30 most memorable moments in the 30-year history of the Carolina Panthers
Posted September 18, 2023 4:48 p.m. EDT
Charlotte, N.C. — While the Carolina Panthers began playing football in the 1995 season, the NFL’s owners selected Carolina as the 29th NFL franchise on Oct. 26, 1993.
At the time, it marked the league’s first expansion team since 1976.
In the Panthers’ 30th season in existence, here – in no particular order – are the 30 of the most memorable moments in franchise history.
1. Feb. 1, 2004: 32-29 loss in Super Bowl XXXVIII to the New England Patriots
Perhaps we’d remember Super Bowl XXXVIII and legendary kicker Adam Vinatieri’s career differently if not for a costly, late-game penalty by longtime Panthers kicker John Kasay (1995-2010).
Having tied the game 29-29 with a little bit more than a minute left in the fourth quarter, Kasay kicked the ball out of bounds on the ensuing kickoff, incurring an illegal procedure penalty.
The Patriots moved the ball down the field, setting up Vinatieri’s game-winning, 41-yard field goal. The rest is history: Vinatieri won four Super Bowls and became the NFL’s all-time leading scorer.
The ruckus with Kasay actually started before the big game at Super Bowl Media Day. Comedian Sal Iacono aka “Cousin Sal” (Jimmy Kimmel’s cousin) got the bright idea to pretend to be Kasay at the event, even wearing the kicker’s No. 4 jersey. Cousin Sal signed fan memorabilia, posed for pictures and even took interviews pretending to be Kasay.
When Kasay showed up to the event, he initially found Sal’s prank to be amusing. It eventually led to Sal getting banned from Super Bowl Media Day. While video footage of the prank doesn’t exist on the internet, it lives on forever in former ESPN employee Bill Simmons’ Page 2 archives.
Quarterback Jake Delhomme’s 85-yard touchdown pass to Muhsin Muhammad in that game remains the longest touchdown pass in Super Bowl history.
2. Jake Delhomme takes over for Rodney Pete
The Panthers’ Super Bowl run almost never started.
With the Panthers trailing the Jacksonville Jaguars 17-0 on Sept. 7, 2003, Jake Delhomme replaced Rodney Peete. To that point in the game, Peete was 4 of 10 passing for 19 yards and three sacks.
Delhomme entered the game in the third quarter, led the Panthers to 24 second-half points and the team rallied for a 24-23 win.
With 16 seconds left in the game, Delhomme connected with wide receiver Ricky Proehl for the go-ahead score.
3. Feb. 7, 2016: 24-10 loss in Super Bowl 50 against the Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos’ defense dominated to carry Peyton Manning to his second Super Bowl win.
Broncos star edge rusher Von Miller forced two fumbles to set up the Broncos’ two touchdowns. Miller was named the MVP of Super Bowl 50.
Quarterback Cam Newton struggled to get going, completing 18 of 41 passes for 265 yards and an interception. Newton was sacked six times.
In the regular season, Newton was the league MVP and the team led the league in scoring. However, the Panthers were held to their lowest point total of the entire season.
In the second quarter, the Panthers cut the Broncos’ lead to 10-7 after running back Jonathan Stewart’s one-yard touchdown run capped off a nine-play, 73-yard drive. It would be the Panthers’ only touchdown in the game.
The Broncos offense only had 194 yards, which is the fewest ever by a Super Bowl winner.
4. LB Luke Kuechly’s pick 6 in the NFC Championship Game
On Jan. 24, 2016, Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly's pick 6 of Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer with 5 minutes and 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter helped seal the team’s trip to Super Bowl 50.
The Panthers blew out the Cardinals 49-15.
The game before, the Panthers beat the Seattle Seahawks 31-24 in the divisional round. It avenged their elimination by the Seahawks the season before.
5. Panthers start 2015 season with 14-0 record
The Panthers started the 2015 season by winning their first 14 games.
The team’s lone regular-season loss came on Dec. 27, 2015, in a 20-13 road loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
Newton was among 10 Pro Bowlers and eight AP All-Pro players on the Panthers in the 2015 season.
The Panthers’ loss to the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl made them the fifth straight team with at least 15 victories to fail to win the Super Bowl.
6. Greg Olsen’s game-winning touchdown against the Seahawks
On Oct. 18, 2015, the Panthers won on the road 27-23 against the Seahawks. The game marked the first time the team had played the Seahawks since Seattle’s 31-17 win in the NFC Divisional Round on Jan. 11, 2015.
Newton capped a fourth-quarter rally with a 26-yard touchdown pass to tight end Greg Olsen with 32 seconds left.
