Did you know: Wesley Walls caught a pass in a Super Bowl?
As a backup to perennial all-pro Brent Jones in San Francisco, Walls saw limited action in five seasons, but managed a nine-yard grab in the 49ers 55-10 rout of Denver in Super Bowl XXIV.
After a two-year stint with NFC West rival New Orleans, Walls was given a chance to become the focal point of an offense with the upstart Panthers in 1996. Needless to say, Walls made the most of his opportunity in migrating east to Carolina.
A remarkable 14-year career closed in 2003–a stint with the legendary Brett Favre in Green Bay. Walls’ final touchdown catch was Favre’s first touchdown pass following the death of his father in one of the NFL’s most emotionally-charged performances.
Walls will be celebrated later this year as a Hall of Honor member in Carolina. Rightfully so—it was a most honorable playing career.
One Panther Place will soon begin to roll out a variety of new features and segments, aimed at stimulating your need for Panthers content.
A weekly podcast will commence in mid-July. The focus: past/present/future. A look back at a number of areas, an appraisal of current affairs, and our best forecast of what’s to come. Guests, laughs, analysis, fun.
We will be live in Spartanburg for Camp Wofford, providing a plethora of multimedia options: photos, video, interviews, live updates—all done with an emphasis on quality, pinpoint accuracy and fan digestibility.
Over the next couple weeks, we will feed you a number of retrospective pieces that aim to provide context on some of the more impactful plays/players/games over the Panthers’ 25-year history. My brother, Ross, who co-founded this project, will appear on the platform as an analyst. Ross brings a wealth of film study and strategic expertise to the table—you’ll appreciate his work.
Film study and analysis will be a key component of our work. However, the idea here is to make it as digestible as possible. You don’t need a ton of words to explain most of what you see on film. Efficiency is the name of the game.
John Ellis (R) with brother Ross Ellis. These are your humble OPP corespondents.
My story?
My name is John. I’m a dad, husband and football writer. I spent nearly a decade with The Greenville News as a contributing reporter—preps and college football—and another two years at the Spartanburg Herald-Journal on the entertainment beat. Football is a passion. Storytelling is a passion.
Ross and I have accumulated a rather detailed mental and journaled catalogue of Panthers’ moments, down to the most obscure plays over the past quarter century. We do believe this will help bring you back to some of those days perhaps forgotten, while also assisting in forecasting future developments.
This is why One Panther Place is here for you.
No fees. No ads—at least not at this time. We don’t need this to be a financial instrument. We take pride in proper reporting and football analysis. It’s a labor of love from which we hope to give fellow fans from the Carolinas another fine option for Panthers content.
Know this: We take our work seriously. We do not take ourselves seriously.
Know this: The historical angle of this franchise will be front and center, almost daily. Each season brings these eternal memories etched into that side of our brains. Proehl’s winning snag against Jacksonville. Sam’s playoff pick of Aikman. Cam to Hixon in the monsoon. Foster’s effort in Philly. Jake’s furious November drive to dethrone the Bucs.
Fans tend to be prisoners of the moment in this Twitter age. We hope to shine a light on the past, maybe even reminding you why you love to love (and sometimes loathe) this team. History matters.
We’re not the biggest player in town. We will, however, strive to be the absolute best.
You can follow me on Twitter for daily insights: Twitter.com/onepantherplace. I look forward to engaging with you all as we progress through the season.
In one of the most competitive games of the 2017 NFL season, the Carolina Panthers upset the Minnesota Vikings in Charlotte, 31-24.
The Vikings, who entered the game an NFC-best 10-2, rallied late in the fourth quarter from a two possession deficit to tie the game. In this video—the difference in the game emerges—a remarkable run in space by Cam Newton followed by running back Jonathan Stewart’s third touchdown of the game, a career high.
December 28, 2014: The Atlanta Falcons played host to the surging Carolina Panthers in a most unfathomable wildcard play-in game.
The NFC South was a train wreck all season, littered by a litany of poor coaching, key injuries, and woeful defensive efficiency. Circuitous would best describe the collective journey.
Impressively, the sudden release of legendary wide receiver Steve Smith coupled with the highly disruptive demise and departure of defensive end Greg Hardy didn’t stop Carolina from a 2-0 start. By banging out wins at Tampa and at home against the Lions, Ron Rivera—the reigning AP NFL coach of the year—was now 13-2 over his last 15 games, and it appeared the men of Mint Street had weathered yet another storm.
The good vibes soon dissolved with a home blowout loss in prime time against the Steelers followed by an unrewarding 38-38 tie in Cincinnati. This ignited a two month stretch of winless football in which Carolina posted a reckless -10 turnover differential.
