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David Newton, ESPN Staff WriterSep 8, 2024, 10:03 PM ET
- David Newton is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Carolina Panthers. Newton began covering Carolina in 1995 and came to ESPN in 2006 as a NASCAR reporter before joining NFL Nation in 2013. You can follow Newton on Twitter at @DNewtonespn.
NEW ORLEANS — Two-time Country Music Entertainer of the Year Luke Combs felt the same way many other Carolina Panthers fans did after Sunday’s 47-10 season-opening loss to the New Orleans Saints at Caesars Superdome.
The Huntersville, North Carolina, native wasn’t shy about his thoughts, writing on X shortly after Carolina suffered its worst opening-day loss in team history.
New year, same old @Panthers. Absolutely gruesome watch.
— Luke Combs (@lukecombs) September 8, 2024
It almost sounds like the start of a country song.
Combs, who grew up a Panthers fan living about 20 minutes from Bank of America Stadium and often wears the team colors while performing, being frustrated shouldn’t come as a surprise. He voiced his pain on social media earlier this year with the message of “WHAT ARE WE DOING?!?!?” after the team traded Pro Bowl edge rusher Brian Burns to the New York Giants for a 2024 second- and 2025 fifth-round pick and 2024 pick swap.
.@Panthers WHAT ARE WE DOING?!?!? No first round pick for McCaffrey a few years back and now none for Burns?!?! Are we just fire bombing the whole team here or what? I usually don’t comment on these kinds of things but it’s just becoming slow torture at this point.
— Luke Combs (@lukecombs) March 12, 2024
Carolina’s lack of pass rush against the Saints — and its ability to make Derek Carr look like future Hall of Famer Drew Brees with three touchdown passes and a 142.5 passer rating — fueled the negativity.
And the overall sense of hopelessness in Combs’ message Sunday was understandable.
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The Panthers were down 10-0 less than six minutes into the game after giving up a 59-yard touchdown pass to a quarterback who hadn’t had one that long since 2021. A Bryce Young interception on his first play followed to set up a Saints field goal.
It was 17-0 after one quarter and 30-0 until Carolina kicker Eddy Pineiro made a 43-yard field goal on the last play of the first half.
When all was said and done, Carolina’s 37-point loss topped the 28-point embarrassment to the Philadelphia Eagles to start the 2009 season and was the fourth-worst defeat, period, in franchise history.
New coach Dave Canales didn’t offer a timetable for a quick turnaround. When asked what he would say to Carolina fans feeling frustrated after six straight losing seasons and such a bad showing in the opener, he began with: “It’s a long journey.”
“It’s a long journey to become us,” Canales said. “I knew that whether we started 4-0 or 0-4, whatever that is. What I knew is this is going to take a long time for us to become us. I just can’t help but believe you have to have adversity to become who you’re going to be.”
Wide receiver Adam Thielen seemingly agreed with Combs that where were no positives from the day.
“It’s a negative thing,” he said. “But at the end of the day it’s reality. It can be a positive thing if you turn it into one, but you have to take it on the chin, you’ve got to be tough mentally and you’ve got to show up with a sense of urgency.
“We got our butt whooped. So let’s figure out a way.”
That seemingly is what Combs was hoping for Sunday, leading to his message of disappointment on X.