7. August 2015 training camp fight between Cam Newton and Josh Norman
Cornerback Josh Norman is known for his fiery on-field play and Newton is a competitor.
On Aug. 10, 2015, the two got into a fight during training camp. The fight came after Norman intercepted one of Newton’s passes.
8. Jan. 2, 2004: Sam Mills’ ‘Keep Pounding’ pregame speech inspires team to playoff win
The night before the Panthers’ home playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys, former star linebacker Sam Mills, who was working as an assistant coach, addressed the team.
Mills played three seasons of his 12-year NFL career with the Panthers. He was undersized for a linebacker, listed at 5’9” and weighing 229 pounds.
In August 2003, Mills was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. Doctors gave him two months to live. Even though Mills underwent chemotherapy treatments, he never missed a game that season. The players didn’t know the extent of his cancer.
His pregame speech to the players has become legendary. The only way to keep battling through the difficulties of life and football was to “Keep Pounding,” Mills said. That has since become the team’s mantra and the team’s hashtag on social media.
Mills died of cancer in 2005 at the age of 45, but the “Keep Pounding” legacy lives on.
9. Panthers’ first win: Sam Mills intercepts shovel pass
In 1995, the Panthers started their first season 0-5. They got their first win while playing the New York Jets at their temporary home in Clemson, South Carolina.
The Panthers played their inaugural season at Clemson University's Memorial Stadium.
Mills spotted a shovel pass from quarterback Bubby Brister, intercepted it and ran it back 36 yards for a touchdown. It was the most memorable play of the Panthers’ 26-15 win.
10. Bank of America Stadium opens in August 1996
Bank of America Stadium officially opened on Aug. 3, 1996.
The stadium has hosted every Panthers home game since 1996.
11. Jan. 10, 2004: Steve Smith’s double-overtime game-winning touchdown catch against the St. Louis Rams
Steve Smith had six catches for 163 yards and a touchdown in a 29-23 win over the Rams that sent the Panthers to the NFC Championship Game.
Smith’s 69-yard touchdown came on the first play of double overtime on a 3rd down and 14.
12. NFC title win in January 2004 against the Eagles
The Panthers beat the Eagles 14-3 on Jan. 18, 2004, at Lincoln Financial Field.
Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was injured in the game.
Panthers head coach John Fox helped engineer a turnaround after the Panthers had a 1-15 record in 2001, which marked head coach George Seifert’s last season coaching the team.
13. Luke Kuechly wins DPOY in 2013
Kuechly’s second year in the NFL was dominant. In 2013, Kuechly started all 16 games, had 156 tackles, had 10 tackles for a loss, four interceptions, seven pass deflections and two sacks.
On Dec. 22, 2013, against the New Orleans Saints, Kuechly tied an NFL single-game record with 24 tackles. He also had an interception. The Panthers won the game 17-13.
Kuechly joined Lawrence Taylor as the only players in NFL history to win NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and NFL Defensive Player of the Year in successive years.
14. Luke Kuechly’s sudden retirement
In January 2020, Kuechly announced his retirement from football in a video released by the team’s official Twitter account.
“In my heart, I know it’s the right thing to do,” he said.
The Panthers drafted Kuechly ninth overall in the 2012 NFL Draft, and he made the Pro Bowl for six straight seasons at linebacker.
Kuechly had several concussions dating back to the 2015 season.
15. Jan. 15, 2006: NFC Divisional Round win against the Chicago Bears
Wide receiver Steve Smith continued a monster playoff run in the 29-21 win against the Chicago Bears.
Most of quarterback Jake Delhomme’s 319 passing yards came on passes to Smith.
Smith had 12 catches for 218 yards and two touchdowns. After his second touchdown, he celebrated by jumping into and sliding down the goalpost at Soldier Field.
Ron Rivera – the future head coach of the Panthers – was the Bears’ defensive coordinator in this game.
16. 12-4 record during 1996 regular season, Panthers reach NFC title game
The Panthers finished the 1996 regular season with a 12-4 record. Head coach Dom Capers won the NFL Coach of the Year.
17. Panthers’ first playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys
The Panthers’ first playoff win came on Jan. 5, 1997. Carolina defeated the Dallas Cowboys 26-17.
However, the Panthers lost 30-13 to the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 12, 1997. The Packers wound up winning the Super Bowl.
18. Drafting Cam Newton with the first overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft
The Panthers drafted Newton, who won the Heisman Trophy and the 2011 BCS National Championship while at Auburn.
Newton made an impact for the Panthers almost right away. In his NFL debut on Sept. 11, 2011, Newton was 24 of 37 passing for 422 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in a 28-21 road loss to the Arizona Cardinals. He also had a rushing touchdown.
