2013 - THE RAIN GAME - Luke Kuechly!

My son (BlackCatsFanz) and I were at this game and it was AWESOME!!!!  It's a little ironic that both Luke Kuechly and Drew Brees are being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this evening!   CONGRATULATIONS, LUUUUUUKE!  
 





CANTON, Ohio — Colin Jones knew there were some Saints down there; he just couldn't see them.

Greg Olsen knew he just kept hearing the same name over and over again.

And at a certain point, Thomas Davis knew that no matter how well he played, he wasn't going to catch up.

With Saints quarterback Drew Brees and Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame together this weekend, you can only remember that in each of their respective locations, each of them had a distinct advantage.

But as good as the hermetically-sealed fast track at the Superdome was for Brees, the rain that fell on Bank of America Stadium on Dec. 22, 2013 was even better for Kuechly.

Kuechly poured down 24 tackles on the Saints that day in a driving rainstorm that started in the second half, when the game turned into the kind of slop he loved, and the Panthers reached the level they were building to.

"My favorite version of the game," he said. "It was kind of the epitome of what football should be, in the NFL. It's December, you're playing at home, these games matter because they dictate home-field advantage and the division.

"It was an awesome game."




Those 24 tackles also represented a league record. Tackles have been counted as an official stat since 1994, and since then, only David Harris of the Jets in 2007 has had as many in a single game.

"I lost count of how many tackles," former Saints coach and now-Broncos boss Sean Payton said. "I guess he had 24 tackles, and it felt like 40."

"You can't even do that as a create-a-player on Madden, let alone doing that in real life," quarterback Cam Newton said. "And when you see that, you knew, 'Yeah, he's different.'"

"Luke went off," then-Panthers defensive coordinator Sean McDermott said. "I mean, he was making tackles left and right. And the way Luke played the game, he would tackle you, yes. But when he tackled you, he was trying to give you a little bit more, and that's what the good ones really do.

"And, and Luke had that that day. He wanted to punish you when he tackled you and not just get you down but punish you as well. And, you could tell that. I'm up in the box calling the plays, but you could feel him in that game, really from about the second quarter on."

But beyond setting a record, the stakes for the Panthers and Saints meant it was going to be a big game anyway.

Two weeks earlier, the Saints had won their home game 31-13, to improve to 10-3 and get the inside track on the division title, with the Panthers a game behind at 9-4.

But the Saints opened the door with a loss at St. Louis the following week, making the rematch a de facto NFC South title game.






MORE AT LINK.........................


https://www.panthers.com/news/rain-game-...drew-brees

I was at that game.  As I remember, we were expecting rain for the entire game but there was not a drop until the start of the 3rd quarter.  When one drop fell...they all fell.  Was a monsoon.  When the rain started the crowd cheered loudly.  When it rained harder, the crowd cheered even louder.

Luke just took over. It was a great game..

I was at that game.  As I remember, we were expecting rain for the entire game but there was not a drop until the start of the 3rd quarter.  When one drop fell...they all fell.  Was a monsoon.  When the rain started the crowd cheered loudly.  When it rained harder, the crowd cheered even louder.

Luke just took over. It was a great game..

Thankfully, we had enough foresight to bring rain gear with us.  When the stands about half emptied, we stayed in our seats and watched the game. That was the longest time I have ever spent that much time in such heavy rain lol.  But it was a GREAT game!