are set to face the 10-6 Seattle Seahawks in a rematch of one of the biggest games for the franchise this year and last season at the same time. As many questions and doubters still loom surrounding the spectacular nature of the Panthers performance, the team has to deal with a growing amount of pressure leading into Sunday’s game.
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Rewind back to fifth week of the season when the Panthers traveled to Seattle to compete against Russell Wilson and the Seahawks. Cam Newton needed to orchestrate a comeback win with 32 seconds remaining when he hit Greg Olsen for a 26-yard touchdown pass. This was the biggest win for the Panthers to that date and the first time the Panthers won in Seattle.
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However, the Seahawks organization from that game is very different from the monster that the Panthers will face this coming Sunday. Wilson turned this team around in a way that has some people considering him a late candidate for the MVP award. Plus, Seattle has knocked the Panthers out of the playoffs two times before; most recently being the 31-17 blowout from last season.
Adding in that past history to the expectations in that come with having a near-perfect season, the Panthers are playing with a level of pressure that is outside what both this team and its fans are used to. Losing at this point in the post season will amount to considerations wondering if the Panthers’ run was for naught. The goal each year isn’t to put up the highest numbers or best record, the goal is to win the Lombardi trophy and that first step goes through a tough Seahawks team.
Fortunately for the Panthers, they’ve played with pressure for most of this season. As they continued their undefeated streak, the lead-in for every game was filled with questions as to whether or not this team was “for real,” or how this latest challenge would be the team to stop their momentum. Even though they eventually dropped a game to the Atlanta Falcons, this Panthers unit is very familiar with having an extra heap of pressure placed on their shoulders before heading out onto the field.
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The Carolina Panthers and Seattle Seahawks share center stage yet again in the divisional round of the NFL post season. According to the ESPN Football Power Index, the Panthers have a 15.9 percent chance to win the Super Bowl, behind only the Arizona Cardinals and their 26 percent. Regardless of what those numbers say, the Panthers are playing with an increased amount of pressure to exceed the growing expectations that followed them throughout the season.