Newton is the Panthers’ franchise leader in wins (68), passing yards (29,725), touchdown passes (186) and completions (2,440).
19. Drafting Julius Peppers with second pick of 2002 draft
The Panthers selected Peppers with the second overall pick of the 2002 NFL Draft. Peppers had Carolina ties too. He was born in Wilson and raised in nearby Bailey.
Peppers played high school football at Southern Nash before playing for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in both football and basketball. Peppers and McNabb are the only people ever to play in both the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four and the NFL’s Super Bowl.
In 2002, Peppers won the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, compiling 12 sacks, an interception, five forced fumbles, six pass deflections, 36 tackles and 11 tackles for a loss in 12 games.
Peppers was a key defensive player on the 2003 team that played in Super Bowl XXXVIII.
Peppers made nine Pro Bowls (2004-2006, 2008-2012, 2015) in his 17-year NFL career. He was named a first-team All-Pro three times (2006, 2006 and 2010) and a second-year All-Pro (2008, 2009 and 2012).
Peppers is the Panthers’ all-time leader in sacks (97), tackles for a loss (107) and forced fumbles (34). He finished his career with 159.5 sacks total, which included stints with the Chicago Bears (2010-2013) and the Green Bay Packers (2014-2016).
Peppers is eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2024 class.
20. Hiring John Fox in January 2002
The Panthers hired John Fox to become their third coach in the history of the franchise on Jan. 25, 2002.
Fox inherited a team that went 1-15 in 2001 under previous coach George Seifert. The team had lost 15 consecutive games to end the 2001 season.
The Panthers went 7-9 in the 2002 season, Fox’s first with the team.
Fox joined Green Bay Packers legendary coach Vince Lombardi as the only other coach to inherit a team that had won only one game in the season prior, and then take that team to an NFL Championship game. That team lost in Super Bowl XXXVIII to the Patriots.
21. Hiring Ron Rivera in January 2011
Fox’s tenure with the Panthers ended after an 8-8 season in 2009 and a 2-14 season in 2010.
The Panthers hired Ron Rivera on Jan. 11, 2011. Rivera became the third Latino in NFL history to become a head coach, following Tom Fears and Tom Flores.
Under Rivera, the Panthers didn’t make the playoffs until the 2013 season. The Panthers lost 23-10 in the divisional round against the San Francisco 49ers.
The Panthers made the playoffs in 2014 despite a 7-8-1 regular-season record. They won in the Wild Card round against the Cardinals, but lost to the Seahawks.
Rivera helped guide the Panthers to Super Bowl 50.
The Panthers missed the playoffs in the 2016 season, got beat by the New Orleans Saints in the wild-card round the next year and finished the 2018 season with a 7-9 record.
After a 5–7 start to the 2019 season, Rivera was fired on Dec. 3, 2019, after nine seasons as head coach.
22. Owner Jerry Richardson sells team amid misconduct investigation, David Tepper buys the Panthers
Richardson announced in December 2017 that he was selling the team amid an NFL investigation into sexual and racial misconduct in the workplace. The league has since substantiated claims made against Richardson and fined him $2.75 million.
The investigation found that the misconduct was limited to Richardson, but said the team failed to report the allegations or any resolution agreements to the league.
Richardson put the team up for sale after a Sports Illustrated report in December that cited unnamed sources who said Richardson made sexually suggestive comments to women and on at least one occasion directed a racial slur at an African-American Panthers scout.
According to the Sports Illustrated article, which quoted anonymous sources, the accusations against Richardson included his grazing women’s breasts as he buckled their car seat belts; asking women if he could personally shave their legs; and, on Fridays, the Panthers’ weekly wear-jeans-to-work days, asking women to spin around so he could check out their backsides.
In March 2023, Richardson died at the age of 86.
In July 2018, the sale of the Carolina Panthers to hedge fund manager David Tepper became official.
Tepper was previously a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is also the founder and president of Appaloosa Management, a global hedge fund based in Miami.
23. WR Rae Carruth’s involvement with Cherica Adams’ murder in 1999
The Panthers selected Rae Carruth out of Colorado with the 27th pick of the 1997 NFL Draft. The wide receiver played for the Panthers from 1997-1999.
On Nov. 16, 1999, near Carruth’s Charlotte home, his then-girlfriend Cherica Adams was shot four times by Van Brett Watkins.
Watkins was convicted of shooting and killing Adams.
Prosecutors maintained that Carruth hired Watkins to kill Adams because he didn’t want to pay child support. Adams was seven months pregnant at the time.
