For the Carolina Panthers, the start was so good it was able to keep them from being finished.
The Panthers scored 31 points in the first two quarters of Sunday’s game, which allowed then to hold off the Seattle Seahawks‘ furious comeback in the last two of their NFC Divisional Playoffs. Carolina won, 31-24, to advance to their first NFC title game in 10 seasons.
“It’s great, it’s what you strive for and what you work for, and it’s been part of our vision,” Panthers coach Ron Rivera said of advancing to the NFC title game for the first time in his tenure. “Now comes the next one, Arizona. That is a complete team that will play us well.”
Carolina jumped on Seattle in the first half, intercepting two passes and rushing to a lead. But the Seahawks, who had played in the previous two Super Bowls, roared back with 24 in the second half.
“We’ve got to be able to sustain that for four quarters, or, at least, three-and-a-half, and that didn’t happen,” Panthers coach Rivera said. “And we didn’t. I think if we could have skipped halftime we would have been better off. For whatever reason, we got into protect mode.”
Russell Wilson threw for 366 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Jermaine Kearse. Kearse caught 11 passes for 110 yards. For Carolina, Jonathan Stewart rushed for 106 yards.
For Carolina, linebacker Luke Kuchley had 11 tackles and a 14-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Seattle scored a field goal with 1:16 to play, but Carolina recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.
The Panthers, now 16-1 on the season, play against Arizona next week for the right to go to the Super Bowl. Seattle finished 11-7 on the year.