It got ugly. So very ugly. Road massacres at Green Bay, Philadelphia and Minnesota. A gloomy November afternoon carousel of missed opportunities versus Atlanta. A third prime time embarrassment at the hands of New Orleans.
Yet somehow, someway, the stars (and other bad teams) decided to align. A post-Thanksgiving rally thrust one of the worst mid-season teams of 2014 back into the postseason hunt. A malnourished division opened a promising door for the hungry Panthers: run the table in December with an ounce of help from a revolving door of new friends was their only clear path to the playoffs.
The first of three battles in the team’s revised mission plan was a success: a powerful road win delivered with malice over New Orleans, inclusive of a fairly intense bench clearing beef. The victory laid to rest a troubling losing streak while igniting a fire under an entire team’s ass.
Circumstances be damned, many said. Nothing would get in the way from here on out.
Nothing.
What followed was startling news: Newton flipped his truck near Bank of America Stadium, an accident from which he remarkably escaped with moderate but manageable trauma. A blessing that his life was spared, with the hope that his career would continue to thrive.
In comes Derek Anderson, efficiently managing the offense while leading Carolina to a crucial win and the season sweep of Tampa. With tremendous fanfare, Cam returned two weeks later against a stout Cleveland defense, scoring a touchdown on the ground and scoring endless points with 70,000 grateful fans.
Three weeks, one accident, three wins. No problem.
This chain of events set the stage for the perfect storm – an elimination game against the Atlanta Falcons to wrap-up a fascinating regular season
A great pass defense starts with a great pass rush, and this led to a refreshing development in Carolina’s NFCS-clinching win: contributions from their oft-maligned safeties.
Carolina’s defensive front was relentless, collecting a half-dozen sacks and 12 hits on Matt Ryan.
Panthers defensive end Charles Johnson leveling one of the team’s 12 quarterback knockdowns on Matt Ryan.
In a season of few impact plays, safety Roman Harper picked-off Ryan in the second quarter, riding a wall of blockers 31 yards down the sideline, crashing into the pylon with a sea of teammates for his first defensive touchdown in 7 years. Also—turn your attention to the road grading blocking exhibition presented by Luke Kuechly. He’s a football player.
Carolina safety Roman Harper played the best game of his 2014 season, registering six tackles and a defensive touchdown.
A few notables:
Of Atlanta’s 11 offensive drives, only one started in Carolina territory.
Three of these drives finished with negative yardage.
Matt Ryan took 19 snaps in the final quarter, zero from the red zone.
84% of Atlanta’s total offensive snaps were a product of three turnover-shortened drives.
Rivera simply owned Atlanta coach Mike Smith like a dog, forcing three Falcons turnovers for a net gain of 17 points.
Falcons coach Mike Smith was fired moments after the 34-3 home loss to Carolina.
Harper’s score set off a blaze of timely takeaways. In only his second start in place of an injured AJ Klein, linebacker Adarius Glanton got in on the act, flying to the ball to force a Devin Hester fumble—both impressive feats—setting up another Carolina score.
In only his second career start, linebacker Adarius Glanton maintained proper technique off this Matt Ryan play fake, well-positioned to attack Falcons speedster Devon Hester at a proper angle. The forced fumble was returned 32 yards by fellow linebacker Thomas Davis to set up another Carolina touchdown.
One final flash play from lightning quick safety Tre Boston put the lights out in Georgia that night. The 84-yard interception return was the perfect crescendo to Carolina’s improbable NFC South championship.
Boston Marathon: safety Tre Boston’s lengthy pick-six registered as the fourth longest interception return in franchise history.
Final: Carolina 34, Atlanta 3.
Panthers coach Ron Rivera spreading a little holiday cheer.
Rivera finally got his Gatorade bath. The team’s most trusted veterans executed the perfect splash, as CBS captured a breathtaking wave of black and blue–scores of loyal Panthers fans spreading a touch of Carolina class onto Atlanta’s field of shattered dreams.
Never forget this stat: 18 consecutive regular season wins. This is an NFC record—a premium blend from two very different seasons.
This was the story behind a quartet of regular season wins that made that slice of Carolina Panthers history possible.
Our choice for today’s One Panther Place flashback: Dallas. Thanksgiving Day, 2015.
Hungry for another road win, Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly harvested a Tony Romo interception, returning the errant pass 32 yards for a touchdown.
See for yourself:
A cornucopia of piping-hot execution was served up for the entire Panthers family—a delightful 33-14 holiday win, propelling Carolina to a franchise best 11-0 start.
Check back soon for a deeper dive into what made this play work with the first installment of “Check That Tape”, a film review session that makes sense of it all.
One Panther Place 