In 2001, Carruth was convicted and sentenced on charges that included conspiracy to commit murder.
On Oct. 22, 2018, Carruth walked away from prison as a free man. He served 18 years in the Sampson County Correction Facility for plotting to kill Adams, the mother of his child. Their child, Chancellor, survived the shooting but suffers from cerebral palsy as a result.
24. Panthers draft Christian McAffrey with eighth pick of 2017 NFL Draft
The Panthers selected Stanford running back Christian McAffrey with the eighth pick of the 2018 NFL Draft.
The Panthers made the playoffs once during McAffrey’s time with the Panthers (2017-2022), but he provided a bright spot, being named a first-team All-Pro in 2019 and second-team All-Pro in 2019.
Injuries marred stethe end of McAffrey’s time with the Panthers.
On Oct. 20, 2022, McAffrey was traded to the 49ers in exchange for a second-round pick, third-round pick and fourth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, and a fifth-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
25. Graham Gano’s 63-yard game-winning field goal against the Giants
On Oct. 7, 2018, kicker Graham Gano kicked a 63-yard field goal to seal a 33-31 win over the New York Giants.
At the time, Gano's 63-yarder tied for the longest game-winning field goal in NFL history. Saints kicker Tom Dempsey knocked in a 63-yard field goal to beat the Detroit Lions, 19-17, in 1970.
However, Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker broke Gano and Dempsey’s record in September 2021 with a 66-yard field goal against the Lions.
26. 2001 NFL Draft: Panthers select Dan Morgan, Kris Jenkins and Steve Smith
Among the Panthers’ best drafts was in 2001, when the team selected linebacker Dan Morgan with the 11th pick, defensive tackle Kris Jenkins with the 44th pick and wide receiver Steve Smith with the 74th pick.
Smith had a 16-year NFL career, making the Pro Bowl five times and being named first-team All-Pro twice.
Smith is the franchise’s all-time leader in receiving yards (12,197) receptions (836) and touchdown catches (67). He’s also a legendary trash talker.
In 2013, Smith had a competitive game against New England Patriots cornerback Aqib Talib. Smith had four receptions for 62 yards while Talib had five tackles and two passes defensed. Talib didn’t finish the game due to injury.
“Ice up, son,” Smith said to Talib in a postgame interview.
Smith’s 2005 season was also marked by winning the receiving Triple Crown, when he led the league in receptions (103), receiving yards (1,563) and receiving touchdowns (12).
Jenkins had a 10-year career, making four Pro Bowls and being named first-team All-Pro twice.
Morgan had a seven-year career and made the Pro Bowl once.
Morgan, Jenkins and Smith were major contributors to the Panthers’ Super Bowl XXXVIII team.
27. Steve Beuerlein’s sneak wins it in Green Bay in 1999
On Dec. 12, 1999, the Panthers trailed the Packers 31-27 with five seconds left in the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field.
The Panthers dialed up a fourth-down quarterback sneak with Steve Beuerlein to win a game at Green Bay as time expired in 1999.
28. Frank Reich throws the first TD pass in franchise history
Current head coach Frank Reich played quarterback for the Carolina Panthers in the mid-90s.
Reich threw the first touchdown pass in franchise history, an 8-yard throw to tight end Pete Metzelaars to cap off a nine-play, 65-yard opening drive.
Reich, who was sacked nine times on the day, finished his team debut with 329 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Reich started the first three games of the team's inaugural season before Kerry Collins took over.
29. Panthers hire Frank Reich as head coach
On Jan. 26, 2023, the Panthers hired Frank Reich as their head coach.
Reich was head coach for the Indianapolis Colts from 2018 to the midway point of the 2022 season, when he was let go and replaced by Jeff Saturday. Reich was 41-40-1 with the Colts and was fired on Nov. 8 after a 3-5-1 start.
Reich replaced interim coach Steve Wilks, a Charlotte native who guided the Panthers to a 6-6 record after the team began 1-4 under previous coach Matt Rhule.
30. Drafting Bryce Young with first pick of 2023 NFL Draft
The Panthers selected Bryce Young out of Alabama with the first overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft.
Young became the third Panthers’ quarterback to be drafted in the first round, joining Cam Newton (first overall in 2011 out of Auburn) and Kerry Collins (fifth overall in 1995 out of Penn State).
The Panthers made a blockbuster trade with the Chicago Bears to acquire the first overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft.
The 2021 Heisman winner is undersized. At the 2023 NFL Combine, he was measured at 5’10” and 204 pounds.
Reich named Young the starter ahead of veteran Andy Dalton before the start of the 2023 season.
